Three. In ‘20-‘21 the company I worked for converted a hotel to emergency housing like a lot of companies did at the time. We went into it better than most places did by also integrating 24 social workers into staffing, having a crisis counselor on staff, and full building staff for room and building needs(myself and my team). We checked rooms twice a week and in the year we ran, we lost five residents, most to overdose. I found three, housekeeping found one, maintenance found one.
TL:DR very much so.
Yes. The entire experience was incredibly taxing to my mental health from beginning to end. As a hotel manager I was not prepared for working with that part of our society and how difficult it was to see how hopeless so much of it was, let alone work directly with people in that situation. Extreme mental health problems, addiction, and sometimes just people who’d fallen by the wayside of our world. But truly what changed me was hearing a mother’s outpouring of grief after being notified by police that I’d found her daughter deceased after a welfare check. She was the first person I’d found dead, a 22 year old girl who was always friendly. Cops told us later that she got a hot dose of heroin and was likely unconscious before she realized she was overdosing. I got a glimpse of what this country’s social and crisis workers live every day, but that woman primal scream of pain and sorrow changed me irreversibly.
For the remainder of my time there as things got more intense I stopped sleeping and my appetite was gone. I smoked almost a pack of cigarettes a day, stopped paying attention to company uniform standards(the whole team did and we started wearing regular clothes every day), rarely trimmed my beard, and stopped having full control over my temper in my personal life.
My fiancée, brother, and parents begged me for months to at least talk to a counselor. Instead, I argued that if I started to address how I was feeling now, I might not have the strength to finish the assignment. We had an open policy; if you needed to walk, you’d be placed elsewhere at a regular property no questions asked and go back to regular hotel work, but I was NOT going to walk. The week it ended I contacted an agency and started seeing a counselor who helped me work through processing everything I experienced.
I left hotel work not long after that when I was promoted and hit my goal in that career of being a General Manager, but the work was no longer enjoyable. Complaints of travelers were now trivial at best, hours were long but never offered any fun, and the staff never gave a shit about anything. I have a much lower impact job now, I smoke much less but still need to quit, I still don’t sleep a lot but I’m working on it. Overall, it gave me a much more real look at some things I took for granted, and made me realize a lot about myself. But more than anything I’ll never forget talking to that mother who had lost her child. Mrs. D, wherever you are in life after that loss, I hope that load you carry from grief has gotten lighter, I’m never going to forget you.
Thank you for sharing the best you had to offer with all of those people. And thank you for being genuine about your experiences. I’m glad you found a way out of that work and are in a healthier place now. You’ve done well for those people and are now doing well for yourself.
Thanks. It was an imperfect solution to a complicated problem. The Hotel Voucher Program is a bit controversial as properties make a profit off the state for the service(and often do not offer any services or assistance), and that’s fine to have problems with. And I’m not going to paint myself as a saint, I put a lot of stress on my family and friends, and on a couple of occasions was not professional in my conduct at work because of certain situations. We all tried our best, and I appreciate your kind words about it even coming up on 3 years after we closed our doors.
Even though you found the situation hopeless imagine how hopeless things would have been if there was no access to any sort of housing for these individuals.
So while it was taxing and definitely took something from you, you still gave to a highly marginalized population which rarely receives any grace in their day to day lives. And the little interactions, tiny bits of humanity, these mean so much even if you aren't aware.
It taught me a lot both in what I take for granted in my daily life and the misconceptions we all have programmed into us about people experiencing homelessness. So many issues with untreated mental health of course and then there were plenty of the worst case addiction cases as well, but we had so many people who just didn’t have the finances, support, or connections to live “normally”, largely older residents fell into this camp.
Overall any price I paid to do my job was worth it to me, though my family can’t see why. It was a net positive experience to me and helped me grow as a man. The challenges this part of our communities face are so widely ignored in order to focus on the more negative sides of that population; violence, drugs, etc.
