To be annoyed at my colleague?

That’s a ridiculous criticism - writing for a social forum thread is not anything like the way you’d write for board level materials.

OP, if you know, you know. Trust yourself here - you know that your colleague was out of line and you handled it as best you could.

I totally disagree. I was at a meeting last week with very senior people in the NHS- no one would have batted an eyelid at this reason- in fact they would have thought it showed kindness and just normal decency.

Because then the OP would have looked like a total pillock to the board, who would likely conclude she had in some way given this person to think it was fine to waste all their time with this, and that their farewell had priority over the meeting.

OP was right to cover it as best they could.

Seriously for an executive your writing skills are less than I would expect. Your sentence construction and punctuation require work.

C Suite is a totally normal shorthand for the board level leadership in big businesses.

Meetings at that level are tightly focussed and intense because everyone is short on time, and has risen to that position by being able to focus and get things done fast and decisively.

Anyone interrupting a meeting (whatever level) with a bullshit excuse of fake urgency knows they shouldn’t be interrupting it but is choosing to do it anyway, putting their own wants above the people working in the meeting.

OP you’re totally reasonable to be irritated - and I’d be way past that into properly pissed off and distancing myself from them in the work environment.

C Suite are not there to mess about for 10 mins while random team member wants to say lovely in person bye byes to someone she can easily reach some other time. Anyone who did this to me would be on my shit list, and I’d be having a word (nicely) to explain why to never do that again.

Why did you not just tell the truth!! Totally bizarre behaviour.

There's taking work seriously and there's sounding like a bit of an idiot.

Sorry, but this made me laugh! I've never read such a repetitive OP. No wonder the meeting took all day if it went round and round like this!

In that kind of meeting, comfort breaks and lunch would be planned into the agenda.

If you needed to leave the room outside the planned breaks, you'd do it discreetly with a murmured 'excuse me'.

You wouldn't want someone knocking on the door about an 'urgent' matter unless it genuinely was urgent.

It’s not about taking it seriously- it is pretentiousness.
I know lots of very senior people and they don’t get on like this. I don’t understand why the OP didn’t just tell the truth that her friend was leaving for maternity leave and wanted to say bye!!

If there was time for the others to sit and question you about the urgent issue over and above "everything okay?" then moving on after a quick "yes, all good", I doubt a couple of minutes interruption caused any issues.

OP was responding to someone saying they didn’t know what it meant.

I have been in these meetings occasionally and the only woman and I do not want to be the person who suggests we need a break for a wee during the meeting.

(A good chair should build breaks into meetings anyway)

We're obviously all so stooopid for not knowing your in-house abbreviations. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Why do some people on here seem to sneer at women who are in senior or potentially senior positions, and who take that seriously?

I’d love to have someone think enough of me to do this! Is this a reverse?

You sound 12 tbh.

But...how rude of people to ask? If I was the chair at a push I'd politely ask 'is everything OK?'. Not because I cared just in case there was a reason I couldn't carry on with the meeting.

If that was my meeting that was interrupted with something "urgent" that required an interruption to a meeting I, as Chief Medical Officer for a hospital (not boasting, just point out what level of staff are in these c level meetings) then I'd want to know what it was as it could potentially have a massive impact on the hospital (or company or whatever delete as appropriate).

For me it autocorrects because the word MAT is an abbreviation for Multi Academy Trust and I use that abbreviation occasionally in messages. Perhaps that’s the same for some others?

They're just people. Who gives a shit if they're "c suite". I'm sure they didn't care (and I'd be delighted to be pulled out of a work meeting personally ).

Do you know I was thinking exactly the same and I work in the NHS😂
People were not put in danger and nobody died because the OP stepped out for probably less than five minutes to say goodbye.
I'm assuming at these super important meetings none of you leave the board room all day to visit the toilet?
The only sensible person on here from this background is @Janedoe82

It was a big day for her and she wanted to say goodbye. She stupidly thought you might want to say goodbye to her too. I think it's ok to have felt a little puzzled (if you really don't get it) but to be honest you sound a bit mean spirited, and in need of some perspective. I attend those kinds of meetings. Everyone thinks they are v important. It's just work. Important work, but still just work. If one of my team was due to go off for months/a year and I hadn't seen her all day to wish her well, I'd have excused myself from the meeting for a few minutes to say goodbye.

Sack her. It's the only way she'll learn