Pressure at work / forgot about scheduled meeting

Hello everyone,

So, I have been under loads of pressure at work. After many restructurations in the company I have found myself working for people that have no idea what my job is about, but they desperate need the numbers. I work with forecast and I am constantly "wrong" about the future. The problem is that it is actually impossible to get it "right", there are a HUGE number of variables. My former boss in this very company (he left), people I worked with in other companies and acquaintances in the market know that a perfect forecast is impossible and we work with things like tendency. So, whilst that I actually perform very well, my boss and other people at my company don't get it. And I am not performing well when looking from their point of view. I don't really know what to do anymore to convince them about the difficulties of the job I do. They simply don't really want to know. I am sort of being blamed for things that are completely out of my control. I am feeling really alone at this.

Apart from that, I also participate/support in meetings with other areas of the company. And I had a meeting about a research and development project later this week that had been scheduled for a month. And last week my boss scheduled another meeting that she considers to be the most important thing for me to participate right now. The problem is that this meeting is in the same time as the other meeting I have to attend and I completely forgot about it. I didn't notice this until now and I am kind of freaking out about the whole thing. The first meeting involves more than 10 people so it is actually very hard to reschedule and the second meeting is "very important". I feel like I have done something terrible.

I have a horrible back pain right now which I strongly believe is at least partially emotional from all that weight I am carrying. To be honest I can barely stand, I have never felt something like this in my whole life. I cannot bring myself to calm down. I am anticipating that tomorrow my boss will be completely mad at me for this.

I just need to vent and read other peoples opinion.

Sorry if the English is bad, I wrote it very anxiously.

Thanks everyone.

You need a new job, your stress level is over the top.

Your boss’s job is to support you and to help you do your job. That may or may not be what he/she is doing - but it’s why they are your boss.

For the meetings, I would bring the problem to them. Explain to your boss that both meetings are scheduled at the same time and ask which one they prefer you attend. (Regardless of how important you think the other one is)

I do understand about forecasting. We do this at my job as well and I agree that it’s next to impossible to get it right. You are predicting the future which we all know is impossible. That said, there are different methodologies around forecasting - so while you may never be able to get it “right”, you might be able to forecast in a way which is more acceptable to them.

In my experience, every new boss likes to come in and shake things up a bit. They like to put their own “stamp” on things and do things their way. Change is incredibly uncomfortable and it can certainly be extra stressful when you are facing the unknown, and you are trying to impress, and it feels like you are doing everything ‘wrong’ in their eyes. In my opinion, the best approach during this transition is to be humble and to ask as many questions as possible. The best way to impress a new boss, IMO, is to allow them to make decisions and to show that you are willing to learn and adapt.

That would be my advice. They can only get so mad if you ask how they would like it done and you do it their way...

OK. Deep breaths. Breathe in for 8 beats, hold your breath for 4 beats and breathe out slowly for 8 beats, and then repeat breathing in, holding, breathing out. You can do it in shorter breaths if you're hyperventilating until you slow your breathing.

I hope you have called or emailed your apologies to the boss whose meeting you missed. Do that NOW if you haven't already.

I understand that your job is to make forecasts, but do you do like the government does and issue a report after the period of your forecast has passed to point out what went right and what went wrong?

For example, if revenue plunged in May because the company lost a major client that represented 10% of the company's income, you would write a report saying that your forecast would have been correct if the company had not lost a major client, and therefore your forecast was off by 10%.

I'm sure you understand that it's very important for some departments to know what the forecast is so that they know whether they need to hire or fire employees, but more office equipment or warehouse equipment, and so on. At any meetings, you should always explain why your forecast was right -- but wrong at the same time. You've got to cover your ass and also make it look like you're doing your job well by showing you understand why the forecast was wrong.

I'll give you a hint about what I was told to do to do a forecast for a year in advance. I was told to just add 10% onto the previous year's monthly income and not sweat the details. You can decide if that'll work for you when you're stressed.