Notice that most of those 18 “benefits” are the same damned thing expressed slightly differently.
Another way to tell if your coworkers don't like you: They leave you dead at your desk for four days
I’m sure. But the article said they kept thinking it was a plumbing issue. This is where I got “bad smell” from.
Dead person is highly memorable, as I have the misfortune to know first-hand (so to speak). About 20-something years ago, my upstairs neighbor had not been seen for a week, was discovered deceased in his apartment.
I’m still trying to decide if that’s a worse smell than heated cat urine. (I also know this one from experience, since we had a lot of cats when I was growing up, and on more than one occasion discovered the hard way that someone had anointed a stove burner.)
How fast does the smell develop, in a climate-controlled setting?
I kind of wish this was the same office that had the Colorado mountain retreat. They get back from that debacle and wonder what that smell is.
I’m assuming she lived alone, because I’m sure your wife not coming home would be a cause for suspicion. But all that other stuff sounds easy to explain. If a neighbor of mine didn’t come home, I would assume she went somewhere, not that she’s dead. I don’t go to church, but if someone I knew from church missed a week, my mind certainly wouldn’t go to “she’s dead.” I was raised to mind my own business, and while that kind of upbringing can lead to situations like this, I think it’s pretty common in this day and age to teach children that politeness is maintaining your distance.
If she had a really nice chair I wonder if a coworker has claimed it yet.
Well, I hope this puts to rest all those memes suggesting “your employer would replace you ten minutes after you died.” You have a few days, at least.
A guy in our building died not long ago. He also wasn’t found for four days. Now, people die here from time to time, as some are quite aged. But this is a facility that is designed for that. Every apartment has a little plastic thing that is attached to the door. Staff are supposed to walk around every night and flip it so it rests against the door jamb. Then other staff people are supposed to check them to see if the occupant has opened their door recently. If not, they knock until you come to the door, or they will open it to go in and check on you. No excuse for not finding this guy within 24 hours.
Maybe she lived alone.
Maybe she recently moved & didn’t know the neighbors all that well.
Maybe she didn’t have dedicated parking, either an apartment complex or a row house in the city.
Maybe she lived in a rural area & the neighbors couldn’t see her car from the street.
Maybe she was just ‘neighbor-friendly’; always wave or say Hi, borrow tools, have an occasional meal together but not otherwise know intimate details of their life, including travel schedules.
Maybe she kept her car in the garage so the neighbors wouldn’t know if she was home or away unless they saw her pulling in or out.
Maybe the neighbors did notice but assumed she was away for the weekend.
Maybe she had a summer place that she was typically at on the weekends so not seeing her car was normal
Maybe she’s an only child
Maybe her bestie was away for the weekend & didn’t plan on talking to her.
Or not giving notice…
It’s entirely possible for people to live alone without a dog (or to live with a dog who barks a lot anyway); and to not have had anyone expecting to speak with them specifically over that weekend. If my family calls and I don’t answer the phone they’d investigate eventually, but it might well take several days – and they don’t call anywhere near every day. Lots of people don’t go to church every single Sunday; many don’t go at all. And if my neighbor’s car isn’t in the drive I assume they’ve gone somewhere, not that they’ve died at their desk – plus which, if she lives in a city she may not have a car, and if she lives in the country she may keep her car inside a closed garage.
It’s probably not a really nice chair any longer.
This worker’s fate could easily be mine. I really do have no answer when someone asks me for an emergency number to call in case I get hurt or something. That’s why I said I have nightmares about this sort of thing happening to me.
I comfort myself with the thought that if this scenario did happen to me, I wouldn’t care because I would be dead. No problem for me. That thought really does make me feel better.
The only thing I really worry about is if I should suddenly drop dead, what about my cats? Would they be discovered in time and rescued? Or would they survive for awhile on my corpse if I die at home?
I hate my brain sometimes.
That’s not nearly as common as cartoons would have you believe. But maybe. Would a human body actually stink of decay in 4 days in an air conditioned building?
I read that in Japan you can buy a rice cooker for your elderly parent that sends you a message if it hadn’t been used for a day. I really wanted something like that when my mother was aging alone.
News flash: Wells Fargo announces it’s doing away with cubicles in favor of an open office layout.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen any cartoons that address the idea of dead people soiling themselves.
Dying alone (and not being discovered for a very long time) is a distressingly common way to go in Japan :
40% were discovered within a day. I wonder how many took a week or more to be discovered.
South Park. Happens most episodes, i think, and has spread the meme that it always happens.
Priced really nice chairs lately?
Years ago my brother’s boss was retiring. He told the people working for him to help themselves to the stuff in his office.
Someone grabbed the desk, thinking they’d scored big. Someone else grabbed a filing cabinet. My brother stood by watching his coworkers taking what they thought was the best stuff.
My brother eventually asked his coworkers if they minded him taking the three chairs. They all laughed at him. He took the chairs. My brother and his boss had discussed the chairs. They are museum worthy chairs. His coworkers thought they were goofy junk. My brother recently donated one to the Cannabis Church near his condo in Denver. For tax purposes he investigated the value of his donation and found out it was worth 10k. It now sits in a meditation alcove in the church.
I never understood that meme. What do you expect your employer to do, make the whole company sit Shiva?