(S)colded for being (S)ick

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. Each post will be associated with a letter of the alphabet with the theme ‘Today, at work…’.

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Today, at work, well, I didn’t go to work because I was sick as a dog.

It wasn’t perfect timing since we had a public lecture planned but I thought we had it covered since I checked in with The Boss a few days before the flu got a hold of me and held me hostage.

When we planned the public lecture, all initial negotiations were done by The Boss, whenever I asked if there was anything I needed to follow-up on, she said everything’s sorted. I believed her.

So, the Thursday before the public lecture on Friday, I woke up and my entire body was aching and I had a fever. I dragged myself out of bed to the doctor’s and called in sick. Friday was a repeat of Thursday. Except that Friday afternoon was the day of the public lecture. I texted The Boss and informed her that I was calling in sick again that day and also let her know what else needed to be done for the public lecture aside from the arrangements she’d already made prior.

Apparently, on my deathbed sickbed, I learnt that when she said she had everything sorted. Nothing was sorted. How did I know this? Because she texted me and demanded I come to work and sort everything out and that it was my responsibility and if it was her, she’d come in to work. I was getting sick of this rubbish.

I replied to her that I had updated my colleague what needed to be done, and that there was still time to wrangle a laptop and projector, we had both in the office.

But no, that didn’t satisfy her, she repeated again that I was not being responsible by acting the way I did.

I replied that I wasn’t coming to work for the public lecture because I’m sick and if she was unhappy with my work performance then I’d be happy to discuss it first thing on Monday morning. There was no reply after that.

I texted my colleague to let them know that The Boss is angry at me and to not let it affect the public lecture. She texted back saying “Oh, really? But The Boss seemed all right, she’s even helping with the public lecture.” What the heck?

At the end of the day, when I knew that the public lecture had ended, I asked my colleague if everything went well. “Yeah,” she replied, “We had one person turn up.”

“One person???” I messaged back.

All that angst on the sickbed for one measly public lecture with one participant.

What unnecessary reprimand/ scolding have you gotten from your boss?