職場禮節美語:Thanking Notes 感謝卡

陳豪在北京的ABC美國公司工作，他到美國同事Amy的辦公室去找她。

(Office ambience)

C：Amy, 你有時間嗎?

A：I can always make time for you, Chen Hao. What's the matter?

C：我有個客戶，聽說我搬家，專門送了我一幅畫兒。

A：That doesn't sound like a problem. It sounds more like a nice gesture.

C：可是那畫的顏色和風格跟我的公寓格格不入。

A：That's too bad. He probably chose something he would like to have and didn't consider your taste. I hope you thanked him for it anyway.

C：我覺得也是，給別人買東西，應該買別人喜歡的纔對。不過我還是打算髮個電子郵件，謝謝他，但是不知道怎麼寫，所以來請教你。

A：Well, first of all, you shouldn't use e-mail to thank someone for a gift. A proper note of gratitude should be handwritten.

C：什麼是 gra--ti--tude?

A：Gratitude is the same as thanks or appreciation.

C：那一定要手寫嗎？

A：E-mail is impersonal and lacks warmth. The effort you make to show your gratitude should match the effort that your client expended in sending you the gift.

C：我能不能買張現成的感謝卡，在上面加上一句，然後籤個字呢？

A：I'm sorry, but that won't do either. You need to demonstrate your good manners by composing a personal note in your own words on the appropriate stationery.

C：你能陪我去買合適的卡片嗎？

A：I don't have time now. But let's meet at the stationery store at noon.

******

MC：中午，陳豪和Amy一起到卡片專賣店。

C：Amy, 這種可以摺疊的感謝卡挺大方的。

A：They are acceptable, but not as classy as these correspondence cards that are made of heavier stock paper.

C：噢，correspondence cards，就是回覆卡。

A：You should order some with your name engraved across the top for future use.

C：我說有時候收到別人的卡片，上面還有名字的縮寫，原來是可以訂做的呀。好，就買這個。不過我還是不知道怎麼寫。

A：It's not so hard, and you don't have to be dishonest.

C：你啓發啓發我。

A：You can tell your client how much you appreciate his thoughtfulness and generosity in sending you a painting by this artist.

C：有了。我就說“你怎麼知道我家到處都是白牆的？畫兒是我最需要的。”這樣寫，他也不知道我是不是喜歡那幅畫。

A：And you have all the elements of a proper thank you note.

C：Amy, 你能再重複一下寫感謝卡的注意事項嗎？

A：A note of thanks is hand written on quality notepaper. It begins with a specific reference to the gift, remarks about its quality, why you appreciate it and how you will use it.

C：這麼說，其實也不難嘛。謝謝你，Amy.