I meet people — a lot of people — on the worst day of their life. It's the worst day of your life, and it's my Tuesday. And my job is to get you through it.
OK, so technically my job is to investigate a death, but really, I'm there for you. I show up to work every day and deal with horrific things just on the off chance that someone tells me, “Thank you. You really helped me today." I can't describe the gratitude that accompanies a simple thank you from a grieving family member. I know you won't remember my name.
Hell, you probably won't even remember the day.
But if you remember that I made you calm; that I didn't break you into a thousand more pieces than you thought you'd ever fracture into, then I've done my job. I think anyone I work with would say the same. We wouldn't show up otherwise. When people say they don't know how I do this job, that's what I tell them. We do it for you.
My job is not glamorous.
It's not like CSI, and it's not always “cool." It's heartbreaking. It's dirty. It's frustrating. Do I see some cool shit? Yeah, absolutely. And every time I see some cool shit, I have to pretend they didn't mean a thing to a single soul. If I remember they mattered to someone, then I lose my shit, and I'm no good to anyone.
I see everything from grandma with lung cancer to an unidentified with her throat slit. I see everything from the heroin addicts to the suicidal. I have seen natural deaths, accidental deaths, suicidal deaths, and homicidal deaths. My whole world is reduced to the living and the dead.
And honestly, the longer you live with the dead, the harder it is to return to the living.
I eat too much. I drink too much. I've built up walls I spend a lot of time reframing. Every time someone chips away at that wall, when one death hits me just the right way to knock a brick loose, I have to spend time repairing it. I have to put up that wall again — because if I don't, I will lose my mind.
I will lose my mind because you lost your mom, or your brother, or your son. I can't let this job get to me, or I can't help you. So while I will be compassionate, patient, and understanding with you, I may also seem at other times dispassionate, impatient, and aloof.
I compartmentalize because I have to.
We make jokes because we have to. Nine times out of 10, we're laughing. Few topics are off-limits and even fewer jokes are. Like I said, I know it's the worst day of your life. The problem is, it's still not the worst day of mine. In fact, I'm probably in the middle of my week, stressed as all hell by the million other things waiting for me back at the office, and your dead loved one really put a kink in my plans for today. I say this out of necessity because this is how I survive waiting from day to day, doing this job.
I will not do this job forever.
I always planned for it to have an expiration date. As it is, there's a 50-50 chance I know someone who knows someone. The other 50% of the time? I'm waiting for the ones I love most. My dad, my mom, the overdoses, the suicides, and the motor vehicle accidents. It's a constant game of, "What's the last name?"
I can't express to you how exhausting that is.
It's picking up babies that should have lived another 80 years and men and women who flat out gave up. It's looking at men and women whose lives were ripped from them, whether it was through their own actions or not. It is seeing the worst of humanity, every single day, and coming back. It is seeing the worst thing someone can do to another human being, and taking those small moments of pure humanity and gratitude as payment.
We don't get paid enough for what we do. I can barely afford my life. I'm not the perfect employee, but I'm good with you. I have moments of doubt, but I wouldn't trade a single moment of my job for a second.
I'll admit I can't do this job forever, not without losing myself.
I can feel my walls cracking slowly. I've only got a few more years of this left in me. Still, I know even then, I will continue to help people in my career. It's in my blood. But just know that I'll cherish every second of every interaction I've had. I pray for you all, and your loved ones, every night. Just know that. Long after you've forgotten me, I'll always remember you.
