An office treats Samir’s agreement as a resource it can always rely on. A short refusal reveals how little his colleagues have asked about that agreement.
01Read the Arabic story
الزَّمِيلُ الَّذِي كَانَ يَقُولُ نَعَمْ دَائِمًا
فِي مَكْتَبِ النَّشْرِ كُنَّا نَقُولُ إِنَّ سَمِيرًا لَا يَرُدُّ طَلَبًا. لَمْ نَعُدَّ ذَلِكَ وَصْفًا لِسُلُوكِهِ فَحَسْبُ، بَلْ ضَمَانًا نَبْنِي عَلَيْهِ خُطَطَنَا. إِذَا تَأَخَّرَ تَسْلِيمٌ أَوْ غَابَ زَمِيلٌ، وَضَعْنَا الْمِلَفَّ الْأَزْرَقَ عَلَى طَرَفِ مَكْتَبِهِ. كَانَ يَبْتَسِمُ وَيَقُولُ نَعَمْ، وَكُنَّا نَشْكُرُهُ بِالصِّفَةِ نَفْسِهَا الَّتِي جَعَلَتْ طَلَبَنَا سَهْلًا: مُتَعَاوِنٌ.
فِي اجْتِمَاعٍ امْتَدَّ بَعْدَ مَوْعِدِهِ، طَلَبَتْ هَالَةُ مِنْهُ الْبَقَاءَ عَشْرَ دَقَائِقَ أُخْرَى. أَغْلَقَ قَلَمَهُ وَقَالَ بِهُدُوءٍ إِنَّهُ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُ. انْتَظَرْنَا سَبَبًا يَجْعَلُ الرَّفْضَ مَقْبُولًا لَدَيْنَا، لَكِنَّهُ لَمْ يُضِفْ شَيْئًا. سَأَلَ أَحَدُنَا إِنْ كَانَ غَاضِبًا، فَأَجَابَ أَنَّ لَدَيْهِ مَوْعِدًا، وَأَنَّهُ أَخْبَرَنَا بِوَقْتِ مُغَادَرَتِهِ صَبَاحًا. كَانَتِ السَّاعَةُ أَمَامَنَا طَوَالَ الْجَلْسَةِ.
بَعْدَ خُرُوجِهِ، قَالَتْ هَالَةُ إِنَّهُ رُبَّمَا يَحْتَاجُ إِلَى رَاحَةٍ. بَدَا التَّفْسِيرُ مُرِيحًا لَنَا؛ فَهُوَ يَجْعَلُ الْمُشْكِلَةَ تَعَبَهُ الْعَابِرَ، لَا طَرِيقَتَنَا فِي تَوْزِيعِ الْعَمَلِ. وَمَعَ ذَلِكَ، لَمْ نَكُنْ نَعْرِفُ مَا يَشْعُرُ بِهِ. كَتَبْنَا الْمَهَامَّ الْمُعَلَّقَةَ عَلَى أَوْرَاقٍ لَاصِقَةٍ، وَجَمَعْنَاهَا عَلَى اللَّوْحَةِ. تَكَرَّرَ اسْمُهُ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَيِّ اسْمٍ آخَرَ، حَتَّى فِي أَعْمَالٍ لَا تَتَّصِلُ بِتَخَصُّصِهِ.
فِي الْيَوْمِ التَّالِي، أَرَيْنَاهُ اللَّوْحَةَ وَاقْتَرَحْنَا رَفْعَ الْمَهَامِّ الْإِضَافِيَّةِ عَنْهُ. اعْتَرَضَ عَلَى نَقْلِ تَصْمِيمِ الْغِلَافِ؛ فَقَدْ اخْتَارَهُ لِأَنَّهُ يُحِبُّهُ. أَمَّا مُتَابَعَةُ التَّسْلِيمِ فَلَمْ يَكُنْ يَعْرِفُ أَنَّهَا أَصْبَحَتْ مَسْؤُولِيَّتَهُ الدَّائِمَةَ. قَالَ إِنَّهُ وَافَقَ عَلَيْهَا مَرَّةً، وَلَمْ يَقُلْ إِنَّهُ يُرِيدُهَا كُلَّ مَرَّةٍ. لَمْ تَكُنْ إِعَادَةُ التَّوْزِيعِ مُجَرَّدَ إِنْقَاصِ عَدَدِ الْأَوْرَاقِ تَحْتَ اسْمِهِ.
