Poll: Did you take time off of work/school when your pet died?

[an874]

I didn't really have a choice when my dog died. It happened when I was away at college, at the beginning of finals week. It's not like there was a way for my professors to give me a break if I had nerve to ask, nor if they were willing. I just had to finish up and push my feelings at the time into the back of my mind for when I had time to deal with it.

 

[babinro]

No, I've never had a pet die when it was my choice to make.

As an adult, if I had a pet for many years that died, I would almost certainly take the day off work.
Pets can easily hold an attachment as strong as a good friend or family member.

Of course if my job help some meaningful importance to others such as a doctor I'd still go to work.
Thankfully I just work call center style customer service/sales. No loss there.

 

[Overusedname]

My dog was basically a saint, so my whole family kind of deactivated for quite a while. I'm not getting into anything, but suffice it to say cancer was involved. He was my only friend when I was little and shy, and he kinda made me confident. He was a ridiculously loving animal. He was the big thing in my life that made me happy during a rough patch in my life, and he loved every friend I brought over.

I'm an atheist, so I had no nice default comfort to fall back on. I did a lot of thinking over the following few days, but I certainly gained an appreciation for life and family...Going to school or work would not have accomplished anything at all, and only worsened my mood and the mood of people around me. I only took one day off. After that, I just took it slow and talked with friends and family a lot.

I didn't get much done, but I did a lot of writing. Guess the theme ... :I ...

Well, for what it's worth it definitely made me a nicer person. If a dog can just fully love everyone he meets I don't see why I can't at least try. It's harder than it sounds...

 

[DrunkenMonkey]

I'd probably never do it, but I def. wouldn't hold it against anybody if that happened to them, some people have strong bonds with their pets, so it's no surprise that they get hit hard by the death as if a family member died.

The title of this thread almost gave me a knee jerk reaction because it rolled off like

Did you take time of of work school to play new releases? On that note I tried that and that's the most dumbest thing anybody can do (including me)

 

[tippy2k2]

Our Belgian shepherd died last summer holiday at the age of 13.5. All of us saw it coming long beforehand and even our dad teared up (which was what made me loose it and start crying). The saddest thing for me though was not our beloved pets death but how my older brother acted when we buried him. Since we have quite a big garden and many trees and bushes our mom wanted to bury him and put a bush over him. Understandably she wanted it to be perfect and asked us to fix this and that several times. And my brother just flew of the handle and strolled off. I was really disappointed with him, because I though he might understand how mom feels and put up with her wishes, but he didn't. And as you would expect, it hurt our mom as well.

To answer the question: I wouldn't take time off, but I wouldn't be of much use either. That's the way I was brought up. When you gotta work, you gotta work. Your personal life has nothing to do with it.

Just curious; did your brother go a smidge nuts because the dog died (as in, grief stricken) or because he thought it was stupid that everyone cared so much?

 

[manic_depressive13]

Lolno. I didn't even take time off school when I found out my grandpa had died in the hospital, and he was the one who raised me. In fact, I remember being in a pretty bad mood because I was running late. I was just leaving for school when we got a call from the hospital, and my grandma started screaming and crying and she looked really distraught. I didn't even comfort her. I just left.

I did miss school a few days later to go to the funeral though.

 

[volcanblade]

Sort of, I stayed home while the vet put our cat to sleep then went in to school. Although its not always the best idea to do that, considering I came very close to punching the lady who I had to take a slip to explaining why I was late. She looked at the note detailing that our pet of over 10 years had died, which is why I came in late, and then promptly told me "Well make sure not to be late a second time"

My family also brought my sister and I home early on a different occasion for that when we were little

 

[StylinBones]

MY first dog is 6 now. Hopefully I have several years left with him. I lost family dogs as I was growing up, but haven't lost MY dog before. That day's gonna suck.

 

[dangoball]

Our Belgian shepherd died last summer holiday at the age of 13.5. All of us saw it coming long beforehand and even our dad teared up (which was what made me loose it and start crying). The saddest thing for me though was not our beloved pets death but how my older brother acted when we buried him. Since we have quite a big garden and many trees and bushes our mom wanted to bury him and put a bush over him. Understandably she wanted it to be perfect and asked us to fix this and that several times. And my brother just flew of the handle and strolled off. I was really disappointed with him, because I though he might understand how mom feels and put up with her wishes, but he didn't. And as you would expect, it hurt our mom as well.

To answer the question: I wouldn't take time off, but I wouldn't be of much use either. That's the way I was brought up. When you gotta work, you gotta work. Your personal life has nothing to do with it.

Just curious; did your brother go a smidge nuts because the dog died (as in, grief stricken) or because he thought it was stupid that everyone cared so much?

Neither. It was really just because mom said "do it like this" more times than he could stomach when we were burring him. It was not surprising, because he does that a lot. It was, however deeply disappointing, because I though that at least this time he might have understanding for it. He didn't.

 

[CrazyDave DC]

I was in grade 12 when my eight year-old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel had to be put down because of leukaemia. As it happened though, I had the whole afternoon off anyway because of spares, so I was able to visit him one more time before he had to go. It was a really heart wrenching experience and I spent the whole evening in a puddle of misery, but I showed up to school the very next day regardless.

 

[Galletea]

I don't know. It will be upsetting but I think I'd rather be at work doing something than sitting in an empty house without him. I think being there and knowing he isn't going to come and bother me to take him out or bark at the post would be worse than getting on with stuff.

 

[Cazza]

My first dog died when I was in Yr 2 or 3 at school. (What's that 8-9yr old). I didn't take time off from school. It's did take a long time for my family to get a new pet though. We all really loved that dog.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Gotta suck it up, unless I am physically impaired from learning I had to go regardless of the circumstances. I remember my Mom telling me my Grandpa died before I went to school. Pets, people it really doesn't matter.

I blame my parents for my sometimes cold personality.

 

[Lonely Swordsman]

I've seen 3 of my family's cats die so far, but it has never really hit me. I mean I didn't want them dead or anything, but they were just pets.

 

[JochemHippie]

Yes, I took almost an entire week off when my first dog died...

 

[Vicarious Reality]

No i did not, despite being pretty damn depressed even before she was murdered

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

No i did not, despite being pretty damn depressed even before she was murdered

...
what happened? did your pet get killed?

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

Not as of yet.
I didn't greave much when my first cat got put down. She was pretty old and was just pissing everywhere and was acting more agitated than normal. So mom took her to the vet and she got put down over there. We had her for around 8 years. My other cat on the other hand we've had for just under two years and I almost broke down when we thought he was killed, so probably would have taken the day off the next day for it. But then he came back...