The Coworker's Mistake

Marisol notices the error on Thursday afternoon, buried in a spreadsheet nobody else seems to be checking closely. Her coworker Dominic has sent the wrong pricing numbers to a major client. The numbers are about fifteen percent too low.

Marisol menemukan kesalahan itu pada Kamis sore, terkubur dalam sebuah lembar kerja yang tampaknya tak diperiksa dengan teliti oleh siapa pun. Rekan kerjanya, Dominic, telah mengirim angka harga yang salah kepada klien besar. Angkanya sekitar lima belas persen terlalu rendah.

She stares at the email for a long moment, calculating what this actually means. If the client accepts the quote before anyone catches it, the company could lose thousands of dollars.

Ia menatap email itu cukup lama, menghitung apa artinya ini sebenarnya. Kalau klien menerima penawaran itu sebelum ada yang menyadarinya, perusahaan bisa kehilangan ribuan dolar.

Marisol could say nothing. Dominic is well-liked, and mistakes like this sometimes just get quietly fixed. No one always has to explain how they happened. But if she stays silent and it comes out later, she'll have to explain herself. She saw it early enough to help.

Marisol bisa saja diam. Dominic disukai banyak orang, dan kesalahan seperti ini kadang diperbaiki diam-diam saja. Tak selalu ada yang perlu menjelaskan bagaimana kesalahan itu terjadi. Tetapi kalau ia diam dan hal ini terungkap belakangan, ia harus menjelaskan dirinya. Ia melihatnya cukup dini untuk membantu.

She walks over to Dominic's desk instead of sending an email that other people might see. "Hey, I think there might be an issue with the numbers you sent to Fairview yesterday."

Ia justru berjalan ke meja Dominic, bukan mengirim email yang mungkin dibaca orang lain. "Hei, kurasa mungkin ada masalah dengan angka yang kamu kirim ke Fairview kemarin."

Dominic's face changes the moment he opens the spreadsheet again. "Oh no. Oh, that's bad. I used last year's pricing sheet by accident."

Wajah Dominic berubah begitu ia membuka lembar kerja itu lagi. "Aduh. Wah, ini buruk. Aku tidak sengaja memakai lembar harga tahun lalu."

"I figured it was something like that," Marisol says. "Nobody sends numbers that low on purpose."

"Aku sudah menduga seperti itu," kata Marisol. "Tidak ada yang sengaja mengirim angka serendah itu."

"Thank you for telling me directly," he says, already drafting a correction email. "You could have just gone to our manager first."

"Terima kasih sudah memberi tahu aku langsung," katanya, sudah menyusun email koreksi. "Kamu bisa saja langsung ke manajer kita."

"I thought about it," Marisol admits. "But it felt more useful to give you a chance to fix it first."

"Aku sempat memikirkannya," aku Marisol. "Tapi rasanya lebih berguna memberimu kesempatan memperbaikinya dulu."

Dominic sends the corrected numbers within the hour. He adds an apology that makes the mistake sound smaller than it actually was. Their manager never finds out how close the company came to losing the contract.

Dominic mengirim angka yang sudah dikoreksi dalam waktu sejam. Ia menambahkan permintaan maaf yang membuat kesalahan itu terdengar lebih kecil daripada sebenarnya. Manajer mereka tak pernah tahu betapa dekatnya perusahaan itu kehilangan kontrak.

A few days later, Dominic stops by Marisol's desk with two coffees. "I owe you one," he says, setting a cup down next to her keyboard. "I mean that literally. This is the coffee."

Beberapa hari kemudian, Dominic mampir ke meja Marisol membawa dua kopi. "Aku berutang budi padamu," katanya sambil meletakkan secangkir di samping keyboard Marisol. "Maksudku secara harfiah. Ini kopinya."

Marisol laughs and takes the cup. "Just double-check your pricing sheets from now on."

Marisol tertawa dan mengambil cangkir itu. "Mulai sekarang periksa lagi lembar harga kamu, ya."

"Deal," he says. "Permanently."

"Setuju," katanya. "Selamanya."