Current Events > Imagine working for the Suicide Hotline on Christmas

(+) Yeah! (+)

First of all, you're working on Christmas. That fucking blows chunks whether you're living the dream or shoveling shit for a living. Secondly, you're listening to people who are on a razor-thin edge between life and death - that's a morbid line of work, and you might very well listen to someone shoot themselves in the face or throw down 50+ tablets - you will be the last person that they ever talk to.

Calls would probably be pretty often around Christmas, from people who are enstranged from their families or who are alcoholics or whatever - like it's a required service, these people need a first responder in their fight against suicide and you need to be their last line of defence. How could you enjoy the holidays after listening to a father of three blast his brain out the back of his head while his wife is trying to get in and stop him? After helping these people carry all of their burdens?

Imagine having that job on Christmas.
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MrMallard posted...

and you might very well listen to someone shoot themselves in the face or throw down 50+ tablets - you will be the last person that they ever talk to.

Wouldn't it be a better idea to call 911 or poison control tbh?
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Duncanwii posted...

MrMallard posted...

and you might very well listen to someone shoot themselves in the face or throw down 50+ tablets - you will be the last person that they ever talk to.

Wouldn't it be a better idea to call 911 or poison control tbh?

What the hell are you trying to say here? Do you not know what a suicide hotline is?
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Christmas isn't everyones favorite holiday.

Why does the day matter? I wouldn't expect it to be much different from other days besides the fact that you have to work on Christmas. At that point I'd imagine it's just another day for them. If they let every call they receive get to them like that they need to find a new job.
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My mom's cousin killed herself on the 21st. Mom found out on the 23rd. Her daughter found her
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mattnd2007 posted...

My mom's cousin killed herself on the 21st. Mom found out on the 23rd. Her daughter found her

That's rough, dude. I'm sorry to hear that.
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As someone who has both first-hand experience with severe depression and suicidal thoughts and answering a call to find the person on the other end locked in their bathroom with a knife...I think I can safely say that job has got to be both the worst and the best feeling in the world.

Yes, occasionally you will be on the phone with a person as they take their own life. But by and large, most people who actually call the hotline are the ones who don't want to go through with it and just need some reassurance that there is another way.

And I find it hard to believe that there can be anything quite as satisfying as knowing that you may be saving someone's life every time you pick up the phone. I bet the good operators, the ones who stay with it for a long time, have to be good at focusing on that part instead of the rare occasion where it ends badly.
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MrMallard posted...

mattnd2007 posted...

My mom's cousin killed herself on the 21st. Mom found out on the 23rd. Her daughter found her

That's rough, dude. I'm sorry to hear that.

Yeah you know it's weird. I didn't really know her. But when Mom told me it still really upset me. She'd struggled with depression her whole life. Had some psychotic episodes.

Mom and her were relatively close.

I really feel bad for her daughter. I can't even imagine
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they probably make a killing though

mattnd2007 posted...

MrMallard posted...

mattnd2007 posted...

My mom's cousin killed herself on the 21st. Mom found out on the 23rd. Her daughter found her

That's rough, dude. I'm sorry to hear that.

Yeah you know it's weird. I didn't really know her. But when Mom told me it still really upset me. She'd struggled with depression her whole life. Had some psychotic episodes.

Mom and her were relatively close.

I really feel bad for her daughter. I can't even imagine

Yeah. Like even if you didn't see them a whole lot, the impact still sends shockwaves throughout the family - it's a face that you might only see in photos and very occasionally IRL, but it's like it's a face that will never be seen again.

I've been pretty lucky to only lose a handful of family members, most of them being really old - my Uncle John was the only big shock, he died out of nowhere when I was 10 or so.

That sort of thing must have been soul-crushing for your relative's daughter - I hope you and your family will be alright.
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I've done it before and it's really not that different at Christmas than any other time.

If anything people are less drunk and more sober because Christmas itself is making them suicidal.

People wanting to kill themselves isn't "worse" at Christmas than it is on May 2nd. It's still horrible.
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mattnd2007 posted...

Yeah you know it's weird. I didn't really know her. But when Mom told me it still really upset me.

First of all - sorry y'all went through that.

But I feel you on this sentiment in particular.

Just over a week ago, my grandpa and I woke up at like 4-5 AM to the doorbell. We answered the door and there were several cops there. It turned out that my uncle - my grandfather's only son - had died of a drug overdose. God, I've never seen my grandfather so torn up, and my grandmother completely broke down.

I found myself pretty upset as well, which bugged me for a while because ... well, I hate most people in this family, and that uncle in particular. It was just a weirdly paradoxical feeling, y'know? Before I'd thought I'd be happy (yes, I'm a pretty twisted person and have issues >_>), but the reality hit me like a ton of bricks. That I'd seen him not 12 hours before and he was completely fine made things all the weirder.

It's ... been an experience, I'll say that much.
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you should be happy to be able to change peoples lives instead of whining over @$@!