Disclaimer: I’m new to Reddit. It’s not very popular in my country, but I found out about it through the Two Hot Takes podcast and decided to post my story here. Also, English is not my first language — I used ChatGPT to help me translate this, so I’m sorry if anything doesn’t make much sense.
I (27F) work for one of the biggest companies in my country, and I’m assigned to the most important project here. Each area has a representative, and my boss (40F), Julia, was chosen for ours. She brought me in to help lead it.
Julia is very experienced and aiming for a big promotion. She recently transferred from another department to strengthen her resume. Her biggest supporter is Bruna, the director of her former department. Although Julia should now focus on our area, she still spends a lot of time handling Bruna’s demands.
Julia manages three teams — two she already had, and mine, created just for this project. I’ve basically led everything myself, since she chose to prioritize another project with Bruna, which is less relevant to the company but better for her career.
Last year, I delivered everything successfully. Julia got praised by executives even though she wasn’t involved. This year, things escalated when the CEO accelerated our timeline because the project has billion-dollar potential. Directors started watching more closely, and I got overwhelmed. Julia was never around — always tied up with Bruna — so I had to make high-level decisions way above my role. I worked 12–14 hour days, 7 days a week.
What bothered me most was that Julia only showed up for executive meetings. She didn’t know what was going on and often said the wrong things, sometimes implying my team had made mistakes. I felt exposed and unsupported.
Now the turning point: this month we had one of our most critical deliveries, monitored by internal audit. I planned everything, scheduled all the meetings (about 6), documented it via email and Teams, and emphasized how important it was. Julia didn’t join a single meeting, never read the messages, and didn’t ask for any context.
I had a 1:1 with her on Monday and explained that by Friday we’d present the results to 100+ people. We had daily meetings to align requirements. By Wednesday, I knew she wouldn’t agree with what was being built, so I sent her the summary and details. She ignored them. On Thursday, we were in the office together — I could’ve warned her, but I didn’t. I was tired of her absence.
On Friday, everything blew up. Julia realized (too late) that the delivery wasn’t what she expected. Now she’ll have to explain to executives why a full week of work is going to waste. It’ll have serious consequences for her career.
AITA for letting this happen, knowing it would?
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Backup of the post’s body: Disclaimer: I’m new to Reddit. It’s not very popular in my country, but I found out about it through the Two Hot Takes podcast and decided to post my story here. Also, English is not my first language — I used ChatGPT to help me translate this, so I’m sorry if anything doesn’t make much sense.
I (27F) work for one of the biggest companies in my country, and I’m assigned to the most important project here. Each area has a representative, and my boss (40F), Julia, was chosen for ours. She brought me in to help lead it.
Julia is very experienced and aiming for a big promotion. She recently transferred from another department to strengthen her resume. Her biggest supporter is Bruna, the director of her former department. Although Julia should now focus on our area, she still spends a lot of time handling Bruna’s demands.
Julia manages three teams — two she already had, and mine, created just for this project. I’ve basically led everything myself, since she chose to prioritize another project with Bruna, which is less relevant to the company but better for her career.
Last year, I delivered everything successfully. Julia got praised by executives even though she wasn’t involved. This year, things escalated when the CEO accelerated our timeline because the project has billion-dollar potential. Directors started watching more closely, and I got overwhelmed. Julia was never around — always tied up with Bruna — so I had to make high-level decisions way above my role. I worked 12–14 hour days, 7 days a week.
What bothered me most was that Julia only showed up for executive meetings. She didn’t know what was going on and often said the wrong things, sometimes implying my team had made mistakes. I felt exposed and unsupported.
Now the turning point: this month we had one of our most critical deliveries, monitored by internal audit. I planned everything, scheduled all the meetings (about 6), documented it via email and Teams, and emphasized how important it was. Julia didn’t join a single meeting, never read the messages, and didn’t ask for any context.
I had a 1:1 with her on Monday and explained that by Friday we’d present the results to 100+ people. We had daily meetings to align requirements. By Wednesday, I knew she wouldn’t agree with what was being built, so I sent her the summary and details. She ignored them. On Thursday, we were in the office together — I could’ve warned her, but I didn’t. I was tired of her absence.
On Friday, everything blew up. Julia realized (too late) that the delivery wasn’t what she expected. Now she’ll have to explain to executives why a full week of work is going to waste. It’ll have serious consequences for her career.
AITA for letting this happen, knowing it would?
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.