So, you started your day checking social media sites or chat rooms where vitriol-laced personal attacks, especially about politics, have become the norm. Then, when you stopped off to pick up a few things on your way to work, some guy with too many items in the express checkout¹ line ran his cart over your toe with no hint² of an apology. By the time a fellow motorist (or several) had cut you off in traffic, perhaps with a rude hand gesture or two, wasn't it a relief to get to the office?

每天早上起得床来，打开手机在社交媒体或网络聊天室逛上一圈，听听键盘侠们开地图炮，就政治问题一顿互喷；吃完早饭取个快递，一位外卖小哥的电瓶车轧到了你的脚趾头，连句道歉都没有，便风驰电掣而去；开车上班路上，一个哥们儿车走龙蛇，强行变道超了你，还对你竖了个中指。这样一比较，坐在办公室里上班是不是要开心多了？

If you're like most other Americans, the answer is a definite yes. A survey of 1,481 working adults earlier this year, by public relations firm Weber Shandwick and KRC Research, found that 93% think public rudeness is on the rise, and most (69%) see that as a "major problem." Moreover, it's getting worse.

如果你也是个普通老百姓，那么答案必然是肯定的。今年年初，公关公司万博宣伟和KRC研究公司对1481名美国职场人进行了一项调查，结果发现，93%的人认为公共场合中的粗鲁行为正变得越来越多，大多数人（69%）认为这是一个“重要问题”。而这种“礼崩乐坏”现象正变得愈发严重。

Weber Shandwick has conducted this survey annually³ since 2010, and found in 2016 that people reported encountering an average of 6.2 instances per week of obnoxious⁴ behavior or uncalled-for speech. Just two years later, the number of weekly "incidents of incivility" had shot up to 10.6.

万博宣伟自2010年开始每年都会进行这样一次调查。2016年该公司发现，普通人每周平均会遭遇6.2起不文明行为或不必要的口角之争。仅仅两年后，这个数字已经飙升到10.6起。

The exception, it seems, is the workplace. More than 90% of us see work as a "civility safety zone," the study says, up somewhat from 86% two years ago.

唯一的例外，貌似就是职场了。研究认为，超过九成的人认为职场是个“文明安全地带”，这个比例要高于两年前的86%。

Not only that, but workplaces are apparently⁵ getting more civil as time goes by. For instance, 2011, when companies were still reeling from the Great Recession, was a very rude year. Well over one in three employees (43%) reported being on the receiving end of one or more "incidents of incivility."

不仅如此，随着时间的推移，职场还显然变得越来越文明。比如2011年，所有企业在金融危机的冲击下自身难保时，有三分之一以上（43%）的受访者表示，他们在职场中遭遇了一起以上的“不文明行为”。

By 2018, that had declined to 29%—markedly lower than the number who said they have run into rudeness online (39%), while shopping (39%), or while driving (also 39%).

而到2018年，这个比例已降至29%，明显低于他们在上网时（39%）、购物时（39%）或驾车时（39%）遭遇的不文明行为。

Why are people nicer to each other at work than elsewhere?

为什么人们在职场中会变得更友好？

It's partly simple self-interest, of course. Less-than-courteous driving or letting loose with an online screed⁶ is, after all, unlikely to cost anyone his or her next raise or promotion⁷, while being on one's best behavior in any professional setting is generally a common-sense career move. It's no coincidence that, while Facebook and Twitter are crawling with trolls, LinkedIn is not.

当然，这在一定程度上是出于自身利益。毕竟不文明驾驶或者网络暴力不会导致一个人失去升职加薪的机会，然而在职场中，你要时时保持自己的专业形象，这一点早就是职场人的共识了。这就是为什么Facebook和推特都在跟假新闻和网络暴力作斗争，而领英却完全没有这个麻烦。

But the research also suggests there's more to it. Recent trends in how companies operate seem to have the welcome (if inadvertent) effect of encouraging coworkers to play nice.

但研究也表明，除此之外，还有其他一些因素。最近，企业界的潮流是鼓励文明友善的工作环境。

"CEOs, and managers at all levels, now are focused on collaboration⁸, and on creating a collegial 'Best Places to Work' culture, in order to attract the best available talent," observes Leslie Gaines-Ross, Weber Shandwick's chief reputation strategist, who has been overseeing the civility surveys for the past decade. "That emphasis on teamwork really requires civil interactions between people."

万博宣伟的首席声誉策略师莱斯利·盖恩斯-罗斯常年从事对社会不文明行为的研究，他表示：“企业CEO和各级经理现在都很关注协作问题，并致力于打造一个‘最佳工作环境’，以吸引最优秀的人才。而团队合作，则需要人与人之间的良好互动。”

Nonetheless, even in workplaces where courtesy rules, a significant minority of employees believes there's more to be done.

尽管如此，即便是在一个相互尊重的工作环境里，也有相当一部分员工认为，在礼貌问题上还有很大的提升空间。

Asked what changes they'd like to see by 2025, 32% said that gratuitous⁹ nastiness "will be considered a form of harassment," and 32% hope that "civility training will be mandatory¹⁰."

当被当被问到2025年他们希望看到什么变化时，有32%的受访者表示，他们希望莫名其妙的污言秽语“将被认定为一种性骚扰”。还有32%的受访者表示：“希望文明培训成为一门必修课”。