Coworker made me miss our flight

[Anonymous]

Your manager has issues. Next time just say it's not my job to babysit a grown women. I would have left without her. I'm super anal about getting to airports and movie theaters early and I dont budge on this. But I've never traveled with someone who wouldn't urge me to go to the airport alone if they overslept. That's just weird.

[Anonymous]

Op, is your coworker a millennial? Has to be.


LadY, stop with the millennial crap. OP said co-worker is in her 40s.

I wouldn't be surprised if the OP was a millennial. OP, are you younger than this co-worker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You shouldn't have waited. I don't wait for anyone. If DH is late, I leave without him.

I was explicitly told to stay with her because she hasn't traveled before.

I got nothin', OP. Not much you can do if she doesn't show up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I was so worried about our vendor visit and her dressing appropriately that I didn't focus on anything else. She's a very new hire, and we had to make it clear that jeans aren't appropriate for a supplier meeting. I am technically skilled at my job, but am not so much a people person.

OP, I'm laying the blame for this bs squarely on your manager. S/he needs to manage.

[Anonymous]

Is coworker black?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted a while back about having to take a new coworker on a business trip with me. She is brand new to business travel - any kind of air travel, really - so I made sure we had plenty of time.

1. She woke up late
2. Was at the airport and hour and a half later than we agreed to
3. Left her laptop bag in her car
4. Didn't know you couldn't bring liquids through security
5. Wore these ridiculous 4 inch heels so she could barely walk through the terminal.

I basically dragged her as fast as I could through the airport, and we still missed our flight. Our manager is furious with me because I didn't explain to her about the liquids and that she couldn't carry on a giant suitcase, etc, or explain to her her decent travel attire. I guess I am wondering if this is really my responsibility? I travel 150,000 miles a year and it never occurred to me to tell someone in 2015 that they can't bring a huge bottle of shampoo or a giant suitcase on the plane. I was at the airport almost 3 hours before our flight, but there wasn't much I could do besides call her when she didn't show up on time.

How do I fix this in the future? I am not her manager.

woman over 40 wears 4 inch heels?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is coworker black?

no, she is purple

- not op

[Anonymous]

OP your situation is like watching people play the telephone game. Plus all the issues that aren't directly related to traveling, but impact the travel (losing something, waking up late). Having been a teacher in a DC area school with a relatively high FARMs rate, I've found this thread to be fun and familiar - the debates over what the goals should have been, the mismatch between expectations and performance, the questions about who is responsible. What next? Are you going to travel with this co-worker again? Is the co-worker going to travel again without you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately you have to take the fall for this. You missed the flight, and boss blames you. As a PP said, next time treat coworker entirely like a baby. Heck, give wake-up calls and send a taxi or whatever.

You know what really irritates me about it? We weren't late for our meeting, and we didn't accrue any additional expenses but he's still pissed at me because I "let it happen".

Your manager sounds like a total douchebag.


Signed,
A Manager For 25 Yrs.

[Anonymous]

They were going to the client meeting... so .... it sounds like she was coming from HER house and left the laptop in her car etc. How can the OP be responsible for waking her up and getting her to the airport. I can understand if they were mid-travel then he could have reasonably taken some responsibility for her... but.... she should be totally responsible for getting to work on time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They were going to the client meeting... so .... it sounds like she was coming from HER house and left the laptop in her car etc. How can the OP be responsible for waking her up and getting her to the airport. I can understand if they were mid-travel then he could have reasonably taken some responsibility for her... but.... she should be totally responsible for getting to work on time.

OP, is this person someone the company "adopted" from a social service program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would normally leave without her. BUT -- if explicitly ordered to babysit her, I would have:

1. Called her to make sure she was up.
2. Called to make sure she was on her way.
3. Knowing she had never traveled before, walked her through each and every step: here's how the security lines work, here's what you might want to wear, here's our seat selection, here's the bathroom. Yeah, that level of detail.

You might think about how you approach someone this inexperienced. It makes me think about how parents write posts about "Why does my kid not know how to find a lost library book?" BECAUSE THEY DON'T.

this is ridiculous. if OP did that her co-worker would accuse her of being condescending and treating her like an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Get a new job.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your boss is banging her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Op, is your coworker a millennial? Has to be.


LadY, stop with the millennial crap. OP said co-worker is in her 40s.

I wouldn't be surprised if the OP was a millennial. OP, are you younger than this co-worker?

I'm 35.