I was just browsing online, when I came across this immensely hilarious, but also terribly tragic story (located here) where a gentleman is dies at work while sitting at his desk–heart attack–and no one notices for five days. How could this possibly happen? From the article:
“George was always the first guy in each morning, and the last to leave each night, so no one found it unusual that he was in the same position all that time and didn’t say anything. He was always absorbed in his work and kept pretty much to himself.” Yes, well, dead people tend to do that. Not a talkative bunch–who knew.
As I finished the article, my mouth dropped open. No way I said to myself. And that is when I thought, “I need to Snope this.” For people unfamiliar with Snopes.com, it is a fantastic website that allows you to double check every urban legend running around the Internet. You know, the e-mails you’ve received saying not to sit down in movie theaters because horrible people have placed needles that have been dipped in HIV-positive blood in the cushions so that when you sit, you get pricked by the needle and eventually die of AIDS. When you receive this e-mail, you’re all in a tizzy–I must tell all of my friends!–and you immediately forward this e-mail to 10 of your closest friends. You pledge not to watch any movies in a movie theater ever again, and then succumb to temptation when the newest blockbuster hits the big screen and you absolutely cannot handle not watching the movie everyone is raving about.
But I digress. Snopes.com is a fantastic website to find out if the HIV-positive needles (or the dead coworker) story is actually true. The Verdict? It is not. For anyone who actually did believe this story and forwarded the link to the story to their ten closest friends before getting to the end of this blog, I have to say, “I’m sorry.” Perhaps I should have put a warning at the beginning of the blog: “Please read to the end before sending any e-mails. Thank you for your cooperation.”
So does anyone work in an office where they feel like this could actually happen to them–no one could care less if you’re dead or alive and wouldn’t notice either way anyway? Post your stories below, or e-mail me at Hava L (at) Families dot com, and I will gladly post your story here (anonymously, of course. Bosses do know how to Google, unfortunately.)
And on this jolly note, I finish my blog: I write from home, and could conceivably be dead for weeks or several months without my “bosses” realizing it.
Hey, I did warn you it was going to be a “jolly” note… 😛
Note: The original link I used to the (bogus) story is now dead, but I did find another newspaper running the same story, and substituted that link in. Thanks to my brother for catching the dead link!