My mom left this world in August. She was young and full of life. 2 days later my boss called and said, “Come into work or quit!” I walked in and he said I could mourn after 5pm. Couldn’t afford to lose my job, so I sat there all day answering emails, mom 2 days gone, swallowing it every single time it came up in my throat.
A week later, he comes into the office crying. Actual crying, something I’d never seen from him in three years. “My mom just told me she’s got maybe six months,” he said. “I don’t know how to function today.” I was still very angry from the week before, thinking about how easy it’d been for him to tell me to push through the exact thing he couldn’t push through himself now.
I decided to talk to him privately. I pulled a chair over and said, “I know what today feels like.” He cried for almost 20 minutes, me sitting there with him. When he finally stopped, he looked at me and said, “I did that to you, didn’t I. Made you come in.”
He then changed the bereavement policy: 5 paid days minimum, no more “come in or quit,” and said sorry.
