*Trigger warning* Death

Edited to add: I can’t change it now, but the title should’ve been “WARNING: this is how they’ll ’thank’ you when you’re gone. Don’t devote your life to companies you’re only a number to!!”

I just need to scream into the void for a minute.

My dad died at 58 two weeks ago tomorrow. He had worked for Honeywell for 15 years, spent his last full day on earth (Monday Feb. 10, 2025) working dutifully from home, by mid-morning on Tuesday Feb. 11 he was gone.

Honeywell has been absolute shit at communicating with my mom regarding his benefits or even his last paycheck and PTO that he earned. There is (seemingly) no set protocol for when an employee passes unexpectedly, no direct point of contact to funnel questions through. Just bullshit middle management excuses and redirecting. My poor mom is grieving her husband of nearly 25 years, trying to figure out how to pay their bills when going from 2 incomes to 1, and gets a TEXT from one of the HR people stating that only his vacation time will be paid out (his last paycheck was already issued for the 6 days he worked in that pay cycle, they snail mailed it though and didn’t tell my mom that it was issued or any details) with very limited info, no firm numbers, timelines or even payment method (I.e. - direct deposit, paper check, etc.).

These companies track us within an inch of our lives. They can see every keystroke and mouse movement, and tell how long you’ve been idle or away from your desk. How long does it take to write someone up or fire them? Is the process nearly this convoluted? Generally, no. God forbid they shut off corporate robot mode and act like compassionate human beings for a minute to honor someone they worked with for a decade and a half.

Moral of the story is this: TAKE THE VACATION. Take the mental health days. Leave if you’re not valued, and don’t feel ONE BIT bad about it. I’m not saying to not give a shit about your job, especially if you’re respected and treated well. But you should know that this can (and does) happen to families all the time, and I for one am so sad for my dad that he devoted himself so much to a corporation who clearly viewed him as just another cog on the wheel. He was more than that to us, and I’ll be damned if I let that be his legacy. I will at least take comfort in knowing that he had a very specialized role and took a ton of invaluable knowledge with him now that he’s gone. Maybe the corporate overlords will miss him when it hits their bottom line, and I hope it does HARD.

Love you dad. You deserved better.