Woman shares her workplace's heartbreaking response after she informed them about her mom's death

Having a workplace where the management and bosses understand an employee's grievances and emergencies can be a huge blessing. Unfortunately, many employees don’t experience that support, only realizing their company’s stance toward their problems when faced with an emergency or personal loss. That’s exactly what happened to a woman named Lily Blackmore–who goes by @lilsduhh on TikTok. She was stunned by her workplace’s response after informing them that her mother had passed away and that she wouldn’t be able to come to work. She also shared a powerful reflection on work-life balance in the wake of her loss.

Blackmore’s boyfriend, Josh, emailed her workplace, Nurseplus UK, to inform them of her mother’s passing. "Hi, this is Lily's boyfriend, Josh. Last night, her mum passed away a little before night," he wrote. He continued, "Lily was due to go to work and visit a client with someone. She won't be able to make it tomorrow, given the circumstances. Hope you understand, thank you." The text overlay on Blackmore’s video read, "When your mum dies and this is your work's response." The workplace replied with, "Thank you. Sorry to ask, will Lily be attending the live-in call this weekend?" After showing the email exchange, Blackmore appeared on screen, giving a stunned thumbs-up through a green screen, visibly taken aback by the response.

"'Will she be coming to work though?' This was a huge wake-up call for me. Never allow a place of employment to wear you out," the caption read. "A job will replace you in a heartbeat, so be sure not to die over one. Also, another thing I learned the hard way is money will return, whilst you only have a set amount of days to make memories. Your job/career is not your identity!" The video garnered more than 1 million views. People in the comments expressed their thoughts on the incident and shared their own experiences with their workplace.

@colacube90 wrote, "When I contacted my work about not coming in after my mum died, my boss went to find out how long I could take off pay and actually got it extended. It was supposed to be three days, but she pushed for a week and told me if I need longer to get a doctor's line, don't use holidays." @moosdeluxe commented, "Hey queen, just to let you know you’ve revealed their email in at the top in case you wanted to re-upload or something. I can’t believe they had the audacity to ask that."

@yourdad.sellsavon remarked, "I am a horrible person because I would think it's obvious I gave my condolences, I’d probably not ask about anything work-related though, just tell you to take the week or two off if you needed it." @gabby_20009 shared, "I had the same thing! My brother died and I had to be back to work in two days. The next day, my manager's dog died and she took a week off to grieve. Thanks, management." @p0unce3 expressed, "I was in the intensive care unit (ICU) and my mum rang work for me. They rang the intensive care unit to check if I was there."

You can follow Lily Blackmore (@lilsduhh) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.