When you’re going on little sleep and when you have a lot of stress, it’s not always easy to think through your actions very well. Sometimes, that can create even more stressful circumstances.

In this story, a PhD student is exhausted and stressed out trying to figure out how to submit a Gantt chart to their class. In an impulsive moment, they sent an email to their supervisor that they immediately regretted sending after sending it. They tried to repair the damage with a follow-up email, but they worry that the damage might’ve already been done.

Keep reading to see what they wrote and if you think they should be worried about it or not.

AITAH For emailing an unprofessional email to my PhD supervisor in a ot of pique about a Gantt chart?

For context, I (25,NB) am a PhD student. I leave for a month long research trip in less than 4 hours and am very stressed, as well as am operating on less than 3 hours sleep in the last couple of days.

I have a second year progression review this summer, and I promised I would have the draft wirtten before I left.

But the report by itself isn’t good enough.

Although I got the draft wirtten, my university is demanding a gannt chart to go with it.

Idk what it so, but I watched some videos etc and tried following the instructions and templates for several hours to get it to work.

Newsflash, it didn’t.

It ended with me crying over my keyboard, and in a fit of anger I emailed the following to my supervisor (word for word)

He immediately regretted what he wrote after sending it.

Dear supervisor With respect the inclusion of a Gantt chart in this review is freaking stupid and I might throw my laptop out of the window. For the sake of my mental stability is there any chance I could just not include one??? My name

I sent it, cried, realised 10 mins later what I had done then immediately sent this follow up (with the tag line I am so sorry)

Dear supervisor Just wanted to apologise very much for the previous email, its not an excuse but I am working on very little sleep and lots of stress as I leave for Finland in less than 4 hours. what I am (very badly) trying to express is that I am very worried about the progression review, as although I have gotten my draft finished, the guidelines still say I need to include a gantt chart with it to show my progression. Despite following several tutorials and trying to use a template, the gantt chart just doesn’t seem to be working, hence a lot of frustration. Do you think my progression review would be accepted even without the chart, or is it absolutely mandatory? Best wishes and many apologies (again) My name

How bad is the damage and AITA??? Really worried it could come across as a form of verbal abuse. Please help.

Hopefully the supervisor just laughs about it, but you never know.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this story about an employee who followed bad orders, then ruined their manager’s career for good measure.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person explains what a Gantt chart is and how easy it is to create one.

Another person suggests another way to create a Gantt chart.

Here’s a suggestion to find someone to vent to.

Another person hopes the supervisor is understanding but doesn’t seem too optimistic about it.

Shooting off an email when you’re tired and stressed out is often a bad idea. Here’s my thought. I know it’s sometimes possible to cancel an email that you’ve sent as long as it hasn’t already been opened. Considering it sounds like it’s late at night, maybe he could try that for both emails.

It sounds like the chart he needs to create is actually really important and not that hard to do. Hopefully he can find an easy way to create one and add it to his draft before his trip.