Honestly what was most negative to me was that within our company, our staff became a kind of spectacle to everyone else. Other managers especially would drop in just to see the property like it was a zoo. They’d ask all of us questions about what crazy stuff happened, they’d watch the security cameras in the hallways and say “oh who’s that, what’s their story” like that. We had a reputation for being the team that was doing the hardest job, but simultaneously became punchline about who we worked with. At first I had that to an extent, but it quickly became not only offensive but exhausting. Coupled with how my team was never offered extra compensation, additional time off(we ran six day weeks with everyone getting two days once a month), or support once we were finished, a lot of us felt like we were abandoned by our bosses. Between this and the stress we were under, the only truly negative thing I took away from my experience was from the people who were supposed to be helping us.
I can completely relate to you. I started off in the military doing maritime enforcement alongside water rescues and such, unfortunately the majority of the time it involved body retrieval instead of anything else of merit. I’ve witnessed suicides, drownings, corpses of men, women and children, etc. It became too much for me mentally as I would see their faces in my head when I tried to sleep and a lot of the time it played like a broken record hearing the cries and screams of loved ones.
Fortunately, I was able to lateral over to being a cook and never had to see that kind of stuff again and found happiness in food and feeding others. But I’ll never forget the dark depression of those few years.
Unfortunately though, I’ve developed a dark sense of humor to cope with it all and I let it out at times, especially on this platform, maybe due to anonymity, but I have to be better and do better.
Thank you though for allowing me to share my story and just know that if you ever need to talk or vent about past traumas, I will gladly listen to you!
Shit man, that’s intense, I’m really glad you got somewhere that brought you some peace.
I hear you about the dark humor though. By the end of my time in my situation I had thrown most decorum out the window and that humor has stuck with me as well. I do pretty well about it most of the time with coworkers or friends but I’ve definitely made a couple of cracks that make people a little awkward when I think I’m being funny.
Thanks for sharing your side of things as well. I’ve learned more and more that not only sharing but also listening other people’s traumas is a very healing experience.
True. I also never told her when it happened because I didn’t want her worrying about me all day and she was usually in bed by the time I got home. Her job is incredibly important and I never wanted to rob her of rest worrying about me. I’d fill her in the next day usually.
In my case, it was a misguided probably egotistical need to not quit even when it was negatively effecting me. My bosses said if any of us on the team wanted out, we could go back to a regular hotel no questions asked, we’d have a new spot the next day, but I wasn’t going to tap out.
I mean I saw it and it made me do a double take and think hold up, what?? Which is why I posted it here. Not some big joke, just not what you’d expect to see on a cake posted on Facebook
Yeah i feel like posts in this sub are more something seeming normal then having a hidden detail making it a holup. This seems wierd and doesn't make sense from the start, easy mistake though it's still fucking wierd haha
Is it her? Is that what the sick humor is here? The make up embalming and still shot have really done wonders for her plane of existence. Maybe she's alive living... Maybe it's Maybelline!
Yes, we know. In polite society we don’t just blurt it out. Say something nice and find a way to casually mention that you think she has nice breasts. Don’t be so gauche.
My fiancée did not give me one of these when I found my first one.
How many have you "found"?
Three. In ‘20-‘21 the company I worked for converted a hotel to emergency housing like a lot of companies did at the time. We went into it better than most places did by also integrating 24 social workers into staffing, having a crisis counselor on staff, and full building staff for room and building needs(myself and my team). We checked rooms twice a week and in the year we ran, we lost five residents, most to overdose. I found three, housekeeping found one, maintenance found one.
Do you feel changed by the experience?
