As highlighted in Chapter Two, small talk, humour, and instances of less formal interaction can contribute considerably to deaf employees’ integration into the workplace. From the questionnaire responses, 30 SLIs stated that they regularly interpreted informal conversations and ‘chitchat’. Twenty five SLIs stated that they
sometimes did so, whilst one SLI stated that they never interpreted this type of interaction, due to the fact that the majority of the staff in their work environment could sign at a level that enabled casual conversation to take place without an SLI. Viewed as being a form of cultural mediation, SLIs see the interpreting of non- transactional talk as being a way of making sure that the client can fully understand all the subtleties and trivia of everyday office life. This can range from interpreting
‘pleasantries, e.g. hello, nice weekend etc’ (Q19a: qr35), to informing the deaf
employee that ‘when someone says did you have a good weekend that doesn’t mean
they want to know what you did from Friday evening until Monday morning etc!’ (Q19a: qr50). As noted in section 5.2.1, SLIs are very aware of the importance of
informal office interactions, stating that they ‘endeavour to interpret political/
organisations issues and social conversations’, as this provides access to the ‘wider issues and promotes understanding and greater inclusion’ (Q18b: qr11). They also
see it as being vital in enabling the deaf employee to ‘‘fit in’ socially with the hearing
office’ and to pick up on ‘conversations in passing’ which inform about issues such as ‘drinks or parties are being planned, someone’s leaving etc… the vital bits of information about work that can be gleaned by overhearing other’s conversations’ (Q18b: qr45).
SLIs indicated a variety of reasons for interpreting, or not interpreting, small talk, ranging from the practical (i.e. actually being able to hear the conversation), through to making decisions about what the deaf client would want interpreted. SLIs have ‘a
lot of power in this situation’ (Q22: qr18) and it is clear that they find this a
challenging issue. Part of their difficulty lies in discerning what to include and what to omit, given that what might be pointless discussions or gossip to the SLI could be essential information for the deaf employee (J13.3, Q18b: qr22).
Some SLIs are taking their cue from the deaf employee as to whether they ‘want to
know the chit chat or would prefer to get on with work more’ (Q18b: qr15), with
some deaf employees informing the SLI if ‘they want to concentrate on their work’ as
‘not getting involved in office ‘chitchat’ is an advantage of their deafness’ (Q18b: qr55). Other clients specify that they only want interrupting if the information is ‘work related’ (Q18b: qr35). One respondent stated that ‘if the chitchat is other
peoples’ -going on in the background etc- the Deaf client often lets me know she is not really interested and to not bother interpreting. I keep interpreting until she indicates this’ (Q18b: qr7).
SLIs are employing a number of strategies to manage this aspect of workplace discourse, such as interpreting when the deaf employee happens to be looking up
(Q18b: qr10), or when the information directly affects them ‘e.g. sandwich lady arriving’ (Q18b: qr35). Alternatively, when the deaf client is not concentrating too
deeply on a task, SLIs are informing them of information that is ‘particularly funny/
rude/ bitchy etc!’ (Q18b: qr34). These tactics, sometimes discussed and agreed with
the deaf employee, (Q18b: qr10, Q18b: qr13) mean that the deaf person can then choose to ‘join in, continue to ‘earwig’ or ignore and get on with their own work.’
(Q18b: qr27).
In other instances SLIs are relying on their own thoughts, feelings and intuition as to what they should relay, ranging from what they feel relates to the deaf employee personally, i.e.‘ work project/ interesting gossip that others would be picking up on’
(Q18b: qr54), to anything that might be ‘interesting (what I think is interesting!)’ (Q18b: qr10), or considered important ‘i.e. a colleague is leaving or likely to be off work’ (Q18b: qr55). One SLI states that they will feed in information if ‘things are being talked about that affect office relations for some reason etc, or if the Deaf person would be very disadvantaged in not knowing information about someone’ (Q18b: qr15). In short, this means that the SLI is in a very powerful position,
effectively acting as gate-keeper for the deaf employee’s access to formal and informal office conversations and background information. The SLI therefore has a crucial role in enabling deaf employees to access small talk and casual conversation, thus establishing and maintaining collegial relationships with their hearing peers. In some situations the ‘office chat’ will take place between the SLI and their deaf client. One SLI commented that ‘we do chat a lot…I try to pause regularly in case
they need to get back to work’ (Q21a&b: qr54). This interaction is often due to the
fact that the SLI is the only person in the office environment with whom the deaf employee can converse in their first language. One respondent notes that deaf employees often seem glad to have ‘someone to chat to’ as they ‘will tell you they feel
isolated in their normal working day’. She commented that as an SLI she had to be
careful that ‘‘chatting’ doesn’t further isolate the Deaf person’ (Q13: qr38). Again, this suggests that the SLI is in some instances a ‘stand-in’ for a work colleague, someone with whom the deaf employee can interact informally. As this SLI states ‘I
think the team see me as the Deaf person’s colleague as we chat and laugh’ (Q13: qr54).
Two other contributions raise interesting issues linked to the SLI’s role as a substitute employee in the workplace setting. One SLI states that some deaf clients will ask them to ‘pass on bits later when they’ve finished what they are doing’ (Q18b: qr53), whilst another comments that they will inform the deaf client of any general office chat and/ or work related discussions that occur when the deaf person is out of the room (Q22: qr1). In another example, the SLI states that they usually try to let the deaf employee know of ‘other conversations I have so that he is aware of background
information etc which I think is important for him to know’ (J40.9). The request to
‘pass on bits later’ places an additional responsibility on the SLI and brings into question their role in this particular aspect of office interpreting. There are implications in terms of how this action might be perceived by hearing employees, as well as how it might affect the SLI’s positioning and boundaries in the workplace setting. These issues will be discussed in detail in Chapter Seven.