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

Well done @Eastie77 on delivering what you needed to with grace and professionalism. If she's hung herself out to dry that's her problem.

I remember well how stressful the night before a big presentation can be. When things aren't going to plan and you know you're running out of time, you focus. Sure, we celebrated after a successful presentation, but never before.

Stealth Obviously I consulted my manager after packing my case yesterday morning. In fact I face timed him and asked him to check I'd folded my clothes correctly. To his shock and horror I had only packed my case the morning I was leaving the hotel and did have everything neatly packed 12 hours before. For shame!

Most of you get it re. the last minute prep but for those still criticising...the team I work in often receive briefs with little to no warning and have to throw together decks at the last minute. My team works a mix of remotely and office based so sometimes I'll be working with someone but won't see them face to face until we meet the shortly before the meeting. It's just the way it works. We have to be 'agile' and 'comfortable with ambiguity' which translates as ready to deal with any last minute shit that lands on our desk.

Colleague sat at the back of the plane and we didn't talk much on the way back. She apologised a few times but it seemed to be more of an apology for being ill (as opposed to leaving me in the lurch) and as if the illness was unconnected to her drinking. She also said if the client does not sign a new contract it will be due to a lot of different factors and doesn't just hinge on yesterday's meeting. And that is maybe partly true but in no way deflects from her fuck-up and she knows that.

I have no idea what's awaiting her at the office but manager will definitely not sack her (I wouldn't want that tbh) so it will probably be a stern talking to. She will be likely be grounded too and just have client meetings in the UK.

didn't have everything neatly packed, obviously

Did you open your mouth so he could check your teeth

Check my teeth, why? Am I supposed to have brushed them? I checked the "Routine to Follow When Travelling Guide" I made my manager write for me and there was no mention of that. Feel like you're gaslighting me now Stealth

Please come back and let us know what happens with the client contract, OP. All the best.

This thread has reinforced my sneaking suspicion that all those posters in their "stressful" "high-powered" "senior" positions are in fact fantasists whose entire experience of the workplace is based on watching Melanie Griffith in Working Girl. I find the fact that the presentation wasn’t prepared & checked by management before you went out very odd/unprofessional - i mean really - the presentation should have been locked in before you traveled travelling time IS working time bizarre

Ask him to draw you a flow chart next time and for performance related rewards. A sticker chart maybe.

Not her time but the company time.

You really need to put the facts before the manager ASAP. ALL the facts, so that includes her relentless boozing and then let the manager and the HR dept. take it from there.

Don't let her drag you down and make you share the shit for her unprofessional behaviour.

PS: Does she have 'form' for this kind of thing?

Wow

Depends on what you do though, doesn't it - generally I had presentations done and dusted before I left because we were often asked to send them off so the interpreters could have a look in advance (working a lot with the European Parliament / Commission. And since there were normally a couple of us going and the other one was my manager, we would generally run through the slides in advance so we all knew what we were going to say. Also, if your manager (for example) goes headfirst off a horse the night before you leave it means you can do all the presentations without too much alarm possibly slightly specific to where I used to work but equine-based injuries were an occupational hazard...!

It's just different for different sectors.

@Spudlet - And since there were normally a couple of us going and the other one was my manager, we would generally run through the slides in advance so we all knew what we were going to say.

That's a bit different to having your manager check your presentation though. That's ensuring all people who are presenting are on the same page. The op attempted to do the same with her colleague. The timing was just different as she didn't need to send it to interpreters in advance.

Ooh Spudlet was it the Household Cavalry?

Oh yes, course it is. Just pointing out that different jobs take different approaches, not suggesting the op needed any of that malarkey

Not the Household Cavalry, but you're in the right sort of area 🐴

She also said if the client does not sign a new contract it will be due to a lot of different factors and doesn't just hinge on yesterday's meeting.

So the panic is setting in and she's getting her story ready.

I mean she may have the kernel of a point - but frankly if there was any doubt in the client's mind, her performance sounds likely to have cemented it.

I hope she feels bloody awful - dropping your colleagues in it just isn't on. Hope you've managed to pull it back op - doesn't sound like you could have done more.

If the day before was adequate time for them to do it then what's the problem? The issue is NOT that it was done the night before, the issue is the OPs colleagues unprofessional behaviour. Nothing else. That's what wrong with society these days, deflecting blame from the person/thing that is actually in the wrong, and rather looking for anything else to scapegoat.

When do we you get to find out if the contract was renewed?

When do we you get to find out if the contract was renewed?

How long do we have to wait? Just a casual, nonchalant kind of question. I'm going to be over here, leaning against the wall, whistling casually.

Well, I guess your colleague can wave goodbye to any more work-funded breaks from her DC. That's probably punishment enough.

I’m glad i’m not the only one who is massively overinvested concerned about the outcome!

I’m trying to think of how on earth colleague could think their behaviour is acceptable - are there often jokes in the office about going away / getting pissed? Not that it’s an excuse - she should have realised the reality of the situation as soon as you showed up to the airport and raised an eyebrow at her drinking!

A million years ago in the 80s before I had children my employer arranged a divisional conference in a hotel on the south coast. It was in advance of a big restructuring and I think the idea was to do give new work teams a chance to get to know each other in a more informal setting. There was probably a bit of CPD too

It must have cost a fortune as there were dozens and dozens of us there for a couple of nights, all travel, meals and accommodation paid for. I can't remember what the position was on drink but there was a lot of alcohol being drunk on each of the evenings and it was pretty clear that socialising in the evenings after dinner was compulsory as part of the bonding and that mostly meant sitting in the bar and drinking alcohol.

On one night a graduate trainee got absolutely ratarsed, as did several others. They went off for a walk to the sea front and he fell off the sea wall. He hurt his back and had to take time off sick. It could have been much worse. As I recall, when he got back to work there was some kind of disciplinary hearing and a black mark against him.

It was all incredibly hypocritical as the organisation was quite clearly encouraging everyone to drink to excess. I suppose you could say that they weren't interested in those who couldn't hold their drink and one of the criteria for advancement was being able to either drink a lot and still behave sensibly, or being very good at not drinking a lot but pretending to be drunk. He failed on both counts. I hope he made a full recovery. That conference was one of the many occasions I realised I was in the wrong job/industry and I left shortly afterwards.

So the panic is setting in and she's getting her story ready.

Yep I thought that too LazyLizzy. Be wary Eastie77 she's obviously giving this a lot of thought and I would be prepared for her trying to implicate you in her fuck up. Watch your back, she's not to be trusted.

TBH I once finished a presentation in the room while the delegates were getting their coffees
because the audience turned out to be different from what I'd been told and I needed to alter the focus

@Eastie77 please let us know if she actually made it to the office for her bollocking?!