Something just happened at work and my head is spinning. I really need an outside perspective on this to clear my head.
I had to step out for about 45 minutes, so I set my Teams status to 'Away' and wrote a note. While I was gone, my CEO apparently blew up my DMs.
When I didn't reply, he tried to call my personal cell phone, but it was my old number. I had updated this information in the HR system and on Teams a few months ago, but it seems he had the old number saved.
A colleague messaged me on another app to tell me the CEO was looking for me, so I dropped everything and called him immediately.
As soon as I called him, he immediately went off on me. He was yelling and saying things like:
"Are you even on this team?"
"Do you even want to keep this job?"
"I don't care about your excuses."
I tried to explain that I had set my status to 'Away' and that he had my old number, but he wouldn't even give me a chance to speak. He told me if I want to keep working here, it can't happen again that he has to hunt me down for an 'unanswered message'. Then he went straight into the work topic and hung up.
Honestly, it's not just the yelling that bothers me. It's the whole idea that I'm not dedicated because I was offline for a short time. I always finish my work on time and am responsive while I'm working. This whole thing made me feel like I'm expected to be chained to my desk 24/7, and there's no room for error.
Am I overreacting for thinking this was completely over the top? Or is this normal and just the price of working in these 'fast-paced' companies?