My boss' father passed away

[BookstoreEscapee]

My boss was in New York on Friday for a book expo thing. Yesterday (Monday) he called us all in to his office for a quick meeting to tell us that his father had a massive stroke on Friday morning; he got a call from his mom not long after he had gotten to the city and turned around and went to the hospital, where he spent most of the weekend. He was not expected to make it through the week. This morning I got in and the supervisor (who does the administrative-type stuff when boss is out) was in boss' office on the phone. One of the girls told me that boss' father passed away last night. So a sad day at the office.

The viewing is on Thursday, and we're going to see if we can go in early so we can leave early to go to the afternoon viewing which ends at 4. The other time is 7-9 but we'd kind of like to go together and it would be easier for a few of us to go from work (supervisor lives probably an hour and a half away from the funeral home). One of the other girls is going to order a fruit basket or something to send to him and his family from the department (there's only 9 of us including my boss).

We figured food would be better than flowers; an ex of mine's mother passed away while we were dating and someone sent a big fruit basket, and it was nice cuz it's there and kind of encourages you to eat something when you really aren't thinking about food, but you probably need some.

On a non-work-related note, a family friend's sister had a heart attack and is in the hospital. She is not expected to make it very long, either. She is in her forties but is mentally about 8 years old. I don't know if her retardation is due to a chromosomal or other disorder that might contribute to her heart problems or not. I do know that she has lived longer than she was expected to, though.

[reformedwaitress]

When my father passed away two years ago (I was 23) one of the girls I work with got with one of my mother's coworkers at the viewing and did some very sweet things. They made sure that someone was at the house constantly the next day, including during the funeral, in case people came by and so all of the family could go to the service. They also kept track of what was dropped off and who owned what pots (we live in the South -- people brought food) and then made sure they got everything back to where it came from. It was a lot of stress off our backs.

Also, to me and my mother, that people from our works came to the wake and the service meant a lot. People you work with can sometimes just be "the people you work with" but really, you spend more time with them than anyone else a lot of the time and when something like this happens, the support is nice.

That being said, the food was nice to have and better than flowers. We didn't have to worry about feeding family or anyone who came by the house and Momma nor I had to worry about cooking for a few days when we were just in such a haze. So I think a fruit basket or maybe something like a "sandwich kit" (you know, breads, meats, cheese, make it easy) that can be put together easily at any grocery. I'm sure anything you do at all will be greatly greatly appreciated.

My thoughts are with your boss though and your friend in the hospital. Losing family members is hard. Having other people take care of some of the "little stuff" we take for granted really does help.

[powerboy]

My bosses(Buddy) mom is in the hospital alot for cancer, I believe.

I will say a silent prayer for your boss

[BookstoreEscapee]

Went to the viewing after work today. It was from 2-4 so we left work a little before 3, planning to get there around 3:30. On our way out they decided to have a fire drill (which we could barely even hear in the warehouse, and which didn't even go off in our office - I called up there to ask) and we were closer to the back door so they made us go out there and we ended up having to walk all the way around the building to get to the parking lot. So we didn't get there until about 20 to 4. But we got to see my boss and I was able to pass on some condolences from a couple people we used to work with.

When I got back to my car I had a message on my phone from one of the guys who stayed at the office and someone had found my ID badge in the warehouse and brought it up. So it's on my desk and I'm going to have to have them call to verify my existence to get in the building in the morning. Of course my boss won't be there to call because the funeral is tomorrow. I must have dropped it when I was digging out my sunglasses.