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"may" is that English word that non-natives learn too late that it actually means "will".

I remember when I first moved to England and my boss told me I may work on x and I thought that it is optional so I did something else.

I think that's a British thing (I also worked in the UK for a while and got confused by this).

I regularly use may in a way that doesn’t mean “will”. Sorry that you had a bad experience or whatever.