To be annoyed at my colleague?

[PandaAndLionRoar]

I was in an all day meeting with the board/C suite in work today. My colleague/friend was in work but not in the meeting with me. It was her last day before MAT leave and it was coming up to 5pm and I was still in my meeting with the board so she came to the meeting room and interrupted my meeting by knocking on the door and then asking for me and saying “I’m sorry to interrupt but can I have a quick world please, it’s urgent”. It turns out she didn’t have anything urgent that she needed me for but she just wanted to say bye to me before she goes on MAT leave and knew that I wouldn’t be out of my meeting before 5pm when she left the building so she decide to interrupt my meeting to say bye instead. I feel a bit annoyed that she interrupted the whole meeting just to say bye to me whilst I was in a meeting with the board, fair enough if it was something urgent but it wasn’t. She could have just phoned me later to say bye if she wanted. AIBU to be a little annoyed with my colleague for interrupting my meeting just to say bye? She took me out the meeting room and just said that she just wanted to say bye to me before she goes on MAT leave and then we chatted for 2 minutes and that was it, nothing urgent at all!

That's what I was wondering, but think I saw someone post that recently.

Going on sabbatical then. It’s still inappropriate.

Oh I don't know about that, men think they can do everything a woman can do!!

What do you want to do about it now? Tell her off? Tell the Board you're mortified on their behalf that she interrupted your big important meeting? Simply to say goodbye before going on leave for many months?
It wasn't the end of the world surely.
It was two minutes. Dwelling on it seems bizarre. She can't be that close of a friend by the way you seem to speak of her.

God I am so glad I am not tied up in this corporate bullshit ..

It's her last day, a big thing for her. Did she get a farewell with cake and good luck etc? Most likely trying to adjust to not being there and being nice.

Oh dear though, a c suite? I'm sure they will get over it, hardly a crime.

You sound like you have got quite an important job. But my god you sound dim. There is hope for me yet lol 😂

These are professional people, they wouldn’t ask what the urgent thing was, more likely to ask (if anything) a simple, ‘is everything ok’? But likely to say nothing at all and resume the meeting. There’s some embellishment going on here I believe.

@Feelinadequate23 totally agree with what you've said.
Being in a meeting with the board or c-suite in that environment could have been a career-defining moment for the OP. That kind of interruption put her in a difficult spot and probably took her focus away at an important moment.
And yet many of the replies boil down to "be kind" or "oooh, look at you, someone's a bit up themselves, aren't they"
Woman working at a large corporate here 👋Aren't we allowed to have anything for ourselves?

OMG... i would be thanking my friend to get out of an 'all day meeting' surely you are allowed toilet breaks? (why did you not choose to say bye then?)
surely you are allowed tea breaks (why did you not choose to say bye then either?)
surely you are allowed lunch breaks (why did you not choose to say bye then either?)
and lastly if you are in such a major meeting you must be SUPER important which means unless you were taking minutes you would have been able to stretch your legs once in a while i presume????
I think you sound to me like you want to be looked up to as god like and not bothered by the peasants ...
your friend did a nice thing waiting ALL day until she had to leave before interrupting your previous meeting.
Your friend is better off without you if you value her so little... shame on you for even thinking about posting such tosh🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Oh OP. “C-suite” 🤣🤣🤣

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

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.

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

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 ).

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?

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).

You sound 12 tbh.

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

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

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

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)

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

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.

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!!