Spot on, J-B. Your instincts were dead right. If this had happened a year ago, I would have been just as frustrated. The difference now is more that I will be taking time out soon for RT, and I wanted this to run smoothly, but however much I tried, this person could not be persuaded to follow instructions. And the ADT fatigue...? Who knows. I might be a bit more sensitive - I might want things to go my way more than normal. Maybe I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself. I don't think I'm in a position to expalin, which is whay I asked in the first place.
As for your advice that I get it in writing, YES! And ss it turned out, I didn't even have to go out of my way to put it on the record.
On Friday lunchtime, assuming I was safely out of the picture, the colleague sent a grand broadcast email to the senior team. Without my inconvenient facts in his way, he laid out a "slick" plan to save the project—a crisis that only exists because he doesn't know what he's doing. The man is a master of spin, but a novice at arithmetic, and he was telling people to do the very thing that I have repeatedely said he can not, and must not expect to be able to, because its impossible.
I found this out because I logged in this morning purely to set my Out of Office, saw his email, and seized the open goal.
I replied to everyone he'd had the foresight to share the situation with. laid out the Issue, the Rules, the Facts, and the Conclusion. Because the "Rule" in this case is simple, unforgiving arithmetic, there is zero room for misinterpretation or debate. No emotion, no opinion—just physical constraints and documented history. He can't misquote me, he can't claim he wasn't warned, and he certainly can't claim insubordination; I simply gave him the maths. Again, but this time to some adults too.
Aside from this one individual, there is massive mutual respect among my colleagues, so I’m not worried about my job. The real stress was the sheer frustration of realizing someone I’d spent months trying to help and settle in is actually a total charlatan—a dodgy used car salesman crossed with the Keystone Cops.
Putting the facts on the record has been immensely cathartic, and I’m already feeling more like my normal self. I am still off to the GP, though, to secure proper medical protection so I don't have to engage with this circus any further while undergoing treatment.
Thank you for the nudge and the solid advice, Sir.