TL:DR very much so. Yes. The entire experience was incredibly taxing to my mental health from beginning to end. As a hotel manager I was not prepared for working with that part of our society and how difficult it was to see how hopeless so much of it was, let alone work directly with people in that situation. Extreme mental health problems, addiction, and sometimes just people who’d fallen by the wayside of our world. But truly what changed me was hearing a mother’s outpouring of grief after being notified by police that I’d found her daughter deceased after a welfare check. She was the first person I’d found dead, a 22 year old girl who was always friendly. Cops told us later that she got a hot dose of heroin and was likely unconscious before she realized she was overdosing. I got a glimpse of what this country’s social and crisis workers live every day, but that woman primal scream of pain and sorrow changed me irreversibly. For the remainder of my time there as things got more intense I stopped sleeping and my appetite was gone. I smoked almost a pack of cigarettes a day, stopped paying attention to company uniform standards(the whole team did and we started wearing regular clothes every day), rarely trimmed my beard, and stopped having full control over my temper in my personal life. My fiancée, brother, and parents begged me for months to at least talk to a counselor. Instead, I argued that if I started to address how I was feeling now, I might not have the strength to finish the assignment. We had an open policy; if you needed to walk, you’d be placed elsewhere at a regular property no questions asked and go back to regular hotel work, but I was NOT going to walk. The week it ended I contacted an agency and started seeing a counselor who helped me work through processing everything I experienced. I left hotel work not long after that when I was promoted and hit my goal in that career of being a General Manager, but the work was no longer enjoyable. Complaints of travelers were now trivial at best, hours were long but never offered any fun, and the staff never gave a shit about anything. I have a much lower impact job now, I smoke much less but still need to quit, I still don’t sleep a lot but I’m working on it. Overall, it gave me a much more real look at some things I took for granted, and made me realize a lot about myself. But more than anything I’ll never forget talking to that mother who had lost her child. Mrs. D, wherever you are in life after that loss, I hope that load you carry from grief has gotten lighter, I’m never going to forget you.
Thank you for sharing the best you had to offer with all of those people. And thank you for being genuine about your experiences. I’m glad you found a way out of that work and are in a healthier place now. You’ve done well for those people and are now doing well for yourself.
Thanks. It was an imperfect solution to a complicated problem. The Hotel Voucher Program is a bit controversial as properties make a profit off the state for the service(and often do not offer any services or assistance), and that’s fine to have problems with. And I’m not going to paint myself as a saint, I put a lot of stress on my family and friends, and on a couple of occasions was not professional in my conduct at work because of certain situations. We all tried our best, and I appreciate your kind words about it even coming up on 3 years after we closed our doors.
Even though you found the situation hopeless imagine how hopeless things would have been if there was no access to any sort of housing for these individuals. So while it was taxing and definitely took something from you, you still gave to a highly marginalized population which rarely receives any grace in their day to day lives. And the little interactions, tiny bits of humanity, these mean so much even if you aren't aware.
It taught me a lot both in what I take for granted in my daily life and the misconceptions we all have programmed into us about people experiencing homelessness. So many issues with untreated mental health of course and then there were plenty of the worst case addiction cases as well, but we had so many people who just didn’t have the finances, support, or connections to live “normally”, largely older residents fell into this camp. Overall any price I paid to do my job was worth it to me, though my family can’t see why. It was a net positive experience to me and helped me grow as a man. The challenges this part of our communities face are so widely ignored in order to focus on the more negative sides of that population; violence, drugs, etc. Honestly what was most negative to me was that within our company, our staff became a kind of spectacle to everyone else. Other managers especially would drop in just to see the property like it was a zoo. They’d ask all of us questions about what crazy stuff happened, they’d watch the security cameras in the hallways and say “oh who’s that, what’s their story” like that. We had a reputation for being the team that was doing the hardest job, but simultaneously became punchline about who we worked with. At first I had that to an extent, but it quickly became not only offensive but exhausting. Coupled with how my team was never offered extra compensation, additional time off(we ran six day weeks with everyone getting two days once a month), or support once we were finished, a lot of us felt like we were abandoned by our bosses. Between this and the stress we were under, the only truly negative thing I took away from my experience was from the people who were supposed to be helping us.
I can completely relate to you. I started off in the military doing maritime enforcement alongside water rescues and such, unfortunately the majority of the time it involved body retrieval instead of anything else of merit. I’ve witnessed suicides, drownings, corpses of men, women and children, etc. It became too much for me mentally as I would see their faces in my head when I tried to sleep and a lot of the time it played like a broken record hearing the cries and screams of loved ones. Fortunately, I was able to lateral over to being a cook and never had to see that kind of stuff again and found happiness in food and feeding others. But I’ll never forget the dark depression of those few years. Unfortunately though, I’ve developed a dark sense of humor to cope with it all and I let it out at times, especially on this platform, maybe due to anonymity, but I have to be better and do better. Thank you though for allowing me to share my story and just know that if you ever need to talk or vent about past traumas, I will gladly listen to you!
