I have just received an email from my employer, a financial services company, on its new “outcome-based” dress code: “As part of our drive to be a Winning Organisation . . . this means informality, openness and a lack of hierarchy in our business attire. In keeping with a solutions organisation, it is outcome-based.” Can I continue to work somewhere that sends me such cretinous nonsense? And if so, what should I wear?

　　我刚刚收到我的东家(一家金融服务公司)发来的电子邮件，内容是关于公司新的“基于结果的”着装规定：“作为我们成为一家“成功组织”(Winning Organisation)事业的一部分……这意味着我们在上班时间穿着的服装需体现非正式性、开放性和无等级性。为了符合解决方案提供者的身份，工作着装要基于结果。”我还能继续在一个给我发这种白痴废话的地方工作吗?如果能的话，我到底应该穿什么呢?

　　Investment director, male, 35

　　投资总监，男，35岁

　　Lucy’s answer

　　露西的回答

　　Your second question — what should you wear? — is of no interest to me and ought not to be to you.

　　你的第二个问题——你应该穿什么?——在我看来不值一问，你应该也不会为这个问题费心。

　　You know perfectly well what to wear. You have had well over a decade’s practice of getting dressed for the office. You can see what clients and colleagues are wearing, you know what you are comfortable in, and so there is no need to ponder the matter any further.

　　你完全知道自己该穿什么。你有超过10年的职场穿衣实践经验。你可以看到客户和同事们的着装，你知道自己穿什么舒服，所以，没必要再去考虑这件事。

　　Your first question is of much greater interest. It is profound and touches all of us who work in large corporations. The question is whether one should work for a company that spouts cretinous drivel. And the answer is, it depends.

　　你的第一个问题引起了我极大的兴趣。这个问题很深刻，触动所有在大型公司工作的人。问题的实质是，一个人是否应该为一家滔滔不绝说废话的公司工作。答案是，要具体问题具体分析。

　　All organisations, from time to time, spout drivel. To be on the receiving end is depressing and vaguely demeaning.

　　所有组织都会时不时发表一些废话。废话会让听者郁闷，近乎有辱人格。

　　But whether you should consider leaving depends on four things: the frequency of the drivel; your proximity to it; how seriously it is taken by others and, most crucially, whether you have to pretend to take it seriously yourself.

　　然而，是否应该考虑离开取决于四个方面：废话出现的频率;你与它的距离：其他同事对待它的认真程度，最重要的是，你自己是否必须假装认真对待它。

　　The most usual sort of drivel is intermittent, comes from someone distant, usually in HR, and is routinely ignored by all. This sort is not only easy to live with, it is vaguely bonding as it enables you to have a cynical laugh with your workmates.

　　最常见的那种废话是间歇性出现的，来自远处的某个人(通常在人力资源部门)，而且通常被所有人忽略。这种类型的废话不仅易于忍受，几乎还能增进同事间友谊，因为它提供了让你可以和你的同事一起嘲笑的靶子。

　　At the opposite extreme, there is a cascade of drivel that starts with the CEO and flows down through everyone in the organisation. Everyone has to listen and follow, and those that refuse to do so get shunted to the side.

　　在另一个极端，废话呈瀑布状，从首席执行官开始，一路往下流，组织中的每个人都难以幸免。所有人都必须倾听并遵从，拒绝这样做的人则被边缘化。

　　Does your organisation actually believe its “values”? Is it really trying to “live and breathe” them? I have a nasty feeling that this might be the case. It sounds as if everyone has been told they will be judged according to how seriously they take the “Winning Organisation” claptrap — with the result that some bright spark has had the genius idea of applying it to the dress code. This is bad, but still liveable with if no action was expected from you and you could just laugh about it.

　　你的东家真的相信自己的“价值观”吗?它真的试图赋予这些价值观生命吗?我有一种不祥的预感，有可能真是如此。听起来好像每个人都被告知，将根据他们对“成功组织”溢美之辞的重视程度来评判他们的表现——其结果是一些聪明人想到了把它应用于着装规范的天才想法。这样的公司很糟，但假如没人期望你有所行动、你可以对此一笑置之的话，你仍可以接着待下去。

　　The thing that makes me worried is that you sent the problem to me. This suggests you had to go to an outsider to complain. But worst of all, the fact that you are even considering — even if only ironically — complying with something so brainless as an “outcome-based” dress code makes me fear it might be time for you to go somewhere that takes drivel less seriously.

　　让我担心的地方在于，你将这一问题发给我。这表明，你不得不找一个局外人来听你的抱怨。但最糟糕的是，你甚至正在考虑——即便只是出于讽刺——遵守一种愚蠢到要求“基于结果”的着装规定，这让我担心，或许你应该换一个对待职场废话不那么认真的东家了。

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（实习编辑：高奕飞）