Taking initiative at work is supposed to be rewarded, not punished for something completely out of your control.

One employee had been developing a side project with another team, one her own boss had personally approved, given a codename to, and even referenced herself in past conversations.

When that same project unexpectedly came up at a senior leadership meeting she wasn’t part of, her boss publicly confronted her in a group chat, demanding answers about approvals she’d already given and accusing her of blindsiding her in front of other managers.

She calmly explained the situation, but her boss refused to let it go, insisting the surprise had negatively impacted her work despite her own prior involvement.

Now she’s seriously reconsidering her future there, regardless of the tough job market.

Anyone who’s ever had an awful boss will want to read on for this one.

My boss forgot she signed off on something and blew up at me in front of everyone

My boss signed off on a side project for me to work on with another team, and we’ve been chipping away at it slowly. Just for fun, we gave it a codename and started some early feasibility work.

The employee maintains that she kept her boss apprised every step of the way.

My boss knew about the project, knew the codename, and had even mentioned it herself before. I just haven’t had any concrete updates to give her, because we’re still figuring out whether the idea even works.

Fast forward to recently.

Things began to get pretty ugly.

In a group chat, in front of other managers, she suddenly lashes out at me, demanding to know who approved this project and why this is the first she’s hearing of it.

The employee defends herself, but the boss doesn’t seem to care.

I replied that we’d been exploring whether it was feasible, and that I had no idea the other team was going to raise it at a senior meeting without telling me.

She kept going, saying she was completely blindsided and it had affected her work.

Okay, fine.

This really left an ugly mark on their working relationship.

The next day I tried to talk it through with her, and she refused to discuss it. Then today she follows up in writing, basically lecturing me about how things are supposed to be done around here.

I am so done with this person.

Job market isn’t that great where I am, but I guess it’s time to find something else.

Sounds like quite the nightmare boss.

What did Reddit have to say?

This commenter shares their two cents.

This commenter thinks they know what really happened.

There’s one philosophy worth remembering.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who was fired because of a coworkers lies, only to get the chance for revenge years later.

In the workplace, you always need to put your best interests first.

At the end of the day, being blindsided by another team’s surprise meeting isn’t something she controlled, yet she’s the one who ended up absorbing the fallout anyway.

A tough job market makes leaving harder, but staying somewhere that punishes you for someone else’s memory lapse isn’t sustainable either.

Getting scolded for a project your boss personally approved, named, and discussed herself is the kind of workplace whiplash that would make anyone start updating their resume.