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Original poster

Walking back into a ****storm tomorrow

564 replies

ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay · 25/08/2025 22:10

I've been away on holiday for a week, back in the office tomorrow. There was a bit of a crisis happening before I went so I wrapped up as much as I could and did a decent handover. It's all blown up, my boss (CEO) has been sending furious emails and I've spent the week keeping a face on for DH and the DC while lying awake for hours at night thinking about it. My team have handled it like troopers but have also been messaging me and have set up a meeting first thing tomorrow before CEO gets in so I'm not blindsided, bless their thoughtfulness.

I'm going in extra early to clear my desk before my team get in, in case I'm getting fired. I don't know how I'm going to hold it together TBH. I've told DH that it's bad, but not how bad. He just said it's a bank holiday, don't worry about it until tomorrow. I'm tired, my holiday was ruined and I just want to go in and get it over with.

OP posts:
MrsMcGarry · 26/08/2025 10:58

ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay · 25/08/2025 22:22

I was properly on holiday, out all day on various tours, no laptop so not able to make myself available or I would have done.

I had to make a judgement call while CEO was on holiday, did my best with the information I had available and kept him informed but facts have since come to light that would have made me call it the other way. Very public, lots of juice for competitors, lots of regulator scrutiny. CEO furious, investors furious.

So you had to make a call because CEO was on holiday and not disturbable, but you have been disturbed on your holiday because CEO now disagrees with the call you made because new info has come to light.

I wouldn't be apologising, I'd be complaining that you were left to deal with situations you shouldn't have had to handle. If CEO is going to give you responsibility then they also need to back you exercising it (unless you do something recklessly stupid)

MimiSunshine · 26/08/2025 10:58

Ohnobackagain · 26/08/2025 09:43

Read this last night and thought of you this morning @ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay

If your decision was based on the info you had, what else could you have done? If further info that became available later would have changed your mind - well the only thing to help would have been a crystal ball.

Your boss kicked off because - HE was away when maybe HE should have been available and he knows it. You were on holiday. You are entitled to a life. He has no right to blame you unless he told you to do something and you didn’t follow instructions. Even then, nobody should be rude. Blunt/uncomfortable conversations - yes. Actual loss of temper and so on? No.

Was going to post to say this.

OP just keep reiterating, based on the information we had at the time. X was the decision / option (whatever) we took. I kept CEO fully informed throughout.

Lndnmummy · 26/08/2025 11:00

morellamalessdrama · 26/08/2025 07:10

I’m sure today will be better than you think it’ll be. It’s not always easy to do, but any way that you can put it in perspective, in terms of (presumably) no one’s life is at risk etc, will help. It sounds as though you have a lovely team who are on your side so you must be good at your job.

Wishing you all the best OP. I have been where you are and in hindsight it was the best thing that could have happened to me. One breath at a time. ❤️

roshi42 · 26/08/2025 11:01

Good luck OP. God, that adrenaline-spike panic when you realise you’ve effed up is the absolute worst. But it really does sound like you made the best call you could with the info you had at the time, I hope they recognise that. I also work with a lot of public scrutiny so I get how things escalate. Deep breath, project leadership and professionalism, focus on solutions going forward not blame. I hope it’s not so bad.

Mischance · 26/08/2025 11:02

Just to chip.in here as a retired person. When I look back over my career there were many a shitstorm over which I had sleepless nights. They all blew over ... however massive they seemed at the time. The world kept turning and now I can barely remember them and why they caused such misery.
This will be you one day!
You will get through this. Stay calm. It us a blip in life's rich tapestry.
I would just be jolly cross that my holiday had been overshadowed by it all!

MaggieBsBoat · 26/08/2025 11:02

I was in a similar situation last February, turns out my boss used my holiday as a way to beat my team up and destroy morale. I then lasted until July. It was horrible. I do hope today goes better than you are thinking and if not, then be glad that this can be put behind you eventually. It can in either case. You are worth more than your job!

