Right now, I’m only working 16 hours a week - two evening shifts and one weekend day. If something happened on a Saturday evening, it would be noticed that I didn’t show up for work Tuesday evening, but people wouldn’t really worry until I didn’t show up Wednesday - they’d try to call, and if they didn’t hear from me Thursday, they’d probably call the cops. My mother would just figure I was out somewhere when I didn’t answer the phone, and most of my friends are now in the process of moving out of state - whether for jobs or because they don’t have one.
I could probably go almost a week before anyone was worried enough to call the authorities, less if it was when rent is due.
Sadly, my boss would be concerned before my family. I’m way to conscientious about coming in to work at the same time everyday. She’d be mildly worried by noon and absolutely panicked by the end of the day. Barring weekends and such she’d call the cops before long. I think she worries a little about me living alone, we had a similar discussion a while back and she made me give her contact numbers for my family just in case (which I guess the company should have, but apparently doesn’t).
Blah. It’s threads like this that remind me I really need to put together a comprehensive “So I’ve died” packet for my family so they can easily close out my various accounts. Perhaps I’ll do that this weekend… if I don’t MEET MY UNTIMELY DEATH by then!
I’d say two business days for sure. Possibly sooner if my mother got no answer from my phone (we talk almost every day) - she’d probably ask my local friends to check in on me. At least I’ve had the foresight to give them copies of my housekeys.
And like Draelin, I suspect I’d be a kitty buffett by then. When my largest boy, Kip, prods me in the morning with his claws ever-so-slighty out, I suspect he is as much attempting to wake me up as he is tenderising my flesh for a much anticipated feast. Either way, he is guaranteed some sort of kibble for breakfast.
Probably 2 business days. My office would call pretty annoyed the first day, but wouldn’t take action till the second.
However, that only holds true if my boss is in the office. If she’s on vacation, my co workers would probably figure I was also on vacation or working in another office (we have multiple locations and don’t always work out of the same one). I’d like to think my admin would notice, but I was on a week’s vacation earlier this year and she told everyone looking for me that I was in meetings.
My family and friends wouldn’t notice till I hadn’t called them back for a couple weeks.
Knowing my luck, I’ll probably kick the bucket Friday night before a 3 day weekend when my boss is out for the next two weeks. My neighbors will eventually notice the smell, and the coroners office will go in fully suited up in gas masks only to find my corpse half eaten by my starving dogs. Think: definite cause for a closed casket funeral!
While my friends and relations would probably wonder why I’ve stopped answering email, it’s entirely possible that I could be dead in my apartment for weeks- maybe up to a month- before someone got worried enough to send the police over.
I thin a poster on this or another board recalled the recent story in Japan of an abandoned apartment building (in a nation where real estate goes for something like a million bucks a square foot :dubious: ) and the demolition team was sent in to scout the rooms for bums, kids playing hooky, etc. and came across the remains of a guy missing for TWENTY YEARS!
The investigators noted the apartment was a time capsule of early 80s japanese domestic life.
EvilRoomie would notice a problem at 10 the next morning if there was no coffee brewed. Being the earlier-rising roommate and caffeine addict, I always make coffee in the mornings for the both of us.
Then it would be a simple matter of her knocking on my door. So probably the next morning.