I always try to keep job stress from spilling over into my personal life. Sometimes I fail. And now and then, a situation crops up that makes me regret it。

　　我總是努力控制工作壓力，不讓它影響到我的私人生活。有時我也沒做到。偶爾，也會出現讓我對此深感懊惱的情況。

　　After a long day at work recently, racing to hit deadlines and falling behind on my to-do list, I took a call from Josh, an installation guy for a new Internet service I'm trying out. I'd left a message for him hours earlier; I was already annoyed when I picked up the phone, and my impatience spilled into our conversation。

　　不久前有一次，我忙了一整天趕時間，但還是沒完成我預定的任務，這時我接到喬希(Josh)的電話，我正要嘗試的一項新的互聯網服務將由他來負責安裝。好幾個小時之前我就給他的電話留了言。當我拿起電話的時候已經很生氣了，這種不耐煩情緒終于影響到了我們的談話。

　　He offered to come to my house two days later. Then we had to plod through my providing a credit card number, e-mail address and directions. By the time we hung up, I'd missed a couple of work calls and I was aware that I sounded grumpy ″ even though Josh remained pleasant and polite。

　　他提出兩天后到我家來。然后我們不得不費勁地弄完手續，提供我的信用卡卡號、電子郵箱地址，我還給他指了到我家的路該怎么走。到我掛電話的時候，已經錯過了兩個工作電話，我意識到自己聽上去氣鼓鼓的，而喬希仍保持著和氣和禮貌。

　　Job stress can easily spill over into personal and family life. People who are relatively powerless service workers, children and other innocent bystanders often bear the brunt. I've written about how pent-up stress caused by dealing with impatient customers spills over into the personal lives of customer-service workers, who take their frustrations home and vent on their partners and pets. And within the family, most children say that if they were granted one wish on how to improve parents' juggles, they wish Mom and Dad would come home less stressed, according to a study of 1,000 children by Ellen Galinsky of the Families and Work Institute. Drawing solid boundaries between work stress and other people in your life can be critical。

　　工作壓力很容易就滲透進個人及家庭生活中。那些無權無勢的人──服務人員、兒童以及其他無辜者──往往成了受害者。我曾經撰文指出，客戶服務人員因為和壞脾氣的顧客打交道而壓抑的情緒怎樣影響到了他們自己的個人生活，他們往往會把挫折感帶回家，遷怒于家人和寵物。家庭與工作協會(Families and Work Institute)的艾倫·蓋林斯基(Ellen Galinsky)對1,000名兒童所做的調查顯示，大多數兒童都表示，如果他們有一個關于父母工作的愿望可以成真的話，他們會希望父母回家時不要帶著那么大的工作壓力。在你的工作之外筑就一堵高墻、保護其他人不受你工作壓力的影響是非常重要的。

　　When Josh's appointed installation day arrived, I kept expecting him for hours, but he was a no-show. Then, at 6:30 p.m., just as my family was sitting down for dinner, the doorbell rang. It was Josh, smiling and ready to work. Annoyed, I told him I'd expected him much earlier, but I left my dinner and let him in。

　　到了喬希約定來訪的那天，我等了他幾個小時，不過他沒有出現。然而，到了下午六點半，我和家人坐在一起正要準備吃飯時，偏偏門鈴向了。我一看，正是一臉笑意、準備開工的喬希。我有點生氣，告訴他我以為他早就會來，但我還是擱下了我的晚飯，把他請了進來。

　　We had a few laughs as he worked, and the service he installed was terrific. Then, he astonished me by remarking, as he was preparing to leave, that I had brightened his day。

　　當他工作的時候，我們還談笑了一番，他給我安裝的服務非常棒。當喬希準備告辭的時候，他說的話讓我很震驚，他說我點亮了他那一天的生活。

　　It had been a tough one, he said. He and his wife, already parents of a child with cystic fibrosis, had gotten word that their second baby, due later this year, would almost certainly have Down syndrome. Right after he got the news, a truck rear-ended his car at a stoplight, sending him to the emergency room with a painful case of whiplash。

　　他說，今天太難熬了。他和他妻子已經有了一個患囊腫性纖維化癥的孩子，今天又得知將于今年晚些時候出生的第二個孩子幾乎肯定患有唐氏綜合癥。在獲悉這個消息后，喬希的車在紅燈前又被一輛卡車追了尾，他不得不因為劇痛的頸椎過度屈伸損傷而到急診室接受治療。

　　With a big smile, Josh thanked me for making his day better, and apologized for being late. Feeling sheepish and ashamed, I remembered the adage, 'never criticize another until you have walked a mile in his shoes.' I wished Josh and his family well with as much warmth and heart as I could, and waved good-by. I have been thinking ever since about his situation, reflecting on my need to set better boundaries and give more respect to everyone I encounter; who knows what they may be juggling?

　　臉上掛著一個大大的笑容，喬希感謝我讓他的一天過得好受了一些，并對自己的遲到表示了歉意。我感到又慚愧，又不好意思，我想起了這樣一句老話：家家有本難念的經──只有設身處地，才能知道誰都不容易。我真心真意地祝愿喬希家人一切安好，并向他揮手告別。從那以后我一直在想喬希的處境，并反思自己確實需要在工作和其他事務之間劃一道更分明的界限、并給予我遇到的人更多尊重，誰知道他們是不是也是負擔多多呢？