The Wrong Job Title

Konstantin started his new job in marketing on a Monday. Before he arrived, the office had sent him a friendly welcome email. It was full of useful details, and it contained one small mistake. It called him "our new IT specialist."

Konstantin mulai bekerja di bagian pemasaran pada hari Senin. Sebelum ia datang, kantor itu mengiriminya email sambutan yang ramah. Isinya penuh rincian berguna, dan memuat satu kesalahan kecil. Email itu menyebutnya "spesialis IT baru kami."

He noticed it only after he got there, and by then it was too late. At the front desk, the receptionist shook his hand warmly. "Oh, thank goodness," she said. "Our printer has been broken since Thursday."

Ia baru menyadarinya setelah tiba di sana, dan saat itu sudah terlambat. Di meja depan, resepsionis menjabat tangannya dengan hangat. "Oh, syukurlah," katanya. "Printer kami rusak sejak hari Kamis."

Konstantin opened his mouth to explain. Then a woman hurried over to ask about a forgotten password. A man behind her said his computer was "doing a strange blue thing." Konstantin was actually quite good with computers. He decided to help first and explain later.

Konstantin membuka mulut untuk menjelaskan. Lalu seorang perempuan bergegas datang untuk bertanya soal kata sandi yang lupa. Seorang pria di belakangnya bilang komputernya "melakukan hal biru yang aneh." Konstantin sebenarnya cukup jago soal komputer. Ia memutuskan membantu dulu dan menjelaskan nanti.

That was the real mistake. By Tuesday, he had fixed three printers. By Wednesday, he had changed fourteen passwords and rescued a lost spreadsheet from a trash folder. People had started calling him "the lifesaver." Somebody brought him a cake.

Itulah kesalahan yang sebenarnya. Pada hari Selasa, ia sudah memperbaiki tiga printer. Pada hari Rabu, ia telah mengganti empat belas kata sandi dan menyelamatkan sebuah spreadsheet yang hilang dari folder sampah. Orang-orang mulai memanggilnya "sang penyelamat." Seseorang membawakannya kue.

Meanwhile, nobody had given him a single marketing task. His real manager, who also believed the email, kept telling him, "Take your time. You're clearly busy."

Sementara itu, tidak ada seorang pun yang memberinya satu pun tugas pemasaran. Manajer aslinya, yang juga percaya pada email itu, terus berkata, "Santai saja. Kamu jelas sedang sibuk."

On Thursday evening, he sat at his desk with a headache. He had come here to write campaigns, and he had not written one word. He had a list of IT requests longer than his arm. His drawer was full of cables that people had given him.

Pada Kamis sore, ia duduk di mejanya dengan kepala pusing. Ia datang ke sini untuk menulis kampanye, dan belum menulis satu kata pun. Ia punya daftar permintaan IT yang lebih panjang dari lengannya. Lacinya penuh dengan kabel yang diberikan orang-orang kepadanya.

On Friday, he finally stood up in the team meeting. "I have to tell you something," he said. "I'm not the IT specialist. I work in marketing. The email was wrong."

Pada hari Jumat, ia akhirnya berdiri di rapat tim. "Aku harus memberi tahu kalian sesuatu," katanya. "Aku bukan spesialis IT. Aku bekerja di bagian pemasaran. Emailnya salah."

Nobody spoke. Then his manager began to laugh so hard that she had to put down her coffee.

Tidak ada yang bicara. Lalu manajernya mulai tertawa begitu keras sampai harus meletakkan kopinya.

"So who has been fixing our printers?" she asked.

"Jadi siapa yang selama ini memperbaiki printer kita?" tanyanya.

"I have," Konstantin said. "I should have said something on Monday. But everything was already breaking."

"Aku," kata Konstantin. "Seharusnya aku bilang sejak hari Senin. Tapi semuanya sudah telanjur rusak."

"Honestly, you did the job better than the last guy," a colleague said.

"Jujur saja, kamu mengerjakannya lebih baik daripada orang sebelumnya," kata seorang rekan.

The following Monday, a tall man named Werner arrived with a laptop bag and a big smile. "Hello, I'm the new IT person," he said. "I hear you've been keeping my chair warm."

Senin berikutnya, seorang pria jangkung bernama Werner datang dengan tas laptop dan senyum lebar. "Halo, aku orang IT yang baru," katanya. "Kudengar kamu sudah menghangatkan kursiku."

Konstantin shook his hand. "It's all yours," he said. "The printer on the second floor makes a terrible noise. The password list is in the blue folder. Good luck."

Konstantin menjabat tangannya. "Semuanya milikmu," katanya. "Printer di lantai dua bunyinya mengerikan. Daftar kata sandi ada di map biru. Semoga berhasil."

Then he went to his own desk and opened a blank document. At the top of the page, he typed: "Campaign ideas."

Lalu ia pergi ke mejanya sendiri dan membuka dokumen kosong. Di bagian atas halaman, ia mengetik: "Ide kampanye."