On work trip abroad. Colleague gone crazy

[Eastie77]

Just that really. I'm abroad for work, 2 days in a major European city with a client meeting tomorrow morning. I've travelled with a female colleague who, like me, has 2 young DC. When we found out about this trip she messaged me to say she was desperately looking forward to it as she needs a break from the DC and is run ragged juggling everything. I said I totally sympathised and she replied that we should use this trip as an opportunity to get rat arsed on the company's money. I just laughed.

Arrived at the airport this morning for our early flight to find she had already had downed 2 pints but was at least sober. She kicked up a fuss on the plane as there was no alcohol on sale - not massively but enough to embarrass me. Landed and she bought more alcohol and has generally been increasingly drunk, hyper and shrill since saying this is 'her time'. We arrived at the hotel at 3pm and were meant to go over our presentation for tomorrow but I've had zero input from her. I need her to contribute a bunch of slides and practice a demo of the technical solution we are meant to be presenting to the client but she is not playing ball and has just been propping up the bar. I'm stressed. It looks as if I will have to do her slides and I don't have enough knowledge so emailing colleagues back home. I don't want to speak to my manager about this. She is normally quite conscientious

Downcasteyes this person is a colleague first and a mate second. If today doesn’t go right due to the actions of this colleague it could have a lasting impact on the OP’s reputation and career. Self preservation in the midst of unprofessional and unacceptable workplace behaviour is the most important thing here. This isn’t someone letting their hair down after the getting the job done, it’s them entirely ignoring the job and getting drunk in work’s time. I bet they’ll be happy to bask in the glory if all goes well!

And another good luck for today!!!

Good luck OP

You just keep telling yourself that Fedup - I'm sure your employer appreciates having such an unthinking capitalist minion.

For a mate, in this situation, I would cover.

But she's not a "mate". She's a work colleague who isn't working - she's out getting pissed while OP tries to hold it together.

I've been on these sorts of trips in the part and there is always dinner and drinks involved. But when it's a work funded trip you're never really off duty. You have the nice meal and a glass or two of wine and that's it. You certainly don't get pissed and run around bars screaming at football matches.

OP, hope it all goes well with the presentation. But agree with the others that you need to give the heads up to your manager NOW, before leaving the hotel. Her getting pissed will only affect her if you flag it now. If you say nothing and it all goes tits up, it will affect you, her and your manager. It will all come out that she was incapable and hungover and the manager will never trust you again.

I've followed this thread - just wanted to wish you good luck.
Agree you should send the email before, not after.

@downcasteyes - agree that is what conferences are for some people, and I would probably do the same as you, but this is totally different.
Her colleague didn't give a fuck about the OP's reputation/job plus there is a bonus involved!

I don’t think you have any grounds to report her given that your presentation wasn’t ready the night before the meeting.

You need to wait and see how it goes today, she could well turn up and smash it.

All the people saying it’s fine for the colleague to let her hair down and that OP is being square ... if the presentation was in the UK this morning and yesterday afternoon had been earmarked for time in the office getting the slides finalised and going though the pitch but the colleague had come into work yesterday morning 2 pints down already, determined to drink the day away and then watch the football, would that be acceptable?? This is no different, just because they’ve got on a plane and are in a hotel instead of an office doesn’t mean you can spend a working day getting drunk.

How is she?

Ha, think the drunk colleague has turned up on the thread! Or, if not actually her, someone who would behave the same way with no compunction.

Good luck today @Eastie77 I can see why she wanted to let loose but her timing is horrendous. The fact she never comes out on work nights etc is a potential red flag???

What time did she get in?

She knows she’s fucking you over.

I don’t think you have any grounds to report her given that your presentation wasn’t ready the night before the meeting.
You need to wait and see how it goes today, she could well turn up and smash it.

^ This. Also the fact that neither of you were prepared before leaving for Portugal reflects badly on both of you. Irrespective of the fact you knuckled down the night before.

Good luck OP! Maybe send the email to yourself so it has the time and date on it? Or would that make it look like you had gone mad too?

If this isn't some sort of crisis, this colleague probably has form and others will have been in your situation before.

no way would i not inform my manager,
she started drinking before you even got on the plane, she hasnt spent one moment finishing the presentation, and you cant complete with out her input...
do you really want to be taking half the blame, ( although im sure she will blame you fully) if the customer says nope because of a imperfect ill-prepared presentation
if the client decides to go with someone else your manager will be asking the hard questions of you both, you really need to be out in front of this, or she will lay the blame at your feet

FWIW @ThumbWitchesAbroad, I have never been drunk for a presentation, because I get horrendous stage fright to the point that I will literally be sick (it used to affect me even before a lecture, which is a problem when lecturing is your job). So I only drink after the event. I have, however, been in exactly the same situation as the OP with more junior colleagues, but I have sufficient mastery of the subject of any presentation I give, and sufficient organisation skills to be ready with leeway, that I would always be able to do the entire thing myself if push came to shove. (I would never agree to give a presentation where I didn't have absolutely all of the facts I needed from memory).

As I said before, I've been in the OP's position, several times. What I wouldn't do is to flap on a public forum instead of sorting the situation out by quietly ringing other people with the data and obtaining what I needed. And I wouldn't dream of grassing up a colleague to a manager, potentially endangering their job and plunging their family into crisis. Because it's a shit thing to do and I regard my colleagues as friends and human beings first and foremost, and as minions of capital only secondarily. There's way too much stick-up-the-arse stuff on this forum about behaving "professionally" and way too little compassion and care for other people, be it elderly drivers, colleagues, or friends.

Good luck OP

FWIW I think you can express concern to your manager without mentioning your delay in completing the presentation. Mention her abuse of the company credit card, the drunken behaviour and inability to communicate whatsoever about the slides.

Why does the colleague deserve compassion??? She was determined to view the trip as a jolly and starting drinking early in the morning. It isn’t a piss-up, it’s a meeting that happens to be in another country. The fact she doesn’t get time to herself at home isn’t the company’s problem to solve.

Downcasteyes if you've been in the OP's situation many times and had to cover for colleagues like this then you're a mug and they obviously see you coming.

I'm staggered at how many folk think it's fine to go away for a business meeting and get so pissed you can't do your job. What if they weren't abroad but just in another city, would it be acceptable then? It's not a company holiday or away day, it's a working day!

Good luck OP!

Compassion, like respect, is something that should be offered automatically, not something you have to "earn". I realise, however, that in the deeply selfish, individualist and grabby culture of this forum, both of those ideas are radical concepts.

wouldn't dream of grassing up a colleague to a manager, potentially endangering their job and plunging their family into crisis.

Do nothing, and you are potentially plunging your own family into crisis too when the pair of you get sacked - one for getting pissed, the other for covering it up.

This is not a cosy public-sector academia situation.

Good luck for this morning Op!

🤞for your presentation OP

OR you could just sort the situation out by familiarising yourself with your colleague's area (surely not that hard since this is not a 'cosy public-sector academia situation' and therefore will not involve a difficult area of philosophy that requires years of reading to master - it's more likely to be basic facts and figures), nail the presentation, and fly home victorious.

Compassion for a drunk who is making a holiday out of a workday??? No, sorry, this is not a friend going awol in your first day in Magaluf, it is a colleague expected and paid to pull her weight in a professional situation.