Work in Milan

 Overtime: The "Great Harmony" of the World

　　I really know myself after going to work, especially in Italy.

　　Before going to work, I had many stereotypes about Italian companies. Of course, these stereotypes all come from observations of Italian life in college: lazy, leaving get off work on time, loving being late, irresponsible. I am also a lazy person, and I once fantasized that I could live the fairy days I have seen in Italian banks, post offices, and police stations, where I chat and drink coffee at get off work, and leave work at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

　　Unexpectedly, these stereotypes become fantasy after real work. My first job was at an architectural firm, and HR arranged for me to interview at the company at 9pm. On the day I received the interview email, I was surprised and delighted, but I also felt that something was wrong: How can there be an Italian company that works so late? After thinking about it in horror for several days, I went as promised. In summer in Italy, the sun has not yet set at 9 pm. When I arrived at the office, the afterglow shone in the crowded office. The rows of computers covered the busy face, and no one wanted to get off work at all.

　　Later, I also used to work overtime until late at night in the afterglow of the sunset. I also truly realize that, despite the gradual backwardness of economy and modernization in Italy, it is indeed a miracle created by a group of designers who are desperate for their ideals.

　　In Italy, there is a world of difference between doing design and doing other industries. Practitioners in other industries stay in the company for an extra second after get off work, which will make people wonder whether his Apennine bloodline has mutated; while people in the design industry have already beautified overtime as an important way to achieve ideal aspirations and sense of responsibility. The more they can get a strange pleasure, all the designers with dark circles but extremely happy cherish each other, make fun of each other, and chase the medals and honors in the few design competitions. At this point, Italian designers rush ahead of people in other industries, connect with the world, and realize the "Great Harmony" of the world.

endure hardship and forbearance

　　When I first graduated, my thoughts about work were very simple: Isn't it just staying up late and working overtime? When I was in my third year of high school in China, which day could I go to bed before 2am? At that time, there were a few Chinese people in the office, and they all worked overtime together with meager wages.

　　I watched a fashion design show called "Project Runway". There was a Chinese designer in the show who said that when he first arrived in the United States, he was very bitter and tired, and he wrote on the wall of his bedroom, "The sky will come and the people will be the same." to motivate yourself. When I went abroad and saw that foreigners couldn't bear hardships so much, I suddenly realized that "endurance" has become a badge of honor for Chinese compatriots - why can't you foreigners suffer like us?

　　Bearing hardships and standing hard work seems to have become a part of Chinese life, and it has indisputable advantages. From setting up stalls to opening laundromats and restaurants, the Chinese have worked hard and passed it down from generation to generation, and the hard-working DNA has also been passed down with the continuation of blood.

　　The Italians' code of conduct is the exact opposite.

　　I first became aware of this problem after jumping to a company that was almost entirely Italian. There is only one Asian in this company besides me, his name is Adri, he is Indonesian, and he is about the same age as me. Unsurprisingly, he and I became the designers who worked the most overtime and always worked late in this company.

　　We often laugh at ourselves as a "coolie combination". The company will call the two of us whenever there is a draft that needs to work overtime. At first I thought it was an affirmation of our ability, but over time I began to question: why are we two again? I am trying to find an answer. Although China and Indonesia are not geographically close, Adri and I have very similar behavior patterns in the company: we don't talk much when we go to work, we never complain about our work, and we say "thank you" and "" I'm sorry" habit. An Italian girl who joined the company at the same time as me often complained that her work was heavy and boring when she got off work, and she complained to her colleagues about the trivial things in her life when she went to work, although all her complaints were normal trivial things in my eyes, after all Doing more work will always be appreciated by the leaders, which is what I often think of as "the sky will come with great responsibilities and so will the people". What amazes me is that her complaints really reduced her workload, and the part that she didn't finish or didn't do well was transferred to me and Adri. I gradually began to question the fact that "the able-bodied do more work", and I felt that I was a fool who worked overtime every day to clean up the mess.

　　In Italian companies, there are two kinds of people who are easily favored by the boss: one is very chatty and good at expressing their ideas to the boss, and the other is strong in execution. Obviously, most of the silent Asians fall into the latter category, and the latter tend to be the most energy-intensive in the company. Fortunately, the cultural atmosphere of our company is not bad. Sometimes I am very grateful for the enthusiasm of Italians. They are like torches, they like to approach you again and again, take the time to actively exchange their inner thoughts, and try to open your frozen mouth and heart. One of my leaders was chatting with me and Adri once. He said that we were both very afraid of the boss and didn't dare to talk to the boss. He said, "Are you all so afraid of your father at home?

　　" Adri told him very firmly: "Yes, I am afraid of Dad."

　　After a year of this conversation, I finally had the courage to write an email to my boss, but I think I may not be able to do it for the rest of my life. Have the courage to give my dad any advice. I grew up with "rules" and I'm not good at expressing my own opinions. Even if I sometimes have my own opinions, it is difficult to find an effective way to express my thoughts and opinions. a "child". I think this may be the reason for my character that is not good at expressing and is particularly forgiving. Silence and forbearance are actually the defense system I built in my childhood to avoid "bad relations" with my parents. In the past, I used to think that this was a rational expression of my ability to withstand difficulties, but now I find that forbearance is actually just avoiding conflict, it can’t solve the problem in essence, it can only make myself bear more pressure.

my real hometown

　　Although Italians like to farm, stay with their family, and have extremely high demands on food, and their habits are surprisingly similar to those of the Chinese in some places, I can still see in them that social and cultural influences on people have long been character building.

　　Italians are more like gregarious animals. They have lived with their grandparents, siblings, and siblings since childhood. For my Italian colleagues, who have now left their hometowns and come to work in Milan alone, colleagues have become their emotional sustenance in place of their relatives and friends. They like to go together in groups for lunch, coffee, and after-get off work gatherings. Working from home alone could kill them. As an Asian child like me, I locked myself in my room to do my homework and play with the computer since I was a child. Over time, I developed the habit of doing everything alone. Such loneliness, in an all-Italian company, is very bizarre—loneliness is a pleasure back in a safe house for me, but torture for Italians.

　　Three or four years ago, when I was at my alma mater in China, I received a group of Italian alumni who were exchange students. When they got to the dormitory, the first thing they did after putting down their luggage was to connect to the Wi-Fi in the dormitory and make video calls with their family members. The people on both ends of the screen were crying, and all the Italians in the dormitory were crying. Looking back, the thing I was most afraid of was saying goodbye to my family - you can only reassure them by showing a particularly tough side in front of your family. I got in the car to the airport and didn't dare to look back at my family as they watched me leave. expression. Forbearance is a cruel thing, it can only make you look cool, but it leaves the cruelest part to the people closest to you and your heart.

　　Jia Zhangke has a quote that particularly touched me: "I am in faraway Beijing, Paris or New York, and I will think of my hometown, and it is only then that I begin to understand my hometown, the relationship between people, the understanding of Society, understand my parents and classmates, understand my hometown, understand a lot of things. So I really got my hometown because I left it.”