Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/1u6jura/tifu_by_mistaking_silence_for_competence/

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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Specialist_Day_7867 on 2026-06-15 15:29:12+00:00.

I brought someone new on to help handle part of the operations side of my business. Gave them access to everything, Shopify, Zendrop, Gorgias, Slack, did a basic walkthrough and told them to reach out if anything came up. What I didn't do was show them how I think about priorities or what urgent even looks like in this context. I just assumed that was obvious and went back to whatever I was dealing with that week.

At the end of the week I did my usual check before closing out. Pulled up the dashboard and immediately realised nothing had been handled. Double checked in case I missed any notifications, had none. Orders that should have been flagged sitting there untouched, a supplier issue that had been building for two days, customer messages in Gorgias with zero responses.

He hadn't dropped the ball, I had just never actually handed it to him properly. Never told him what to prioritise, didn't check in once the whole week (I was busy but still not excusable). I handed someone a set of tools and expected them to know exactly how I use them.

Spent a full day cleaning it up. Nothing irreversible but completely avoidable and 100% my fault for thinking access equals onboarding. If you bring someone new in teach them how you think, not just what buttons to press.

TL;DR: Brought someone new on to help monitor the business, gave them tool access and a basic walkthrough, never followed up once. Came back at end of week to a week's worth of unhandled issues. Entirely my fault for mistaking access for a proper handoff.