Years ago, when I was at university in Sweden, I also worked extra at the police station, handling non-emergency calls (this job was relevant to my education). It was mostly people who wanted to report a crime after the fact, think: “My wallet was stolen at the bus stop yesterday” or “This guy at the pub punched me in the face last night so I want to report him” (some people just shake things off and decide to deal with it in the morning, you know…).

It was truly a job where you talked to all kinds of people, because people call the police for all kinds of things (one time, my colleague received a call from a guy who was very polite but just wanted to ask the police if it was normal that his garden had an unusually large number of spiders this spring… ).

Anyway.

Sometimes people call in to inform about something that hasn’t happened to them personally, but maybe something they’ve seen (either confirmed crimes, or suspicions which can be written up as tips for the local police to possibly investigate).

The way most calls go is the caller starts with a summary of the reason for their call (like the examples above), and I then ask them to explain in detail the whole story from start to finish. It’s much easier to hear their story, in their words, from start to finish and then ask follow-up questions, rather than start blind with detailed questions. This was the standard routine.

Me: “This is the police, you’re speaking to [My Name], how can I help?”

Caller: “I want to report that I’ve seen a crime!”

Me: “Certainly. Tell me what you’ve seen and where, start from the beginning.”

Caller: “There was a break-in at the cemetery.”

This gives me pause because the cemetery is (in all cases I can think of) a public, open place, and you can’t technically BREAK IN to the cemetery. But as usual, I just think that I will ask them to explain in detail what happened, and this will make me understand what they mean.

Me: “I see. Well, I will certainly help you. Would you please explain to me what you’ve seen?”

Caller: “As I said, there was a break-in at the cemetery.”

Me: “Okay, which cemetery are we talking about, and can you explain how you know this? What have you observed? Tell me the story.”

Caller: *Gives me the address, and I look it up while they continue talking.* “And well, I can see there has been a break in.”

Me: “Just start the story from the beginning. Tell me what you’ve seen.”

Caller: *Increasingly frustrated.* “I’ve TOLD you, there was a break-in at the cemetery.”

Me: “Right, I understand.” *A lie.* “But just to make sure I get the correct details down, can you just explain to me what you’ve observed in detail to ensure we’re able to investigate. You were maybe… walking past, and… saw damage?”

Caller: “Yes, I’ve walked past, and I can see there has been a break-in!”

Me: “Right… Do you mean some kind of building, maybe the church itself?”

Caller: “NO, there was a BREAK IN at the CEMETERY!”

Me: “…are we talking about a grave? Some kind of … crypt, that was broken into?

Caller: “NO! THERE WAS BREAK IN AT THE CEMETERY. WHY DON’T YOU LISTEN?!

Me: “Where have you seen damage?

Caller: “ON THE CAR DOORS!

Me: *Pause.* “…On the …car doors?”

Caller: “YES, OH MY GOD, WHY DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THERE ARE DAMAGES ON THE CARS! SOMEONE BROKE INTO THEM!”

Me: “OOOOH, I see, you’ve seen cars that are parked in the cemetery parking lot, and it looks like they were broken into?”

Caller: “YES FINALLY JESUS CHRIST YOU ARE SO INCOMPETENT I WILL HANG UP AND CALL AGAIN AND GET HELP FROM SOMEONE ELSE!” *Click.*

My husband passed away in his early fifties. As a part of the grieving process, I made a habit of visiting his grave every weekend, taking care of the plot, and having silly one-sided conversations with him about how my week had been.

After a few months of this, I noticed that the grave next to my husband’s didn’t seem to have anyone looking after it. There was a woman’s name on the gravestone that I did not recognize, and she, too, seemed to have passed away relatively young.

My husband was one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I’ve ever met, and I figured he’d appreciate it if I took care of his “neighbour”, as well. I started also keeping this unknown woman’s grave tidy, planting flowers in the spring, lighting candles for All Hallows, etc.

This went on for about three years. Then, one weekend, I arrived to find a man standing in front of the woman’s grave. He looked pretty worn and shabby, and he stank of cigarette smoke. I introduced myself, and when I explained who I was and why I had been looking after the grave, he started crying.

It turned out the woman was his little sister. He’d been estranged from his family for a long time, due to a combination of alcoholism and general bad luck. He hadn’t been invited to the funeral, and no one had told him where her grave was.

Now, his parents had passed away, as well, and as he was the last living member of his family, he’d decided to try to track down his sister’s last resting place.

He was just so touched and grateful that I, a complete stranger, had cared enough to look after his sister.

We started meeting up almost every weekend after that to take care of our lost loved ones, and I got to watch him gradually get back on his feet, get an apartment and a job, and get healthy again. Once he had a solid ground to stand on again, he turned out to be funny, smart, and charming, and we began spending time together outside of the graveyard.

This weekend, he’ll become my second husband. I guess we both had someone looking out for us, as well.

This story is part of our Highest-Voted-Inspirational-Stories-Of-2025 roundup!

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I work at a national cemetery. I take a call:

Caller: “I’m planning to visit a deceased relative.”

Me: “I can assist you with that.”

Caller: “Are the graves in alphabetical order?”

Me: “Uh… no, but there’s a map and guard house at the entrance. You can use both to help you find a grave.”

Caller: “Why aren’t they in alphabetical order? What you’re doing is very complicated!”

Me: “Not as complicated as continually burying coffins and then moving them if someone new died who messed up the alphabet.”

Caller: “Just… wedge them in between! Seriously! So lazy!” *Click.*

CONTENT WARNING: Death

My dad is a mortician at a large mortuary and cemetery. As you might expect, the cemetery’s operations are done with care, respect, and dignity toward deceased loved ones as a top priority. The cemetery employs a few transport drivers who collect the bodies from hospitals and other places and drive them back to the cemetery to be embalmed and/or cremated.

One such driver decided to take a selfie in his vehicle with someone’s recently deceased grandmother in the back and post it to social media with the caption, “Still gotta haul this dead b**** to the cemetery.”

He was already fired by the time he made it back.

I work in the funeral business. Some of the most backhanded and entitled family behavior happens here.

Today, we have a lady who signed a contract to buy a grave back in 2020 and has not made a single payment toward it. She got a letter saying that she had until the end of her payment plan in December 2024 to pay in full or the grave she signed for would be essentially repossessed and put back into inventory.

She comes in all in a huff.

Lady: “Why are you repossessing my grave?!”

Me: “You haven’t made any payments on it.”

Lady: “Well, no! Eventually, I’m going to die, and when I do, my daughter will get all my money, so she can pay for the grave then.”

Essentially, she signed a contract agreeing to pay $5,000 and then just assumed that if she didn’t pay it, we would just keep the grave on “hold”. Then, it can be her child’s financial responsibility after she dies.

And then she had the nerve to get upset and throw a tantrum because we said we wouldn’t hold the grave she didn’t pay for.

Related:
A Grave Error In Judgement