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How did those deaths affect your workplace? Do people try to hang out and talk more or do people generally just carry on normally?

• bane 13y ago
  In the first case, everybody really took a day or two to come to terms that it had happened. Work really ground to a halt. People showed up to work, but took lots of time out of the office in coffee shops talking and processing the event. We named a room after him and had some ceremonies, everybody showed up to his funeral. It really took a few weeks for everything to get back to normal. In the other two people really just carried on pretty normally by the next day or two. In the last case, because of the way he went out, very violent and unpleasant, I think there was definitely an effort on the part of people to just...forget about him and pretend he had never existed. There was some occasional chatting about the event and how unexpected it was. But it was really detached like an event on the news involving a minor C-grade celebrity. But of course, we hadn't worked with him in a couple years at that point so his impact in our day-to-day was pretty minimal. I think it really has to do with office popularity to be honest. If you're buried up in a corner someplace and don't interact with anybody...it's easier for people to get over it.
  • bsirkia 13y ago
    Right. What time of year was it in the first case? I would think it's easier to get over if it's the summer or around Christmas when people are going home for vacations.
    • bane 13y ago
      That's a good question, it was...10, 11 years ago? I think it was spring or early summer. Looking back, I think the endless ceremonies, reminiscing, room naming...his office was a shrine for a couple months and nobody emptied it of his personal affects until his widow came and asked...I think it extended out the difficult feelings longer than it would have if everybody had been driven back to work or gone on vacations or something.
      • liotier 13y ago
        Someone in my company died of illness - someone quite young so it was a surprise and a shock to all around him. It has been more than a year and his computers are still on his desk...
        • morganherlocker 13y ago
          My first day on the job I erased the whiteboard in my office. When a couple people walked in and saw what I was erasing (a short inspirational phrase on the corner of the board), everyone had a look of horror on their face. It turned out that a close friend of the company had been in the office and written that phrase on the board. He died the next day. That was 2 years before I erased it, and everyone had been keeping it as the last thing to remember him by.
          • willt79 13y ago
            No one knew to write "No Erase" next to the comment? Oops, their bad.
• FigBug 13y ago
  An Exec I worked for died. I was fairly new and didn't really know him, so I just kept working. Others were a lot more affected. I remember there being group meetings to talk about his life etc. After about a week, someone said in one of the meetings, "That's enough crying, back to work." Seemed harsh at the time, but everybody went back to work. A room was named in his honor. Life goes on.
  • Aloha 13y ago
    I've noticed this, sometimes grieving must be brought to a close by an external event, otherwise everyone forgets why their there.