The Wrong Group Chat

Serena had two chat groups open at once when she typed the message. One was with her three closest coworkers, called "Lunch Squad." The other was with her entire twelve-person department, called "Team Updates."

Serena membuka dua grup obrolan sekaligus ketika ia mengetik pesan itu. Yang satu berisi tiga rekan kerja terdekatnya, bernama "Geng Makan Siang". Yang lain berisi seluruh departemennya yang berjumlah dua belas orang, bernama "Kabar Tim".

She meant to complain about her manager, Anwar, in the first one.

Ia bermaksud mengeluhkan manajernya, Anwar, di grup yang pertama.

"Anwar just gave me feedback on my slides for the THIRD time today," she typed. "I genuinely think he enjoys watching me suffer. Someone tell him fonts are not a personality."

"Anwar baru saja memberi masukan untuk slideku untuk KETIGA kalinya hari ini," ketiknya. "Aku sungguh mengira dia senang melihatku menderita. Tolong beri tahu dia, font itu bukan kepribadian."

She hit send and went back to her spreadsheet, feeling briefly better. It took four minutes for her to notice that her coworker Nadine had responded with a single row of laughing emoji, in the wrong chat. That was how Serena finally understood what she had done.

Ia menekan kirim dan kembali ke lembar kerjanya, merasa agak lebih baik untuk sesaat. Butuh empat menit sampai ia menyadari bahwa rekan kerjanya, Nadine, membalas dengan sebaris emoji tertawa, di obrolan yang salah. Begitulah akhirnya Serena mengerti apa yang telah ia lakukan.

She scrolled up. The message sat there, fully visible, in Team Updates. Anwar was in Team Updates. Everyone was in Team Updates.

Ia menggulir ke atas. Pesan itu ada di sana, terlihat jelas, di Kabar Tim. Anwar ada di Kabar Tim. Semua orang ada di Kabar Tim.

"Oh no," she said out loud, loud enough that Nadine looked over from the next desk.

"Aduh," katanya keras-keras, cukup keras sampai Nadine menoleh dari meja sebelah.

"What?"

"Kenapa?"

"I think I just sent the fonts thing to the whole department."

"Kayaknya aku baru mengirim soal font itu ke seluruh departemen."

Nadine's expression shifted from amused to genuinely alarmed in under a second. "Delete it. Delete it right now."

Ekspresi Nadine berubah dari geli menjadi benar-benar cemas dalam kurang dari sedetik. "Hapus. Hapus sekarang juga."

"I did. Three minutes ago. But he's always logged in on two devices, and I don't know if the notification already went to his phone."

"Sudah. Tiga menit lalu. Tapi dia selalu masuk di dua perangkat, dan aku tidak tahu apakah notifikasinya sudah sampai ke ponselnya."

For the rest of the afternoon, Serena refreshed her email obsessively, half expecting a meeting invitation titled something ominous. Nothing came. By five o'clock, she had almost convinced herself that Anwar's phone must have been on silent, or that he simply hadn't checked his messages.

Sepanjang sisa sore itu, Serena memeriksa surelnya terus-menerus, setengah menduga akan muncul undangan rapat dengan judul yang menyeramkan. Tak ada yang datang. Pukul lima, ia nyaris meyakinkan dirinya bahwa ponsel Anwar pasti dalam mode senyap, atau ia memang belum membuka pesannya.

Then, walking past his office to leave, she saw him at his desk, half smiling at his screen in a way she didn't like. "Serena," he called out, without looking up. "Before you go. My fonts, as you put it, would like a word."

Lalu, saat berjalan melewati kantornya untuk pulang, ia melihat Anwar di mejanya, setengah tersenyum menatap layar dengan cara yang tidak ia sukai. "Serena," panggilnya tanpa menoleh. "Sebelum pulang. Font saya, begitu katamu, ingin bicara sebentar."

She stopped in the doorway, deciding whether honesty or a dramatic exit would do less damage. "In my defense," she said slowly, "I stand by the joke. I just deeply regret the audience."

Ia berhenti di ambang pintu, menimbang apakah kejujuran atau pergi dengan dramatis akan menimbulkan kerusakan lebih kecil. "Sebagai pembelaan," katanya pelan, "saya tetap membela leluconnya. Saya hanya sangat menyesali penontonnya."

Anwar actually laughed at that, longer than the moment probably deserved, and told her to go home before she embarrassed herself any further.

Anwar benar-benar tertawa mendengarnya, lebih lama daripada yang pantas untuk momen itu, dan menyuruhnya pulang sebelum ia mempermalukan diri lebih jauh.