Unless you leave ridiculously early every morning, you'll eventually be late for work. Traffic happens, as do wardrobe malfunctions and flat tires. Even the most controlling boss will understand an occasional delay. When tardiness becomes a regular occurrence, however, you'll likely find yourself on the other end of a serious talk. When you've done everything you can and you're still running late, there are a few things you can do to minimize the damage.
如果你不是天剛亮就出門，你總會上班遲到的。交通堵塞，這與著裝事故或輪胎漏氣是一樣平常的事情。即使是控制欲最強的老板也會理解你偶爾一兩次的遲到。然而，當你的遲到已經變成家常便飯了，也許你就面臨一次嚴肅的交談了。當你已經竭盡所能，卻仍然免不了遲到，那么你可以做一些事情降低遲到的損害。

1. Call as Soon as Possible
1. 盡快打電話

If you think you'll be at your desk by a few minutes after your designated start time, you may be fine unless you're needed to answer phones or relieve someone else. As soon as it becomes apparent that you'll arrive more than a few minutes late, however, you should put in a call to your boss to warn him or her about the delay.
如果你感覺自己就要比預定時間晚到幾分鐘，那還是問題不大的，但如果你有必要等待客戶的電話或為別人替班，情況就不一樣了。當你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己真的要晚到幾分鐘了，那就盡快打電話通知老板，告訴他/她你將會晚到。

Once you've put that call in, try not to stress out. There's only so much you can do to get from Point A to Point B, especially if traffic is your obstacle. Stop obsessively staring at the clock and try to do something that relaxes you. If you allow your late arrival to spoil your mood for the day, you'll be less productive when you do finally get to your desk.
當你決定了打電話，也不要太緊張。從此地到彼地，你能做的就只能是這樣了，特別當你遇到交通堵塞的時候。不要頻繁地盯著手表看，做點別的讓自己輕松的事情。如果你被遲到影響了當天的情緒，上班的時候你的工作效率就會大大減低。

2.Make Sure Your Work Is Covered
2. 確保工作已有人照料

Making a phone call to your boss is only the beginning. If your job relies on you being at your desk at a designated time, contact one of your coworkers to cover for you. If you have an important report or project due, see if someone else can help you out. Your boss will be impressed that you were able to keep things moving even when you were delayed.
致電老板僅僅是個開始。如果你的工作任務需要你在特定的時間到崗，那就聯(lián)系一位同事為你先照料著。如果你有一項重要的報告或項目需要提交，那就看看有沒有人能夠幫助你。若你能在遲到的前提下仍然保持事情井然有序地運行，你的老板會對你另眼相看的。

When you're finally at your desk, put in extra time to make up for your tardiness. This may mean working through lunch or staying an hour late. Make sure your work gets done in spite of your lateness and your boss is likely to be more forgiving.
當你終于回到了公司，那就額外找時間彌補你的遲到時間?？赡苄枰愎ぷ髦廖绮蜁r間，或下班后多留下來一個小時。要保證自己即使遲到了，也能完成任務，這樣老板就能體諒你了。

3. Follow Through on Promises
3. 信守承諾

If your late arrival goes beyond a few minutes, head straight to your boss's office and apologize in person for being late. Try to avoid giving excuses and instead focus on what you plan to do to keep this from happening in the future. If it means leaving a half an hour early every day to beat your town's unpredictable traffic, let the boss know you fully plan to do that.
如果你遲到遠遠不止幾分鐘，那就直接親自找老板道歉吧。不要找借口，而應該保證如何避免將來發(fā)生同樣的事情。如果你需要每天提前半小時出門來避免突如其來的交通堵塞，你就要讓老板知道你的決心。

After you've made those promises, take extra effort to keep them. Make sure your one-time late arrival is just that. Be consistently on time, day after day, week after week, and an occasional traffic snafu will likely be overlooked.
向老板許下了承諾，就多花點心思去保持。確保你這一次的遲到僅僅就這一次。讓守時成為習慣，天復一天，周復一周，那么偶爾的一次交通堵塞基本可以忽略不計了。

4. Get to Work
4. 盡快投入到工作中

It can be tempting to rush into work, sharing your harrowing morning with your coworkers. All this may do however is disrupt the workplace and call attention to the fact that you were late. Instead, breeze through the door and wish your coworkers a good morning. Then jump right into work.
也許你倉促地趕到公司，然后跟同事抱怨你的不幸早晨，是一件再正常不過的事情了。但是這樣做就會擾亂公司秩序，還讓別人知道你遲到了。所以你倒不如輕輕地走進辦公室，祝愿同事有一個美好的早晨，然后投入到工作當中吧。

That said, don't assume that your coworkers don't notice your late arrival, especially if it happens on a regular basis. Even if your boss seems unfazed by your lack of reliability, those around you may start to feel resentful. Your boss may even have given you permission to work late to make up for it on the occasions you're late, but your coworkers may not know that. In time, they may start to treat you differently and even complain to your boss about your behavior.
這樣做，就別以為同事沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)你的遲到了，尤其是你常常遲到的情況下。即使老板看上去很平靜，你身邊的同事也會感到厭惡。也許老板已經允許你晚點下班完成任務了，但你的同事卻不知道真實情況。所以，他們可能會排斥你，甚至向老板投訴。

Nobody plans to be late for work, but it happens to the best of us. If you make it an exception instead of a rule, your boss will likely understand and be more lenient when it does happen. The best you can often do is let your boss know ahead of time that you'll be late and do your best to make sure your work is covered.
雖然沒有人是有計劃遲到的，但是都會發(fā)生在我們的身上。如果你的遲到只是偶爾的一次例外，而不是常規(guī)，你的老板會理解的，對你的遲到會更寬容。你能做好的就是提前告訴你的老板，然后盡自己最大的能力確保工作已經被照料妥當了。

聲明：本雙語文章的中文翻譯系滬江英語原創(chuàng)內容，轉載請注明出處。中文翻譯僅代表譯者個人觀點，僅供參考。如有不妥之處，歡迎指正。