So I am planning our conference for 120+ people from all over the state, and discovered today, one week prior, that we have literally half the space we thought we did and will have to have two concurrent workshops in one room with no divider. There are also about 500,000 little details that I naively thought would take care of themselves that still need work.

I just want to cry and sleep until it's all over like a COWARD, but I've contacted the necessary people and whatnot and we'll just have to see. The part I'm most nervous about is approaching my boss with this news and shattering his perception of me as someone who has her sh!t together and is organized and thorough.

What are your work crises and how did you solve them/how did they turn out? I'm not worried about getting fired, just about disappointing people.

This sounds like something I have to deal with daily as an events coordinator/accounts manager!

I've had some horrendous work issues like tiki torches literally blowing up or grooms having seizures during their weddings. After the little me in my head has her millionth of a second panic attack, I take a deep breath and assess the situation. Okay, how bad is this really? What's my first step? STAY CALM (on the outside at least, even though I'm freaking out on the inside and curled up in a corner in my head), make sure everyone is okay, then go from there. Luckily, both situations turned out fine and both events were successful.

I always worry about disappointing people, but more than anything, disappointing myself! After all the years, I've realized as long as I did everything I could and did my best, I know I did great.

Glad you contacted the necessary people to get your problem solved. As far as going to your boss...I'd say go to him and explain what happened and give him the suggested solutions you came up with. Yes, there was a mistake, but here's what you're doing to fix it. You'll still look like you have your s*it together.

Hope it turns out great!

Oh man. I used to be the catering supervisor/accounts manager at another job and I was seriously BEYOND OVERJOYED to move on to a different non-events-based path...and here I am. I can only imagine the "YOU F-ING B---" that the sales manager at the hotel I'm in contact with must have lip-synced when we realized our communication error.

All I can do is go from here. It's a week away and no one is going to get killed!

I work in a deadline-driven environment so there are crises every month. When I make a mistake, I own up to it and try to fix it. When things just get screwed up (as they do!), I panic briefly and then try to fix it. Like you said, no one is going to get killed. I often quote one of our (sadly, departed) partners who would say, "No one is going to die if they don't get their tax return on time." Perspective is a good thing! I hope it all works out, it sounds like you have some time to accommodate the unexpected change.

I am a general contractor and here is my stress

my latest is that one of the job sites in Sausalito Ca.
Painters buried raw water based paint into the hole they dug.
and health department found out. county haz. mat. & city people and everyone is involved... with my license. I'm not sure what is going to happen other than the obvious for me to pay the damage cleanup with professional company and the fee(fine). I might lose the license...

and the last two years, there has been multiple law suits between clients, their contractors who is suing my company and everyone work on the community since this was a construction defect law suit after 10 years. ... crazy.

another suit involving personal injury which finally settled with sub contractor's insurance.
another one from sub contractor's drunken carpenter falling from the roof and injuring... everyone had a hard time but finally that claim also to sub contractor's work comp. insurance.
and then, the sub himself who is also injured later on hired an sh*t attorney and claim against my company's work comp policy claiming that he (as an officer of his corporation) was excluded....

I think there is more but I don't even remember....
money going out the door is one thing but every time when someone file a law suit they just sue everyone they can think of.... and it is very very stressful until resolved... takes long time. anywhere from 1 to 3 years...

bad economy is encouraging people to sue even more it seems. Terrible

You will be fine. Creat a list of everything that needs to be done. See what you can have peolpe help you with. and then see what is a priority and what can be put off till later. Also talk with your boss and the expectations. Make everything clear so they know what to expect.

I work 100% sales commission at a furniture store. I have to meet a monthly quota of delivered sales or I will get wrote up and put on two months probation where I either make up the loss or lose my job. I just got off my first probation at the same time my husband and I just bought a house.

What I am diligently working on is that I can't control anything other than my own reaction. My mantra is "let go and let God" easier said than done.