Thursday, May 26, 2016
Taxes, death, and libraries
A patron just came up to the front desk, handed me a library card, and said "He died yesterday."
"I'm so sorry." I said with sympathy. And why not. What's with all this dying stuff anyway?
She said thank you and that she returned his books and if there is anything else owed or any other issues we could call them, if we had to.
And that was that.
But it brings up an important point.
The very moment a loved one of yours dies don't call anyone. Don't even stop to tell the nurse. Do not shed a tear. No mortuaries, relatives, friends, or hospice workers should be contacted. At least not at first. Because before you do a single other thing you must get yourself to your loved one's library and let them know that your loved one has passed away. Only after you have alerted your loved one's library is it okay to begin all the secondary aspects of dealing with their death.
And why must you above all immediately contact the library?
So I can sit here holding a dead person's library card, like some dark talisman, wondering what to do with it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you were wondering, yes, you should comment. Not only does it remind me that I must write in intelligible English because someone is actually reading what I write, but it is also a pleasure for me since I am interested in anything you have to say.
I respond to pretty much every comment. It's like a free personalized blog post!
One last detail: If you are commenting on a post more than two weeks old I have to go in and approve it. It's sort of a spam protection device. Also, rarely, a comment will go to spam on its own. Give either of those a day or two and your comment will show up on the blog.