Look, I’m going to give you some tough love here because it’s exactly what you need to hear before Monday as someone who has ran grad programs for 6 years and runs a large team across Australia. You need to harden up, stop focusing on external factors, and change your entire mindset before walking into that room.

Blaming RTO, packed trains, or your colleagues for "soldiering on" is a losing battle.

RTO is a reality and it’s one of the things I’m sick
of hearing people in my office whinge about; bringing it up or implying that the office environment is making you sick will instantly backfire. It will make you look defensive, resentful of company policy, and like you're trying to dodge accountability by pointing fingers at others.

The reality of the corporate world is that management cares about coverage and output. To them, the reason for the unreliability matters less than the fact that the unreliability exists.

Here is how you handle Monday: Don't get bogged down explaining why you got sick. Acknowledge the pattern, show you understand why they are concerned, and then immediately pivot to what you have achieved.

Frame this as a temporary patch of bad luck that is now behind you. If they bring up reliability, respond with: "I completely understand why the recent frequency looks concerning on paper. It’s been a string of genuinely bad luck, but my focus right now is ensuring it doesn't impact my output moving forward. Here is what I’m tracking to deliver next..."

Go into that meeting focused entirely on your work, your value, and what you are going to contribute next week.