My Six-Year -Old Boss and His Work Persona:Cheerful with a Dash of Megalomania1

By Michelle Hauser

在争取经济独立、思想独立的努力过后，很多女人意识到，与其当个应接不暇、身心疲惫的女强人，不如回归家庭，为所爱的人付出时间和精力，才是真正地价值非凡且乐在其中。

The factory had been burglarized, our overseas shipment was lost at sea, and if the bank didn’t come through with interim financing we weren’t going to make payroll.2. burglarize: 闯入……盗窃；come through: 资助；interim: 临时的，过渡的；payroll: 工资单。

Basically, things couldn’t have been any worse.

The young entrepreneur looked at me with pleading eyes,3. entrepreneur: 企业家；pleading: 恳求的。hoping I had a solution to at least some of our problems. I’d had no experience in the manufacturing industry4. manufacturing industry: 制造业。before he hired me.Not surprisingly, ever since I joined his team we’d been stuck in the weeds. Clearly I was out of my depth5. out of depth: 力所不及。.

I glanced at the clock. It was 8:45 am.

“Listen,” I said, the gravitas in my voice reinforcing the seriousness of the situation,6. gravitas: 严肃；reinforce: 强化，深化。“It’s time for you to go to school. Let’s wrap it up for now, and we’ll sort all this out tomorrow.7. wrap up: 完成，结束；sort out: 解决。”

My son nodded in agreement. The game, and our increasingly melodramatic improvisations,would remain in suspended animation until another day of Grade 1 was done and The Widget Store could, once again, open for business.8. 这场游戏，连同我们愈发戏剧化的即兴表演，将暂停至一年级的儿子一天学业结束，到那时，“小器具商店”就可以再次开张迎客了。melodramatic:戏剧似的；improvisation: 即兴表演；suspended animation: 历程中断。

Last summer, when I was weighing the pros and cons of quitting my job to experiment with simpler living, I wasn’t sure where the career offramp would take me.9. pros and cons: 赞成与反对；off-ramp:（公路上的）驶出匝道，这里指事业上的短暂中断。

The Sheryl Sandbergs of the world warn that this can be a one-way ticket to the dead-end life of a woman with too many gaps in her resume.10. Sheryl Sandberg: 雪莉·桑德伯格，Facebook首席运营官；dead-end: 没有出路的，没有前途的；gap:差距，空白；resume: 履历，简历。

Most of my women friends, on the other hand, were supportive11. supportive: 支持的，扶持的。. They identi fied with my longing to be more physically and emotionally available as a mother while also having the freedom to explore flexible career options.12. 她们都支持我作为母亲，渴望能更全身心地陪伴孩子，同时仍保有我探寻灵活的职业选择的自由。identify with: 赞成。

In the end, I decided to take the plunge13. take the plunge: 冒险一试。. In one great cannonball leap I said good-bye to a steady paycheque and hello to an uncertain future.14. cannonball: 炮弹，此处用比喻义；paycheque: 工薪。

September came and my afternoons were soon filled with a six-year-old boy, his school bus friends and loaves15. loaves: loaf的复数形式，条形面包。of freshly baked banana bread. My evenings were spent writing and my nights were occasionally sleepless,spent cursing whoever put the “free” in freelancing.16. curse: 诅咒；freelancing: 自由职业。

As for my mornings? Thanks to a vintage Fisher Price phone (one of my husband’s childhood treasures carefully preserved in his mother’s basement), they were quickly surrendered to the proprietor of The Widget Store.17. 托了古老的费雪牌电话的福（我丈夫保存在他母亲地下室里的童年珍宝之一），我早晨的时间很快被“小器具商店”的老板给占去了。vintage:古老的；Fisher Price: 美国费雪牌；proprietor: 业主。

I’ll never forget my job interview. I was making beds when the Fisher Price phone rang, summoning18. summon: 召集，召唤。me: “Ringring, ring-ring.”

He was negotiating with a customer when I arrived.

“Your order will be there right away!” he said, motioning19. motion: 用头或手势示意。for me to take a seat at the table beside him.

The desk and chairs in his of fice were small and a bit uncomfortable for a woman of my size and build. With my knees scrunched up to my chest, I took a seat, feigning nonchalance.20. scrunch up: 蜷缩；feign: 假装，佯装；nonchalance: 漠不关心，若无其事。

The Spiderman poster taped to the wall contrasted with the yellow-and-white gingham21. gingham: 方格花布。curtains on the bay window.The room had gone from a baby’s nursery to a little boys’play zone to the centre of operations for a manufacturing operation. It had all happened in the blink of an eye22. in the blink of an eye: 眨眼间。. There had been no time to redecorate23. redecorate: 再装饰。.

As I listened to the tail end24. tail end: 结尾。of his imaginary conversation, I figured out that there had been a mixup between green and blue widgets on a recent order. Clearly, the young CEO was doing a lot of problem-solving around the supply chain. If I got the job, an overhaul of logistics and distribution would be my first order of business.25. overhaul: 改革；logistics: 后勤，物流；distribution: 配送，销售。

The character of man-in-charge my son conjured up was just what I would have expected:cheerful with a dollop of megalomania.26. conjure up: 在脑海中显现；dollop: 少许掺和物。

He hung up the phone and turned to me. “As I said, I have a job for you here at The Widget Store ...if you want it.”

“What kind of a job is it?” I asked.

“Well, I need someone to work in my of fice with me. I will be the boss and you will be my helper.”

“Do I need to do a lot of math?” I asked, “I’m not very good at math.”

“No, no, no,” he said, quickly brushing aside my apprehensions,27. brush aside: 抹去，挥去；apprehension: 忧虑，担心。“we have a computer that does all of that stuff!”

“Don’t you at least want to see my resume?” I asked.

“Just a second,” he said, making a “T” with his hands—the universal sign for “time-out.”

That’s when Joseph leaned in28. lean in: 凑近。and whispered,“Mommy, what’s a resume?” To which I replied,“It’s the piece of paper that says all the important stuff I’ve done in my life.”

I slid my imaginary resume across the table.Talk about gaps.

“When do you want me to start?” I asked,signalling a return to the game.

“Right away!” he said.

In due course29. in due course: 在适当的时候。we talked about salary and benefits. That, of course, is the only downside to my morning shifts at The Widget Store.

But, aside from that, it’s the best job I’ve ever had. I can’t shake the feeling that it’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. You know—the kind of long-term venture with a really bright future.