Do Your Shoes Fit You Well?

As part of her pursuit for the "Golden Rice Bowl", Huihui gave up her "Iron Rice Bowl" privileges at a state-run enterprise. Simon meets up with her again a few weeks after she has been working in her new company, and he wonders how her new job is going.

           xīn gōng zuò zěn me yàng ā
Simon: 新工作怎么样啊？
            How is your new job?

             āi ，wǎn shàng jiā bān shì jiā cháng biàn fàn
Huihui: 唉，晚上加班是家常便饭。
            Well, it has become very common that we work overtime at night.

             hěn lèi ba
Simon:很累吧？
            It must be tiring.

             gèng lèi de shì lǎo bǎn xǐ huān gěi wǒ chuān xiǎo xié
Huihui:更累的是老板喜欢给我穿小鞋。
             The most tiring thing is that the boss likes to put me through my paces.

"....怎么样?" means "how is ....?" Here Simon asks how the new job is going. Huihui replies that the overtime work is "家常便饭” (jiā cháng biàn fàn ), which literally means "ordinary meal" or "homemade food", but here it refers to "usual practice" or "common things". In old China, when food was scarce, lots of commonly used terms or phrases related to food or eating and were widely used in daily life. For example: 吃力(chī lì), literally meaning "eat hardships", refers to "experiencing difficulties".

Huihui continues talking about her job by complaining about her boss. The original meaning of "穿小鞋" (chuān xiǎo xié) referred to people who deliberately made others wear shoes too small to wear in order to make them uncomfortable. Afterwards people extended the meaning to everyday life. Now it refers to those people who secretly scheme or use their official power in order to give others a hard time. The term is generally used to describe how a superior treats their inferiors. We can say "给(gěi)…穿小鞋(chuān xiǎoxié)".