The Unpaid Internship

Six weeks into her unpaid internship, Emilia found the folder. It was buried at the bottom of a shared drive and labeled "Handover (old)." It contained a list of daily tasks written by someone who had since left the company. Supplier orders. The weekly stock report. Invoice checks every Friday afternoon.

Enam minggu setelah magang tanpa bayarannya dimulai, Emilia menemukan folder itu. Folder itu terkubur di dasar sebuah drive bersama dan diberi label "Serah Terima (lama)". Isinya daftar tugas harian yang ditulis oleh seseorang yang sudah meninggalkan perusahaan. Pesanan pemasok. Laporan stok mingguan. Pemeriksaan faktur setiap Jumat sore.

She read it twice. Then she opened her own notes and realized that the two lists were almost identical. She had been doing a full-time job for six weeks, and nobody had ever described it that way.

Ia membacanya dua kali. Lalu ia membuka catatannya sendiri dan menyadari bahwa kedua daftar itu hampir identik. Selama enam minggu ia telah mengerjakan pekerjaan penuh waktu, dan tidak seorang pun pernah menyebutnya demikian.

At first, she told herself it was normal. Interns were supposed to learn by doing real work, and her manager, Karin, had always been friendly. But when Emilia counted her hours that night, the total came to forty-three in the last week alone. Nobody had asked her to work that much. She had simply kept working because the tasks kept arriving.

Mula-mula ia meyakinkan dirinya bahwa itu wajar. Peserta magang memang seharusnya belajar dengan mengerjakan tugas sungguhan, dan atasannya, Karin, selalu ramah. Namun, ketika Emilia menghitung jam kerjanya malam itu, totalnya mencapai empat puluh tiga jam hanya dalam seminggu terakhir. Tidak ada yang memintanya bekerja sebanyak itu. Ia hanya terus bekerja karena tugas-tugas itu terus berdatangan.

She might have stayed quiet if she had been less tired. Instead, she spent the weekend preparing, the way she had once prepared for exams. She made a table of every task she had completed, how long each had taken, and what the company would have paid for it. She wrote down what she wanted, which was a contract, and what she would accept, which was less.

Mungkin ia akan tetap diam kalau saja ia tidak sedang selelah itu. Sebaliknya, ia menghabiskan akhir pekan untuk bersiap, seperti dulu ia bersiap menghadapi ujian. Ia membuat tabel berisi semua tugas yang sudah ia selesaikan, berapa lama masing-masing memakan waktu, dan berapa yang akan dibayar perusahaan untuk itu. Ia menuliskan apa yang ia inginkan, yaitu sebuah kontrak, dan apa yang akan ia terima, yaitu yang lebih sedikit.

On Monday morning, she asked Karin for ten minutes. Her hands were cold, and she kept them under the table.

Senin pagi, ia meminta Karin meluangkan sepuluh menit. Tangannya dingin, dan ia menyembunyikannya di bawah meja.

"I've noticed that I'm doing the work from the old handover list," she said. "I'd like to talk about being paid for it."

"Saya menyadari bahwa saya mengerjakan pekerjaan dari daftar serah terima yang lama," katanya. "Saya ingin membicarakan soal dibayar untuk pekerjaan itu."

Karin did not look surprised, which Emilia found more unsettling than anger. "I wondered when you'd say something," she said. "I should have raised it myself."

Karin tidak tampak terkejut, dan itu membuat Emilia merasa lebih gelisah daripada kalau ia marah. "Saya sudah bertanya-tanya kapan kamu akan mengatakannya," katanya. "Seharusnya saya sendiri yang mengangkat hal ini."

"If this were a temporary project, I'd understand," Emilia continued. "But these tasks happen every week, and they have been done by an employee before me."

"Kalau ini proyek sementara, saya bisa mengerti," lanjut Emilia. "Tapi tugas-tugas ini terjadi setiap minggu, dan sebelumnya dikerjakan oleh seorang karyawan."

Karin read the table slowly. She asked a few questions, mostly about the supplier orders, and then leaned back in her chair. The budget for the full role, she explained, had been removed after the last employee left, and she could not reverse that herself. However, she could offer a three-month contract at part-time pay, with a review at the end.

Karin membaca tabel itu perlahan. Ia mengajukan beberapa pertanyaan, kebanyakan tentang pesanan pemasok, lalu bersandar di kursinya. Anggaran untuk posisi penuh itu, jelasnya, sudah dihapus setelah karyawan terakhir pergi, dan ia sendiri tidak bisa membatalkannya. Namun, ia bisa menawarkan kontrak tiga bulan dengan gaji paruh waktu, disertai evaluasi di akhirnya.

It was far less than Emilia had written on her page. For a moment, she wanted to refuse on principle.

Itu jauh lebih sedikit daripada yang telah Emilia tulis di kertasnya. Sesaat ia ingin menolak demi prinsip.

Then she did the sum in her head. It was not the salary she had hoped for, but it was money, and it would be in writing. "I'll accept it," she said, "if my title changes to coordinator and the review date goes into the contract."

Lalu ia menghitungnya dalam kepala. Itu bukan gaji yang ia harapkan, tetapi itu uang, dan akan tertulis hitam di atas putih. "Saya terima," katanya, "kalau jabatan saya diubah menjadi koordinator dan tanggal evaluasinya dimasukkan ke dalam kontrak."

Karin nodded. "I'll draft it today."

Karin mengangguk. "Saya akan menyusun drafnya hari ini."

Back at her desk, Emilia opened her calendar, found a day in the third month, and typed one word into the box: "Review."

Kembali di mejanya, Emilia membuka kalendernya, menemukan sebuah hari di bulan ketiga, dan mengetikkan satu kata di kotaknya: "Evaluasi."