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I had a bit of the opposite experience when an ex-colleague passed end of last year. About 25 of us from one company he worked at showed up to the wake and it w

I had a bit of the opposite experience when an ex-colleague passed end of last year. About 25 of us from one company he worked at showed up to the wake and it was slightly awkward to tell the family and friends who we were and what connection we had (he hadn’t worked there for about 9 years and I was the only person who still worked at the company, but we all turned out because we genuinely cared about him). But talking to his wife and family in the receiving line was super-awkward. I hope they found it at least epsilon comforting.

monknomo 3y ago
I had a similar experience when a co-worker passed. It was awkward, but I do hope the family felt something positive from seeing that a part of their loved one's life they don't normally see also cared for him.
OJFord 3y ago
Why was it awkward? Because there were few enough family & others that it was dominated by former colleagues from one seemingly random employer?
- sokoloff 3y ago
  No; in a 2 hour wake, there were probably 150 or more people in total. The awkwardness was mostly having to explain "yeah, you've never met me and he hasn't worked with us for almost a decade, but hey, here we are..."
  - vimax 3y ago
    Not awkward at all. I'm sure the family was touched that you still thought about him after all those years.
  - theflyingelvis 3y ago
    My 27 y/o nephew passed away last year. He worked at a mid sized tech firm and many of the folks from the firm showed up at the funeral. His parents really appreciated the folks showing up. So, yeah, not awkward at all.
jedberg 3y ago
Probably more common than you think. I worked at a 150 person startup for my first job. About five years later one of the guys got into a motorcycle accident and died. About 50 of the people that I used to work with showed up to his partner's house for the "wake". We were the majority of the attendees. It turned into kind of a reunion for us as well. His partner genuinely appreciated how much we all cared for him even so many years after not working together. RIP Chuck, we still miss you buddy. (One of my favorite Chuck stories that any time he started at a new company, he would always set the variable part of the MAC address on his workstation to C0FFEE)

monknomo 3y ago

I had a similar experience when a co-worker passed. It was awkward, but I do hope the family felt something positive from seeing that a part of their loved one's life they don't normally see also cared for him.

OJFord 3y ago

Why was it awkward? Because there were few enough family & others that it was dominated by former colleagues from one seemingly random employer?

sokoloff 3y ago
No; in a 2 hour wake, there were probably 150 or more people in total. The awkwardness was mostly having to explain "yeah, you've never met me and he hasn't worked with us for almost a decade, but hey, here we are..."
- vimax 3y ago
  Not awkward at all. I'm sure the family was touched that you still thought about him after all those years.
- theflyingelvis 3y ago
  My 27 y/o nephew passed away last year. He worked at a mid sized tech firm and many of the folks from the firm showed up at the funeral. His parents really appreciated the folks showing up. So, yeah, not awkward at all.

jedberg 3y ago

Probably more common than you think. I worked at a 150 person startup for my first job. About five years later one of the guys got into a motorcycle accident and died. About 50 of the people that I used to work with showed up to his partner's house for the "wake". We were the majority of the attendees. It turned into kind of a reunion for us as well. His partner genuinely appreciated how much we all cared for him even so many years after not working together. RIP Chuck, we still miss you buddy. (One of my favorite Chuck stories that any time he started at a new company, he would always set the variable part of the MAC address on his workstation to C0FFEE)