I recently secured a new job and today is my first day. Everything was great and I really enjoyed myself until this happened. So months before I actually booked flights to travel (around 17 days). But I heard that the company have office closure for 1 week, therefore i contacted the airline to change my flight dates so I don’t need to be absent for so long, especially since im a new staff.
I told HR about this when she offered me the job and she told me not to worry as it will not affect my job offer, and that she will let my manager know. However HR didn’t tell my manager and she didn’t know. so when I told her today, she was shocked, and visibly unhappy. I heard her talking to another senior colleague about this and they both look upset/annoyed(?). They said it’s the HR’s fault and there’s nothing they can do about it already. It seems like if they knew about this, they would’ve chosen another candidate.
I was very excited about the job but now i feel really bad because of this situation. Am i overthinking? How can i deal with this or forget about it
First off, congratulations on securing the new job! It’s completely natural to feel a bit thrown off by a situation like this, especially on your first day when you want everything to go smoothly. It sounds like you did everything right by informing HR in advance, and it’s unfortunate that the message didn’t reach your manager as expected.
It’s understandable that your manager was surprised, but this doesn’t mean they’ll hold it against you long-term. It’s the kind of mix-up that can happen in any company, and it’ll probably fade over time once they see your commitment and hard work. Try not to let their initial reactions get to you too much—they were likely just frustrated by the surprise, not with you personally.
In the meantime, if you want, you could let your manager know that you did communicate this to HR beforehand and adjusted your travel plans to minimise your absence, so they see you’re doing your best to be considerate. Then, try to shift your focus back to all the reasons you were excited about this job.
Hang in there! You’re not overthinking—it’s just a bumpy start, but you’ll move past it.