عَدَّلْنَا اللَّوْحَةَ، وَتَأَخَّرَ عَمَلٌ كُنَّا نَتَوَقَّعُ إِنْجَازَهُ فِي ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمِ. لَمْ يَرْضَ الْجَمِيعُ عَنِ التَّأْخِيرِ. وَعِنْدَمَا وَصَلَ طَلَبٌ عَاجِلٌ قَبْلَ الظُّهْرِ، الْتَفَتْنَا إِلَى سَمِيرٍ بِالْحَرَكَةِ الْقَدِيمَةِ نَفْسِهَا. قَالَ نَعَمْ، ثُمَّ سَحَبَ اللَّوْحَةَ نَحْوَنَا وَسَأَلَ أَيَّ عَمَلٍ نُؤَجِّلُ لِنُفْسِحَ لَهُ وَقْتًا. هَذِهِ الْمَرَّةَ، طَالَ الصَّمْتُ فِي جِهَتِنَا مِنَ الطَّاوِلَةِ.
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In the publishing office, we used to say that Samir never turned down a request. We treated this not merely as a description of his behaviour but as a guarantee on which to build our plans. If a delivery ran late or a colleague was absent, we placed the blue folder on the edge of his desk. He would smile and say yes, and we thanked him with the very description that had made asking easy: helpful.
At a meeting that ran past its scheduled time, Hala asked him to stay another ten minutes. He capped his pen and calmly said he could not. We waited for a reason that would make the refusal acceptable to us, but he added nothing. One of us asked whether he was angry. He replied that he had an appointment and had told us that morning when he would leave. The clock had been in front of us throughout the meeting.
After he left, Hala said that perhaps he needed a rest. The explanation seemed convenient to us: it made his temporary tiredness the problem, rather than how we allocated work. Nevertheless, we did not know how he felt. We wrote the outstanding tasks on sticky notes and gathered them on the board. His name appeared more often than any other, even on work unrelated to his specialism.
The next day, we showed him the board and proposed removing his extra tasks. He objected to transferring the cover design; he had chosen it because he enjoyed it. As for following up deliveries, he had not known that it had become his permanent responsibility. He said he had agreed to it once, not that he wanted it every time. Redistributing the work was not simply a matter of reducing the number of notes beneath his name.
We revised the board, and a job we had expected to finish that day was delayed. Not everyone was happy about the delay. When an urgent request arrived before noon, we turned towards Samir with the same old movement. He said yes, then pulled the board towards us and asked which job we should postpone to make time for it. This time, the silence lasted on our side of the table.
02Useful words from the story
| Arabic in the story | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| ضَمَانًا | a guarantee |
| مُتَعَاوِنٌ | helpful; cooperative |
| الْبَقَاءَ | staying |
| الْعَابِرَ | temporary |
| الْمَهَامَّ الْمُعَلَّقَةَ | the outstanding tasks |
| لَاصِقَةٍ | sticky; adhesive |
| بِتَخَصُّصِهِ | to his specialism |
| إِنْقَاصِ | reducing |
| عَاجِلٌ | urgent |
| لِنُفْسِحَ | so that we make room |
03Check your understanding
Choose one answer per question. Follow the details, shifts in perspective and limits of what the characters know. Open the English support when needed.
What to remember
- The group benefits from treating agreement as permanent availability; its own narration gradually exposes that assumption.
- A fairer allocation must consider preferences and time, not just count tasks or remove everything extra.
Explore the Arabic in this story
Related grammar and vocabularyOpen Araqick guides connected to this story.
Arabic Past-Tense Endings: I Wrote, You Wrote and We Wrote
كَتَبْنَا الْمَهَامَّ الْمُعَلَّقَةَ
Identify the group as the writers through the -na ending in katabna.
Arabic Prepositions with Pronouns: To Me, On Me and With Us
ضَمَانًا نَبْنِي عَلَيْهِ خُطَطَنَا
Follow the attached pronoun in alayhi back to the guarantee the group relies on.
