# My chauffeur just saw someone commit suicide. I then saw the body. (Disturbing) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214 "2008-10-02T18:23:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/21 "2008-10-03T04:46:33Z")
Actually, you don’t need to be rich to have a driver in many of the poorer parts of Latin America. My dad travels to El Salvador for business several times a year, and his (upper-middle-class) friends who live there have their own driver, whom he hires (it’s OK with his friends) rather than obtain an international license and attempt to drive himself in the less-than-friendly driving conditions there. My mom goes once a year to visit our relatives, and this gentleman drives her as well. It’s still cheaper than riding taxis everywhere. As for the suicide, something similar happened at my workplace. A middle-aged man who lived nearby, apparently despondent over financial and family problems, jumped off the parking structure a couple of years ago. He landed outside the door of the badminton club next door. ☹ Some of the people I work with saw him jump. There were counselors available for those who needed them. I didn’t see the guy, but it unnerved me enough that I went to see the counselor anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/22 "2008-10-03T16:00:00Z")
I’ve seen two things that I guess apply to this thread: 1. A floating body in the Schyukill River (Philadelphia). The police were already there, getting ready to retrieve it. 2. A woman committed suicide by lighting herself on fire right outside my workplace. (Kathy Change, if anyone remembers her.) I saw her burning. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/23 "2008-10-03T17:04:43Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > The mall is literally on the way to my house, I have to pass through it. About a year ago somebody shot himself at the parking lot in the nearby McDonald. I would move from that area if I were you. I know I did.\* I don’t understand why you went out of your way to see a dead person. To me it feels like violating their dignity. I make a point to avoid seeing dead people, and have requested that my family have a close-casket service and promptly cremate me when I shuffle this mortal coil. I don’t understand, but I don’t think you did anything wrong. \*Bit of an inappropriate attempt at humour. I moved out of Santo Domingo not long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/24 "2008-10-03T17:17:11Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > I wonder what his cell phone call was about. He wanted to change plans, and they wouldn’t let him transfer his minutes. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/25 "2008-10-03T17:41:11Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > I don’t understand why you went out of your way to see a dead person. To me it feels like violating their dignity. I’d go see, and very likely regret it. As for their dignity, they made the decision to splat themselves in public where someone \*would \*see it. > [@Carl Corey](#): > > 1. A woman committed suicide by lighting herself on fire right outside my workplace. (Kathy Change, if anyone remembers her.) I saw her burning. Oh shit. That one would take me quite a while to get over. (And I had to look her up.) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/26 "2008-10-03T17:52:16Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > In Plaza Lama en la 27. > > (27th street) > > Its a very central area. I know it well. All too well – my sister-in-law was a buyer and later the floor manager for that Plaza Lama. In fact, after posting this question, I discovered last night that she’d already told my wife about it (although she no longer works there, she still has friends that she talks to) and she had heard about the suicide. (My wife checked Listen Diario last night but it didn’t make the news, apparently). How ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/27 "2008-10-03T17:54:51Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > About a year ago somebody shot himself at the parking lot in the nearby McDonald. I would move from that area if I were you. I know I did. Hey, considering how long it takes to get through that drive-thru… I’ve considered shooting myself more than once! (That McDonald’s is actually pretty close to my in-laws house, and Bricker Jr. went through a phase where he ate chicken nuggets almost exclusively, so I spent a fair amount of time there…) ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/28 "2008-10-03T18:39:05Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > About a year ago somebody shot himself at the parking lot in the nearby McDonald. I would move from that area if I were you. I know I did.\* > > I don’t understand why you went out of your way to see a dead person. To me it feels like violating their dignity. I make a point to avoid seeing dead people, and have requested that my family have a close-casket service and promptly cremate me when I shuffle this mortal coil. I don’t understand, but I don’t think you did anything wrong. > > \*Bit of an inappropriate attempt at humour. I moved out of Santo Domingo not long ago. Yeah, this city is pretty darn dangerous, but in general, the whole country is… Did you move outside “city limits” or do you live in another city? ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/29 "2008-10-03T18:40:10Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I know it well. All too well – my sister-in-law was a buyer and later the floor manager for that Plaza Lama. > > In fact, after posting this question, I discovered last night that she’d already told my wife about it (although she no longer works there, she still has friends that she talks to) and she had heard about the suicide. (My wife checked Listen Diario last night but it didn’t make the news, apparently). > > How ugly. You’re Dominican? ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/30 "2008-10-03T23:15:43Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > The guy with cell-phone in hand proceeded to jump head first into solid concrete. Blood splattered everywhere. He died instantly. The thing is that below the building there was a soft roof about a meter in length. Had the guy landed on it, the material of the roof might have absorbed the impact and he would have survived. But no, the guy jumped forward to intentionally avoid hitting the roof. The roof might have absorbed the impact well enough that he could have survived, but it could also have absorbed the impact just well enough to keep him alive, but still left him so damaged he was mentally or physically handicapped for the rest of his life. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/31 "2008-10-03T23:24:22Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > Yeah, this city is pretty darn dangerous, but in general, the whole country is… > > Did you move outside “city limits” or do you live in another city? I moved to PuntaCana. I had enough with the traffic and never-ending construction. And I don’t think of Santo Domingo as _that_ dangerous. But I am used to it, I guess. I lived there since I was 16. > [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > You’re Dominican? He’s married to one, the poor sod. . . . Just kidding. By the sound of it Ms. Bricker is an outstanding lady whose only defect is being a Balaguerista. Well, she also married Bricker. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214/32 "2008-10-03T23:37:46Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’d go see, and very likely regret it. As for their dignity, they made the decision to splat themselves in public where someone \*would \*see it. I’d go see it too. Oddly, I don’t feel that it would bother me, assuming the cadaver was fresh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chauffeur-just-saw-someone-commit-suicide-i-then-saw-the-body-disturbing/466214.md?page=1)