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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed off that someone else has got credit for my work

257 replies

treetops46 · 02/03/2022 12:46

So last week, I cancelled my days off and worked all hours on a presentation that I was leading with my boss today.

I wrote the entire presentation, developed the strategy, designed it - literally everything, because it had to be done so quickly and we are all busy so I just took it on the chin and made it happen.

There is a (wonderful and lovely) more junior team member who proofed the deck and is usually part of this team but was too busy to help last week. This week she is off sick so couldn't attend the presentation either.

We just did the presentation (my boss and me) and it went brilliantly. The clients said numerous times how much they loved the deck and the ideas, I was so happy that all my hard work had paid off.

Then straight after the presentation, boss messages me and more junior girl on our Teams chat saying 'brilliantly presented, TreeTops, and Junior Girl, they loved your deck!'

Now I know because I am quite senior that I should just try to let this go but it's annoyed me so so much!! I can handle not getting much praise for it, but to give credit to someone else entirely just really stings. Ugh.

I feel like I will be being really petty if I mention it, and doubt junior girl will really notice the message amid the mountain of stuff she'll have to catch up on when she gets back so probably won't correct him either. Gahhhhhhhh!!!!!!

OP posts:
TeenPlusCat · 02/03/2022 18:35

I'd be tempted to write back saying
'Thank you, I'm glad it was well received so it was worth the 50 hours I put into it over the evenings and weekend as no one else was available short notice'.

TheUndoingProject · 02/03/2022 18:38

Delivering through others is a huge part of senior leadership, and I’d give OP credit for providing great slides whether she did it 100% herself or provided the insight, support and direction to enable the junior girl to do so (and probably more so in the latter case because it’s more efficient!). Fighting to take credit rather than accepting praise for the team is praise for the team leader would be a pretty big red flag to me as a senior manager.

BowerOfBramble · 02/03/2022 18:50

Lol @SevenWaystoLeave I wasn't actually getting at anyone in particular and hadn't read any previous posts of yours, but I think you're quite right to make sure people appropriately share credit etc. Where we differ is on whether pointing out who did the project is appropriately sharing credit. In this case, I don't think it is.

Although I'm really glad your employees have a different experience, I've been told multiple times that I've missed out on opportunities due to sharing credit when in fact I'd done 100% of the work, saying "we did" instead of "I did" and all the rest of it. It's clear to me that - although teamwork is my favourite way to work and god knows I'll share credit with people even if they've done one thing and I've done 20 - the workplace only favours assertively stating what you, personally, have achieved.

BowerOfBramble · 02/03/2022 18:51

"Where we differ is on whether pointing out who did the project is appropriately sharing credit. In this case, I don't think it is."

Got myself in an end of the day tangle here - what I mean is, I think "failing to point out who did the project" isn't appropriately sharing credit, it goes over the line.

Associatepeggy · 02/03/2022 19:05

I bet no-one would suggest a man was petty for pointing out he'd done work he'd not only done but gone out of his way to do. Unprofessional though, apparently, if you've got a pair of tits

I know a man who would point it out. And everyone (men and women) think he is a dick.

ineedsun · 02/03/2022 19:17

[quote TheSmallAssassin]@ineedsun from more than 10 years ago, before PowerPoint was a twinkle in Microsoft's eye, when slides really were film slides, stored in a deck (like a deck of cards). Have you never wondered why they were called slides? We used to use the term "foils", too, when they were acetates on overhead projectors, which is even more confusing.

It's a bit like the "save" symbol being a picture of a floppy disk, I bet you've never saved a document onto one of those, either.[/quote]
😂 you under estimate my age 😂

It was all acetate and microfiche (sp?) when I first started working; slides because it’s like a slideshow but never heard of slides stored in a deck either! Wondering if it’s because I’m not an arty type?

Original poster
treetops46 · 02/03/2022 19:18

Update - he has just sent me a really lovely message separately to say well done on the presentation. He's referring again to the delivery but even so, I'm kind of over his other message now 😊

Thank you for all the replies!

OP posts:
debwong · 02/03/2022 19:25

@Nanny0gg

What's a 'deck'?
I think it's some sort of skateboarding term. It's hard to get on in business these days without pulling off some gnarly grinds and ollies.
Arabellla · 02/03/2022 19:33

Now is the time to speak up and say It was your pressy (let’s see if ppl prefer that to deck).

Hercisback · 02/03/2022 19:37

All jokes aside, how does a ppt take 50 hours to prepare? Cannot get my head round that.