Lavender14 · 26/08/2025 11:04

Everyone makes mistakes op. And really your CEO if they're decent should be fostering a culture that equips staff to take calculated risks and will back them provided they can show it was a logical decision made to the best of their ability with the information available to them at the time. Absolutely noone is infallible and in this scenario all you can do is try to remind yourself of that so you aren't too hard on yourself, while looking at how you'd be able to better protect yourself from this happening again in future if that's even possible.

I agree you should be in a union. You can also request for any meetings to be minuted.

I can't imagine a scenario where you'd need to clear your desk and prepare for immediately needing to leave the building from what you've told us here unless you're operating in an extremely toxic environment.

You did all you could to manage things before you left for holidays and if the company is unable to function without you for a week or two then that's a structural issue within the company and not your problem. You are entitled to leave. You do not work for free.

My job can at times be life or death and can be high pressure with lots of variables and at times I have to make judgement calls that can directly impact on the safety and wellbeing of other people both in my team and in the community. My CEO would never ever act like this.

Fullofthejoysofspring · 26/08/2025 11:04

ChangingWeight · 26/08/2025 10:22

I think if what you have said is true (in terms of fallout), chances are you’ll never recover your reputation at this company so you’re essentially as good as sacked.

however from what you’ve said, it seems like you have been finding this job overwhelming. Maybe it’s just time for you to reassess what you want out of work, maybe this might be a career reset in a good way.

Edited
Show quote history

What are you hoping to achieve with this response? OP needs to go into today with as much confidence as she can muster. If the information wasn't available, it wasn’t available. Her company could be opening themselves up to constructive dismissal if they insist on shredding her reputation.

Maggiethecat · 26/08/2025 11:07

ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay · 25/08/2025 22:33

Thankyou. Right now, I don't even want the job. Just the pay, please! I really, really needed that holiday. We're going into our busiest period, pressure is on (not that it ever stops) and I just want to rock in a corner with my hands over my ears until it goes away.

Even if not fired it’s probably better that you walk away from this job which you say that you don’t want anyway. There was a crisis before you went on holiday and seems you didn’t have the support or information to make the right decision. It may also be the case that the job is bigger than you and there is no shame in recognising that.
I was in a similar position - great pay but lots of stress and a chaotic work environment. I decided to save my mental health in the end.

LeastOfMyWorries · 26/08/2025 11:24

Hoping today isn't going as badly as you feared OP, thinking of you

ParmaVioletTea · 26/08/2025 11:28

What I cannot comprehend is that having nade an error you went off on holiday without your laptop and didn’t make yourself available. That’s crazy!

No that is not crazy. A week's holiday with no laptop or work (hint: it's a holiday) is very much not crazy. The CEO was on holiday the week before, and didn't offer @ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay any support. The OP made the decision she could, based on the information she had.

Presumably there is a paper/email trail.

I hope today goes OK for you, @ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay

fruitfly3 · 26/08/2025 11:30

Hope it goes ok OP - sorry, that’s really stressful. But ultimately, you made a judgement based on the information available. You can totally own the fact that, in hindsight, it was the wrong judgement, but it doesn’t make your approach wrong. If the CEO wants total control, then they need to be available for all decision making (or have a board structure in place for joint decision making when they’re not there). Hope the fallout isn’t awful but hold strong and stand up for your approach.

PinkyFlamingo · 26/08/2025 11:34

Are you in a union?

StarCourt · 26/08/2025 11:35

Hope all is ok for you today Op.

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 26/08/2025 11:38

I'd cancel the leave taken and roll the annual leave forward if you've spent a good portion of your holiday taking calls and answering emails.

Hope you get on ok with your CEO.

heartmatters · 26/08/2025 11:48

MrsMcGarry · 26/08/2025 10:58

So you had to make a call because CEO was on holiday and not disturbable, but you have been disturbed on your holiday because CEO now disagrees with the call you made because new info has come to light.

