Setelah dua tahun terakhir enggak pernah ngantor, akhirnya dua hari kemarin gue ngantor lagi.
Ya, sebenernya gak bener-bener ngantor sih. Lebih tepatnya bangun-pagi-untuk-commute-ke-acara-kantor dan pulang-sore-untuk-commute-ke-rumah.
Awalnya gue belum tau akan seperti apa acara kantor yang harus gue datangi dua hari kemarin. Perkiraan gue, gue akan lumayan perlu wara-wiri di venue. Akhirnya gue putuskan untuk pake baju super santai, kayak mau kuliah lagi: jeans sobek, sneakers, kemeja.
Dugaan gue benar adanya, pakaian ini kelak membantu gue untuk dengan mudah bermanuver sesaat setelah turun Transjakarta. Bersamaan dengan banyak karyawan SCBD lainnya, gue berjalan ke terowongan Pacific Place, menuju tempat acara kantor diadakan.
Selama perjalanan ini, gue menyadari 1 hal: sebagian besar orang jalan dengan sangat cepat sekali. Setidaknya, untuk ukuran gue yang memang tidak bisa jalan cepat dan langkahnya tidak lebar.
Beberapa kali gue disalip (dan hampir ditabrak) beberapa orang yang pagi itu berjalan terburu-buru mengejar waktu masuk kantor. Setelah disalip beberapa orang, gue mulai berpikir,
“Apakah memang gue berjalan terlalu lamban? Apakah gue harus mulai berjalan cepat juga seperti yang lain?”
Untuk menghindari disalip atau kemungkinan ditabrak (lagi), pagi itu pun secara sukarela lama-kelamaan gue ikut berjalan dengan cepat, mengikuti kerumunan tersebut.
Kekagetan gue tidak berhenti sampai di situ. Sesampainya gue di venue acara kantor, gue sedikit dikejutkan dengan penemuan lain. Di luar dugaan, ternyata acara kantor ini jauh lebih formal dari yang gue kira.
Tentunya pakaian gue yang sekilas terlihat seperti….mahasiswa semester akhir, cukup menarik perhatian beberapa sekuriti di depan venue acara kantor yang sebagian besar pesertanya adalah perusahaan luar negeri, investor, dan C-Level.
Meskipun gue tidak dihadang di pintu masuk karena dikira nyasar, gue cukup merasa out of place berkeliaran di venue selama acara berlangsung. Untungnya badge crew sedikit menyelamatkan penampilan gue yang agak kurang pas hari itu. Setidaknya beberapa sekuriti tidak jadi mengusir gue dari venue sesaat setelah mereka melihat badge crew yang gue kenakan.
Saat jam makan siang tiba, akhirnya gue punya pembenaran untuk melenyapkan diri dari venue acara. Ada satu tempat pecel ayam yang mau gue kunjungi, letaknya di sebrang Office 8 Senopati. Jadilah siang itu, bersama dengan ratusan karyawan SCBD lainnya, gue kembali menjadi bagian dari kerumunan karyawan yang hendak makan siang.
Mind you, I don’t remember SCBD’s map in my head.
Tapi gue ingat: Gue harus keluar Pacific Place, cari Grand Lucky, menuju Ashta, jalan ke arah Senayan, kemudian, voila, pecel ayam akan ada di sebelah kiri jalan.
Or so I thought it was that easy.
Dalam misi perjalanan menuju pecel ayam yang gue idam-idamkan itu, gue harus melewati Ashta.
If you ever think that Plaza Indonesia and Pacific Place are intimidating enough, clearly you haven’t been to Ashta.
Imagine this:
Mbak-mbak, gak sampe 160cm, keringetan, dengan jeans sobek, sneakers, dan kemeja seadanya jalan dengan cukup cepat di dalam Ashta yang isinya…
Pekerja, some of them are foreigners, berpakaian formal dan rapi-pi-pi, head to toe. Even the non-employees are drenched in casual yet branded attire (yes, I know what Loro Piana loafers look like), crisp slacks, smooth silk dress shirts, and countless coach lanyards on sight.
Did I mention how almost everyone I passed by smells good from 2 meters away?
Almost everyone I passed by smells good from 2 meters away.
Tentunya gue merasa cukup out of place (again) saat melewati Ashta. Ketika sebagian besar orang ada di situ untuk menikmati suasana, atau memilih tempat makan siang, atau bicara kasual dengan rekan kerja, gue cuma numpang lewat buat ke Senopati. Itupun harus gue lakukan dengan cepat mengingat waktu break makan siang yang terbatas dan perjalanan balik yang lumayan jauh dan harus gue tempuh lagi kelak.
Sepanjang perjalanan balik, yang lagi-lagi mengharuskan gue melewati Ashta dan Pacific Place, gue pun berpikir:
Kenapa ya gue refleks merasa out of place, hanya karena pakaian yang gue pakai dan gesture gue yang kesannya buru-buru?
Kenapa gue mengasosiasikan “berbeda dengan kebanyakan orang” sebagai sesuatu yang “salah”, “aneh”, dan berkonotasi negatif?