Arabellla · 02/03/2022 19:39

@Hercisback

All jokes aside, how does a ppt take 50 hours to prepare? Cannot get my head round that.
Hollow laugh
Crimesean · 02/03/2022 19:44

"I'm pleased it went well, thanks xxx for proofreading the deck for me"

Please reply with this - there is no way a man would let this go uncorrected. Women are so worried they'll be perceived as aggressive or overly self-promoting, we let ourselves down.

TheSmallAssassin · 02/03/2022 20:05

If he's sent you a personal message, I think it would be the ideal opportunity to set the record straight graciously while thanking him for the feedback.

Dibbydoos · 02/03/2022 20:23

It's completely unprofessional isn't it?

In my career I've had this so much. The biggest was a bloke got an OBE by stealing my programme of work and telling the new CEO it was his. My director let him and then told me about it. Nice, right!

spuddy56 · 02/03/2022 20:32

If you're male I feel like you could be my boss! I recently "helped" him with a huge presentation (I made the charts our brand colours and proof read it!!!) and he and his boss have been so generous about it being "ours" and I'm just squirming thinking ah I did F all. They seem to like it being all team efforty though and I think it gives them Brownie points to say younger people are working on stuff that's more exciting than just the colours. It probably reflects well on you :)

EarringsandLipstick · 02/03/2022 21:31

@TheSmallAssassin

If he's sent you a personal message, I think it would be the ideal opportunity to set the record straight graciously while thanking him for the feedback.
I agree. I've come back to this thread & read all the replies.

I can't believe how many posters are falling over themselves to excuse this based on the boss's grammatical error, or clumsy phrasing.

No.

That's nonsense. He's got it wrong. He thinks Junior Girl contributed to the work. She didn't, in the sense he thinks, and moreover, it doesn't recognise that OP went over & above by cancelling leave & working flat out to get this done.

It's not just the excellent delivery, which she has been praised for. It's all the bloody hard work.

Please set him straight by replying to his email to you.

Hercisback · 02/03/2022 21:41

@arabellla Why?

I make ppts daily as a teacher. Never has one taken 50 hours. That's a whole week on one ppt...

Hankunamatata · 02/03/2022 21:48

@picklemewalnuts

Refer to it as 'my deck'.

And reply 'Thank you! I won't lie, I slightly begrudged cancelling my AL, but it was worth it in the end!'

'I'm really pleased with my deck, it was worth postponing my AL to get it done! I'd like to rebook for dates:xyz'.

This is best reply and not cringe worthy
Caranjo · 02/03/2022 22:09

[quote Hercisback]@arabellla Why?

I make ppts daily as a teacher. Never has one taken 50 hours. That's a whole week on one ppt...[/quote]
Depends on the content - if you have to do a lot of research and original writing of content, and it's a long deck, of course it can take hours.

thecatsthecats · 02/03/2022 22:14

I agree that you're misreading it.

But in my previous, v senior role, I praised my staff to the skies when they performed well and contributed to the success of a project. My credit came in the bottom line of the business and decisions I led in the boardroom.

I've now stepped down into a more junior role and it's really interesting how people treat me differently in my new company not knowing that I'm used to making £££ decisions etc. But I know how to speak and to present myself to the trustees, and believe me, this kind of petty crap is the last thing that looks senior and responsible.

Build up your team and you'll all float to the top.

ka147 · 02/03/2022 22:21

Id reply something like " thanks I worked really hard on it/ spent 50 hours writing it /cancelled AL so I'm happy it was appreciated "

Miraloma · 02/03/2022 22:42

Everyone needs to stop with the faux bafflement over the term 'deck'

I'm trying to work out when we started saying 'slide deck' exactly, but that's the norm now and 'PowerPoint' is a bit antiquated.

Hercisback · 02/03/2022 22:47

@caranjo

What counts as a long deck?

I write mostly original content on my teaching slides.

There is a whole other world out there I know very little about so it's really interesting to hear people spend so long preparing for one presentation.
Does the same person write the content and do the "design" work?

RobynMyEmployer · 02/03/2022 23:23

My daughter said, I would just like you to know that this was my work, but if Bob, needs it for his promotion then let him crack on and take the credit. She then got up and walked out.

I was so proud of her.

IMHO there are better ways to deal with this than having a strop and flouncing out the room. She may have damaged her reputation now, which is worse than just not receiving the due credit.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 02/03/2022 23:56

I'm glad he's congratulated you again on your presentation but it does seem very clear from his second email that he doesn't realise that you created the whole deck yourself.

Up to you entirely if you let it go now - but I do think that this whole thing of "being thought to be petty" is what helps to keep women down in the workplace, not unlike being told you're "nagging" at home.
Also proves that the "corporate world" is still very much a man's world.