I wouldn't be apologising, I'd be complaining that you were left to deal with situations you shouldn't have had to handle. If CEO is going to give you responsibility then they also need to back you exercising it (unless you do something recklessly stupid)

Show quote history

This. What a disgraceful way to behave while you've been on holiday.

flyingsquirrelsagogo · 26/08/2025 11:50

I don’t understand how this can be your fault, OP, if you made the best decisions based on the information you had at the time. You can’t act in information you don’t have, can you? What would your CEO have done with the info you were working with before you went away?
Good luck. I hope you don’t end up as a scapegoat.

ilovesushi · 26/08/2025 11:50

How stressful and how awful that it ruined your holiday. Sounds like a highly stressful work environment and that you really needed time away to switch off and decompress. I hope things aren't as bad as you fear. You made a call based on the info you had at the time. When you are on leave, you are on leave, so it wasn't your job to deal with any fallout as new info came to light.

SpencerGarciaGideon · 26/08/2025 11:53

Sorry but I'm a firm believer that when you take a holiday, which you are entitled to, someone else should step in and do your work. You should not be bothered on holiday or be given a bollocking when you get back. . because what would they do if you left the company? They'd cope. Exactly. It infuriatiles me when my husband phone goes off at all hours and she's expected to just jump on his laptop and work til early hours in the morning. Just no!

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 26/08/2025 11:56

ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay · 26/08/2025 07:06

What I cannot comprehend is that having nade an error you went off on holiday without your laptop and didn’t make yourself available. That’s crazy!

I didn't know I'd made an error until Tuesday, when I was already on holiday. As far as I knew, I'd done what needed to be done, kicked off the rest and handed over to the people who would be following it through.

I'm feeling a bit calmer this morning. Deep breaths, lots of listening and note-taking.

Fingers crossed it all goes well today, @ThrowMeAwayTheVeryNextDay. I don’t think you did anything unreasonable - you did all you could before you left to ensure the issue was dealt with, and you deserved to have a holiday that wasn’t just wfh with more sunshine.

IsItSnowing · 26/08/2025 12:02

So the CEO can go on holiday and be uncontactable but you can't. I wouldn't work for a company where they couldn't respect basic boundaries and hassled me while on holiday.
It sounds like you made a reasonable decision based on the information available at the time. If full info wasn't available because the CEO was away that's on them surely.
But good luck for today, hope it works out ok.

Thepeopleversuswork · 26/08/2025 12:09

It's absolutely right that the buck ultimately stops with the CEO and the OP shouldn't be being hauled over the coals because she had to make a judgement call without the right support. It's poor management and OP I really hope your CEO has the sense to realise this.

But some of these comments are fairly unrealistic and unhelpful. People saying you shouldn't be checking emails etc when on holiday/should have boundaries in place obviously haven't worked in high pressure situations before. Yes, this is the ideal, but in small teams in high pressure environments you sometimes have no choice: if other senior people are off then sometimes people need to step in during holiday periods. Work doesn't grind to a halt because someone is on holiday.

I can tell you I haven't had a holiday in 15 years in which I haven't had to check emails. That doesn't mean I'm "working", but as a senior person the price of my job and my salary is that I have to be alert to things that are going on, even if nine times out of ten I'm not expected to act on them.

It doesn't help if people who are in far lower-stress working environments weigh in by adding to the OP's guilt by telling her she should be downing tools and working to rule in these situations. You don't understand the culture so maybe read the room a bit.

Blisteringlycold · 26/08/2025 12:12

You can't act on information you didn't have. If you jumped the gun, that's one thing, but frankly hindsight is not a useable tool!

BUMCHEESE · 26/08/2025 12:13

No one should be receiving furious messages on holiday.

There's just no need.

Life is too short to work for people like this.

Thepeopleversuswork · 26/08/2025 12:15

BUMCHEESE · 26/08/2025 12:13

No one should be receiving furious messages on holiday.

There's just no need.

Life is too short to work for people like this.

Not everyone has this choice. People always weigh in with comments like this but its quite unhelpful: for some of us it's a reality. If this is what your job requires of you, that's what you have to do.

It's easy to say "life is too short" but if you're the breadwinner in the family it isn't as simple as just walking away. It may be complex to find a less demanding job.

It irritates me when people blithely toss this around.