10、不可掉以輕心的出差

10、不可掉以輕心的出差

自從加入Innovo以來，Nancy還從沒有到美國總部出差過。她一直期待能有這樣一個(gè)機(jī)會，能和總部的同事們面對面地交流。VP Johnson每年都有至少一個(gè)月的時(shí)間回美國去，其中半個(gè)月是vacation（假期），另外就是每個(gè)quarter（季度）要到總部匯報(bào)工作和接受培訓(xùn)，一般每次要在美國stay（停留）一周的時(shí)間，除去在飛機(jī)上的時(shí)間，從機(jī)場到公司的時(shí)間，實(shí)際上每次到headquarter也是來去匆匆。所以每次出發(fā)前他都會叫secretary幫他提前幾天做好trip schedule，然后征求各方面的意見進(jìn)行調(diào)整，以免和其他同事的日程安排發(fā)生contradiction（沖突），浪費(fèi)有限的出差時(shí)間。

這次Johnson又要去美國了，他決定帶上Nancy一同前往，讓她在business trip（出差）中幫助自己處理一些事務(wù)。Nancy得到notification（通知）后興奮得不得了，她終于有機(jī)會到總部去看看了，說不定還能順便游覽一下美利堅(jiān)合眾國。

出發(fā)三周前，Johnson就通知Nancy趕快準(zhǔn)備visa application（簽證）。Nancy給American Embassy打電話咨詢申請簽證的程序，這個(gè)電話可真是名副其實(shí)的hotline（熱線），她連著打了一個(gè)小時(shí)也沒有打通，不是busyline（占線），就是no answer（無人接聽）。她索性把這個(gè)號碼save（保存）在電話記錄里，每隔五分鐘就redial（重?fù)埽┮淮?，試了無數(shù)遍之后，電話終于打通了。使館顯然是每天都要回答很多次同樣的問題，竟然設(shè)了自助語音答復(fù)。在一次又一次地按提示選擇了要咨詢的內(nèi)容后，Nancy終于找到了她要了解的內(nèi)容。按照提示的要求，去美國的business visa（商務(wù)簽證）需要準(zhǔn)備的documents（材料）很多，比起之前去其他國家的手續(xù)顯然麻煩很多。Nancy算算時(shí)間，必須得趕緊準(zhǔn)備申請材料了，否則在出發(fā)前可能會拿不到簽證的。而Johnson卻不需要這些手續(xù)，他是US civilian（美國公民），以他的長期駐華work permission（工作許可），可以在被許可valid period（有效期）內(nèi)，在中國和美國之間自由出入。

Nancy叫assistant幫她去使館提交了要求的材料，又親自去進(jìn)行了interview，終于在離出發(fā)還有三天時(shí)拿到了簽證。Nancy長舒了一口氣，因?yàn)樵偻硪惶焖峙戮陀啿坏絝light（航班）了。

出發(fā)前，Johnson把這次business trip需要向總部匯報(bào)的工作內(nèi)容和注意事項(xiàng)提前告訴了Nancy，并通知她具體的schedule，讓她按照這個(gè)schedule做好相應(yīng)的準(zhǔn)備：

We must make sure that everything will be fine during the trip. I don't want to bother people or waste our time. You know, we have only four days to make all the things done. One way to make sure that things get done on time is to make up a schedule or calendar.

Here is it. Let's have a look before we go.

Well, we are arriving in New York on Wednesday afternoon. On that night we're all having dinner together at the Queen Hall to meet other colleagues; the next evening we're going to an exhibition of IT products at the State Exhibition Centre, after which we're eating at the hotel.

On Friday afternoon I'm playing golf with my old boss Karl. In the evening we are meeting the others for cocktails and then taking a trip around the bay in a hydrofoil. On Saturday we're all attending a reception given by the American Association of Enterprises at the city hall; that is from 9:30 until late. Sunday night is going to be busy: I'm joining Karl and his family at the Rainbow Room for a pre-theatre dinner, then we're going to see Madame Butterfly at the Imperial Theater. Of course, you will be free to do whatever you like during that time.

On next Monday, we're visiting the model factory on Long Island and then flying out from Kennedy after lunch!

There will also be a formal meeting of Innovo, but the time has not been fixed yet.

Nancy按照這個(gè)schedule把自己的行程和任務(wù)做了一下調(diào)整。為了便于記憶，她把日程input（輸入）在她的blackberry mobile phone（黑莓手機(jī)）里，開通了international roaming（國際漫游）業(yè)務(wù)，以便隨時(shí)收發(fā)電子郵件，在行程中及時(shí)處理公司的事務(wù)。