Bad Phone Call and I Cried

[TelephoneAngel]

Not sucky, just

A man phoned up today to ask what he should do about his partner's paperwork with us he had found "because i came home yesterday and found her dead and she had been murdered"

I did't think I heard that right, he had to repeat it.It was true as well.I must have said "sorry" a record number of times during that call, and I was all weepy afterwards.


It was bad.

[Rapscallion]

Bloody hell!

Vent here as much as you want. You shouldn't have to bear that alone.

Rapscallion

[TelephoneAngel]

Thank you Raps.

I am still a bit shaky.My superviser told me I mustn't dwell on it, but that was far worse than the most shouty SC ever.

The man was perfectly calm.I'm guessing he was in shock and just took the paperwork and didn't know what else to do with himself.

That was all he told me, nothing gory or anything, but that was enough for me.

Edit, considering all that, he was very polite to me and said please and thak you, and thanked me very much for my time and the little help I was able to advise him with.I have no idea if I dealt with that correctly.

[Rapscallion]

I think that by being there you helped him enormously.

Rapscallion

[AccountingSlave]

omg that is horrible.

[zombiequeen]

He probably wanted you to know why he needed help with the paperwork, not to freak you out. You probably did wonders for him just by helping him with what you could.

*hugs*

[Food Lady]

Angel, I'm sure you did well. The fact that you expressed sympathy to him and cried later shows tenderheartedness, which is never, ever a bad thing in my book. tea, cookies, and hugs

[Antisocial_Worker]

The fact that you expressed sympathy to him and cried later shows tenderheartedness, which is never, ever a bad thing in my book.

Quoted for truth. Way to live up to your name there... You did a good thing.

[TelephoneAngel]

Thank you all for your kind words.It's very silly but I didn't sleep much last night.I kept thinking about the phone call, did I say the right things? What are the right things to say?

Is he ok? He told me the police had cordoned off the house as a crime scene and he only had time to grab a few things, and he took all the paperwork for various things thinking he would need to notify various companies, which was what he was doing.As I said, I'm guessing to occupy himself, more than anything else, because notifying us wasn't that urgent.Or maybe he steeled himself to tell everyone at once.He didn't know where he was going to stay other than a cheap hotel because he couldn't go home.And he was telling me this perfectly calmly, not in a dramatic way or anything, which is why I thought he must be in shock.

I kept thinking it was so ridiculous at a time like that to be telling him about account closures or transfers but that was what he asked me.And of course I had to tell him about account closure with a death certificate, but his/hers will be delayed because of the nature of the death, and i said i would note it on the system, and maybe I just sounded very clinical.

I just keep replaying the whole conversation in my mind.

[XCashier]

Sounds like you were both in shock.

You did the best you could, your supervisor knows what happened, it's only natural for you to feel this way in this situation.

[Teskeria]

It's a hard thing to deal with. The company I work for actually has a dedicated team to assist when a client/member has died. I'm rather glad of that.

[Rapscallion]

If it's still affecting you now, you could ask your manager if your place has any assistance in place for you, such as counselling. If not, maybe you're in the union?

Rapscallion

[Mytical]

Also, if you need to vent or talk, I am just a Private Message away. *hugs*. I make a great listener.