Untuk ini, gue harus berterima kasih kepada waktu tempuh yang lama saat perjalanan pulang, sehingga gue bisa bengong-bengong sambil memikirkan hal ini. Hasilnya, tulisan yang sedang kalian baca sekarang.
Now this is where I go to the dingy back alley of my head to get the remnants of what I studied for 4 years in uni. Saat hendak merefleksikan pengasosiasian sesuatu yang “berbeda” menjadi sesuatu yang (borderline) “salah”, gue teringat akan 2 hal yang pernah gue pelajari saat kuliah dulu:
- Types of Crowd
- Social Influence Theory (or maybe Social Conformity too)
TYPES OF CROWD
I’m not here to give a full lecture on Blumer (nor I have the capacity to do so), please do take your time to read his theory in this source I quoted: 21.1 Types of Collective Behavior.
Berdasarkan klasifikasi Blumer, gue rasa kerumunan orang-orang yang ada di jalan SCBD dan Ashta bisa dikategorikan sebagai kerumunan ekspresif.
Kerumunan orang-orang yang gue temukan saat gue berjalan di sekitar SCBD untuk menuju venue acara kantor, menuju tempat makan siang, bahkan saat berada di venue acara kantor gue sendiri secara tidak langsung menunjukkan peraturan tidak tertulis yang secara tidak langsung juga, memaksa gue untuk menurutinya:
- Jalan harus cepat, atau, minimal tidak menghalangi jalan orang yang ingin berjalan cepat.
- Berpakaian harus rapi, atau, minimal sesuai dengan derajat formalitas di area tersebut.
Berada di tengah kerumunan yang jalannya cepat, gak mentolerir kelambatan, kebingungan, dan kesalahan, secara tidak langsung memaksa gue untuk conform: ikut berjalan dengan cepat dan merasa out of place saat pakaian gue kurang sesuai dengan social setting yang ada.
Berada di tengah kerumunan yang selalu berpakaian rapih, even drenched in brands head to toe makes me wonder:
Should I do that too? Why is there an urge for me to conform?
This eventually leads me to:
SOCIAL INFLUENCE THEORY
Again, not a lecturer here, so full disclaimer: I may or may not oversimplified or misunderstood the theory I quoted from this source.
I would like to argue that to some extent, giving a way for someone who walks quicker than others is highly regarded or expected. On the contrary, walking slowly is frowned upon because people expect slow walkers to stay on the side, so people who are in a rush can have the middle way to pass through.
Do you agree?
Maybe the “value” of speed walking and dressing up for the occasion is internalized in people who regularly roam around SCBD.
It is internalized strongly enough with the help of the area being THE Central Business District (as the name suggests), which gives further context on what types of activity and what kind of people can be seen around the area, which in turn, what kind of values and behavior are expected to be seen:
- Quick: people are busy, be mindful of their time.
- Straight to the point: be frank and be upfront about what you want to do or get from people.
- Formal: know your time and place. Most people are here to do business. Then do, business, nothing else.
- Polite: dressing up for the occasion is a way to show respect to people. It means you take your time to look presentable.
I guess, to some extent, the area being the melting pot of many cultures adds to the “overall consensus” of the “SCBD norms and values.”
Surely, on a whim, seeing people walking quickly and dressed to the occasion makes me reevaluate my choices and automatically pushes me to conform. In this case, I think the crowd is strong enough to be the influencing agent that forced me to conform almost immediately.
Although on the other hand, after thinking about it for quite some time, I should also realise that maybe I need to take some time to address which values align with me and which don’t and what the implications of me not conforming to certain values and if I’m okay with it or whether it is significant enough to the crowd.
I’ve been trying to find and embrace myself more these days so the flight or fight situation of not wanting to conform with the crowd and stand on my ground become increasingly challenging and a tad bit confusing at times.
However, in hindsight, why do I associate “having different values” or being resistant towards certain norms as “bad”?
The source stated:
The chances are that the definition of situation will lead to individuals’ willingness to expose themselves to the influence, depending on:
1. The degree to which the corresponding psychological prerequisite (an expected goal of induced behaviour), and
2. The situational condition (importance of induced behaviour) are met.
To minimise resistance to social influence, the information about induced behaviour should convince an individual that the adoption of induced behaviour, although challenging an existing system of beliefs and attitudes, is conducive to the achievement of an individual’s goals (Kelman, 1974; Kelman, 1979).
I admit, even after 2 years of distancing myself from the crowd, 2 days of being a part of the crowd again is enough for me to conform almost automatically (does any psychology student want to take a stab at this? lol).
By having some thoughts on my way home, I decided and managed to detach myself from the crowd, walking aaaall the way to the side and giving way to the speed walkers. I realized I had nothing to rush and I'm too lazy to walk that quickly.
However, I finally decided to dress for the occasion on the second day of the event (talking about balance. *ommmmmmmm* 🧘).
All and all, I'm glad I get to explore SCBD in its glory again. The bonus point of working in SCBD is I get to rekindle with the only tolerable bakmi-restaurant-style: Bakmi Sedjuk SCBD.
Until next time!
