Dear Urban Diplomat: I gave my boss a bottle of fancy scotch after we closed a deal. He’s an alcoholic
Dear Urban Diplomat: I gave my boss a bottle of fancy scotch after we closed a deal. He’s an alcoholic
Dear Urban Diplomat,
My boss and I recently closed a huge deal, resulting in a healthy commission for both of us. I bought him a bottle of Macallan 15-year-old single malt, then found out that he’s a recovering alcoholic. The bottle is still sitting on his desk,tempting him out of sobriety. I’m mortified. Should I sneak in after hours and take it back? Buy him a new gift? Apologize?
—Accidental Enabler, East York
Please do not fix one faux pas with another, especially if it involves balaclavas and B&Es. Any act of reparation will only let him know that you know, and if he wanted you to know, he would’ve told you. Your fancy bottle is hardly the sole temptation in the workplace: we drink when we start a job, leave a job or ace a job, and we drink even more when we botch one. Your boss will have to develop coping strategies for all of it. If he’s smart, he’ll do what everyone does with stuff they can’t use: regift it.
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com
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Dear Urban Diplomat,
My boss and I recently closed a huge deal, resulting in a healthy commission for both of us. I bought him a bottle of Macallan 15-year-old single malt, then found out that he’s a recovering alcoholic. The bottle is still sitting on his desk,tempting him out of sobriety. I’m mortified. Should I sneak in after hours and take it back? Buy him a new gift? Apologize?
—Accidental Enabler, East York
Please do not fix one faux pas with another, especially if it involves balaclavas and B&Es. Any act of reparation will only let him know that you know, and if he wanted you to know, he would’ve told you. Your fancy bottle is hardly the sole temptation in the workplace: we drink when we start a job, leave a job or ace a job, and we drink even more when we botch one. Your boss will have to develop coping strategies for all of it. If he’s smart, he’ll do what everyone does with stuff they can’t use: regift it.
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com){kind=link}
Or you could encourage him to drink it and then steal his job when he hits rock bottom.
I love Macallan. Tell him I’ll give him 50 bucks for it. He’ll be minus one temptation, I’ll get a discount on a great bottle of whiskey, and you’ll be off the hook. Winfinity.
This is a tough one. I wouldn’t go into unless he wants to talk about it. Let this one go, and just be more careful picking the next gift. People usually appreciate the thought of a gift more than anything.