I have a member of my team who is a solo-female traveller. Since I’ve known her, she’s been wandering the world while she works. Because our team is fully remote, she’s able to do that.

She’s the type of person who, no matter where she is in the world, is always online working during what is North American working hours. Even if it is the middle of the night where she is, she’s online and she’s bright, cheery and helping.

She’s also the type of person who never lets a message go unread. Weekdays/Weekends, doesn’t really matter the time of day a message comes through, when she sees it, she responds. Whether it’s the workday or not, whether she should be sleeping or not, she typically responds in two hours or less.

She’s reliable.

She is the most reliable person on my team.

The last I spoke with her was last Friday.

The last she appears to have been on her work computer was this past Sunday.

She didn’t show up for work at all this week. Not one day. Not one moment. She also didn’t notify anyone at the company that she wasn’t showing up for work at all this week.

No one knows why she’s absent.

I’ve reached out to her through email, Microsoft Teams Message and by phone. She’s not responding. I reached out to her through LinkedIn, and she hasn’t viewed the message. I reached out to her through Instagram, and she hasn’t viewed the message. Her Instagram account, which she has also stopped posting to, says that she was last online on Sunday (same day she was last online her work computer).

She’s told me multiple times that the way she’s able to afford travel is through working, and because of that, she’s been grateful for this job. So, it seems weird of her to just up and quit without notifying anyone. Though, to the people in my life whom I’ve told this story – everyone is saying that she just quit and doesn’t want to tell me. They’re telling me I need to ‘accept the truth that she’s a flake’.

Is she?

I don’t think so. I know I’ve only known her for six months, but I’m the type of manager who really tries to get to know my employees. This is so out of character for her. Honestly, I’m concerned.

I’m worried she might be sick, or she’s possibly gotten robbed. Perhaps someone in her family passed away and she headed back to the United States to be with them. I’m not too sure. It’s so weird, though, that all of her accounts/content creation profiles haven’t been logged into since last weekend.

Perhaps I watch too much Criminal Minds, but there is a piece of me that is concerned she was… hit by a car, and is laying unconscious in an Indonesian hospital, or that she was beat up and left for dead, or something totally wild and crazy sounding – but that could very reasonably happen to a solo female traveller.

My boss reached out to her twice. Got nothing.

I’ve notified HR, and they’ve said ‘She probably just quit’. I said ‘If that’s the case, I still need you to get in contact with her and find out for certain.’.

If she did quit, that’s a shitty way of doing it. But if she didn’t quit and something actually happened to her, I would never forgive myself until we actually got in contact with her to find out she’s okay.

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Photo by Jason Cooper on Unsplash