Tessa tried to bury herself in work, but heartbreak seeped under every deadline. She missed a client’s revision window, then forgot to reserve ad inventory for a million-dollar launch—errors she’d once lectured juniors never to make.
Her creative director, a sympathetic but bottom-line realist, issued a formal warning. When Tessa flubbed a second rollout—arriving late to the pitch because she’d been crying in her car—HR escorted her to a glassed-in office and slid a termination packet across the desk.