Paula McGowan (asker) Jan 27, 2016:

Hi Charles. Thank you for your insightful comments. I think you might have something there with your "going the extra mile" idea. I don't think it is part of their work processes, and I agree with you about the 13th month bonus not really fitting in with the rest of the statement. It is a tricky one indeed!

Charles Davis Jan 27, 2016:

Or even, conceivably, an expression meaning something to the effect of going above and beyond the call of duty: the extra mile. But this is pure conjecture; I have no evidence that there is any such expression.

It's just that the 13th month (payment) doesn't seem to me to fit the context very well. This manager, with his sporting metaphor and his reference to "implication", seems to be talking about effort rather than payroll accounts.

Charles Davis Jan 27, 2016:

In English, "situation" used to be a cliché; people used to use it all the time referring to nothing in particular. I remember Private Eye had a section in the 1970s mocking this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regular_mini-sections_...

I don't know whether this happens in French. If the manager simply means the 13th month there's no obvious reason for "situation", and I can't find any analogous examples on the Internet.

But I wonder whether it means something different, along the lines of a stage in a process. Here's a document that is not directly relevant but uses "situation" like this:

"5ème situation des travaux et approvisionnements des installations chauffage central - 30/11/1957 [...]
13ème situation - 25/05/1959
14ème situation - 29/12/1959
Révision de prix provisoires sur situation - 30/04/1960"
http://www.fondationlecorbusier.fr/corbuweb/zcomp/pages/Arch...

In other words, maybe it's something to do with the company's operations (we can't tell what), along the lines of "including stage 13".

philgoddard Jan 26, 2016:

Sorry Didn't read your question properly.

Paula McGowan (asker) Jan 26, 2016:

Yes, that's what I suggested in my question, but I was hoping for confirmation and wondering if anyone knew why 'situation' had been used!

philgoddard Jan 26, 2016:

Could it be a reference to the 13ème mois, the year-end bonus?

Paula McGowan (asker) Jan 26, 2016:

I can give you the whole quote but I don't really think it helps!
"Etre exigent, pousser, motiver, challenger tout au long de l’année, et savoir féliciter une fois « le match » gagné est ma conception de la gestion de la performance. Rien de paradoxal ou de décalé : le résultat se mesure à la fin du match, la performance n’existe que par l’implication sur la durée, pour nous sur 12 mois, 13ème situation incluse."
There are a number of individual quotes from different managers talking about the company's performance, and this is one of them.

Chakib Roula Jan 26, 2016:

Would you provide more context to catch some clues.