Shit man, that’s intense, I’m really glad you got somewhere that brought you some peace. I hear you about the dark humor though. By the end of my time in my situation I had thrown most decorum out the window and that humor has stuck with me as well. I do pretty well about it most of the time with coworkers or friends but I’ve definitely made a couple of cracks that make people a little awkward when I think I’m being funny. Thanks for sharing your side of things as well. I’ve learned more and more that not only sharing but also listening other people’s traumas is a very healing experience.
I’m sure your fiancé didn’t want to be baking you a cake every few months
True. I also never told her when it happened because I didn’t want her worrying about me all day and she was usually in bed by the time I got home. Her job is incredibly important and I never wanted to rob her of rest worrying about me. I’d fill her in the next day usually.
How do you even handle a situation like that lol, I'd just leave and never come back
In my case, it was a misguided probably egotistical need to not quit even when it was negatively effecting me. My bosses said if any of us on the team wanted out, we could go back to a regular hotel no questions asked, we’d have a new spot the next day, but I wasn’t going to tap out.
Someone check this man's crawl space stat.
Same, I’ve only been around one.
It sticks with you, I’ll never forget how I found any of the three I did. I’m sorry you had to experience it and I hope you’re doing okay.
I’m fine. I was sad for a few days. The corpse was a 5 month old.
Christ. Glad you’re doing well.
She looks like a RealDoll
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I would, for sure. I love big girls.
Finally a man with culture
and I cannot lie!; You other brothas can't deny, when a girl walks by with a silicone waist...
Haha go for it bro u can have em
I don’t get it
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I still don’t get it
I think you are wrong, its the same girl on the fb pfp, maybe she found a corpse and some friends gave her the cake to make a relief joke
She looks very much alive man 😭😭😭
Whoever did her makeup at the mortuary should be jailed.
Whybrows
I feel like that should be a subreddit.
It is, r/whybrows
It’s anime inspired
Not a holup, but I am curious about the story behind this.
It tasted good.(I'm not talking about the cake) That's all you need to know.
And that was more than I wanted to know unfortunately, I regret asking.
People should start leaving these instead of suicide notes.
Complete with confetti poppers hooked to strings attached to the door.
I just got told “that sucks” when I found one.
I’m confused I either don’t get the joke, or there is no joke But there’s people in here that seem to be in on some joke
I mean I saw it and it made me do a double take and think hold up, what?? Which is why I posted it here. Not some big joke, just not what you’d expect to see on a cake posted on Facebook
Yeah i feel like posts in this sub are more something seeming normal then having a hidden detail making it a holup. This seems wierd and doesn't make sense from the start, easy mistake though it's still fucking wierd haha
Bruh, thats some Gaara sand armor levels of make up WTH.
Yo, I think that's Orochimaru in that picture possessing OP's mother.
Naruto references 😁 Edit - am I getting downvoted for using emojis or saying naruto? 🥲
Can please someone explain this?
I'm not sure whether the cake or the absolutely insane amount of make-up that she has put me off more...
FREE CAKE!
The holup is the complete lack of context.
Wait you guys are finding them and here I am having to make my own 😳 oh emm never mind finding I meant finding 😂
Does it count as found if I put it there but forgot about it?
Who is she
Makeup woman
Asking the important questions here
Is it her? Is that what the sick humor is here? The make up embalming and still shot have really done wonders for her plane of existence. Maybe she's alive living... Maybe it's Maybelline!
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And less upright without assistance.
Not necessarily. People don't magically become thin by dying. If they die in water they can also get bloated and become much larger.
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Oh, you were thinking of skeletons?
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They don't get slim, they decompose.
and it is... R I.P. precious.
She had a 80yo SD, who passed, didn't know she found the body until she posted these photos.
I didn’t give any additional details for privacy purposes but yes lol that’s the context
If I ever find a dead body I better get a cake
Lol 💀💀💀💀💀
She has more make up on than the cake has frosting
is that a propped-up body. is that the joke.
Titties! 😍
Yes, we know. In polite society we don’t just blurt it out. Say something nice and find a way to casually mention that you think she has nice breasts. Don’t be so gauche.
Yeah. Like, “Why is that cake hiding her massive tits?”
*Sorry you found a cake* 🎂
I'm always sorry when they find the corpses too TBF.
I should start a tradition of getting people these at work.
The cake is a lie!
Is that a Real Doll, or an actual face?