To think that people who moan on facebook about being delayed after someone has committed suicide under a train are insensitive twats?

[samstown]

One of my facebook friends has today written a moany status 'thanking' the 'idiot' who jumped under a train (am assuming he was delayed getting home because of this).

Some poor bastard has got to the a point so low in their life that they feel that the best thing they can do is end it all, and all some people can do is moan that they have been mildly inconvenienced getting home.

This isnt the first status I have seen like this either. Now granted, I am not a commuter so have not been in the position where I have been delayed on a train due to a track suicide, although I do know of a girl who ended her life under a train.

AIBU?

As always, I agree with MrsD. I'd hate to be the sort of person who has a limited capacity for compassion.

A friend of mine was on a train that was stopped between stations due to a suicide.

Whilst waiting he had a call saying get home quickly as his mother was taken to hospital and not expected to make it.

In defence of the train company they tried their best to get him home but his mother died before he could get there.

He is still in therapy due to his feelings of guilt and lack of closure.

All due to someone killing themselves.

BoneyBack That is tragic but it still doesn't make the person who commited suicide selfish, they were ill too, like his mother. What a horrible situation for all involved. :( IMO, he would have a valid reason to feel resentful but for the majority of people, they are not annoyed because of reasons such as your friend's.

Well yes it is a big deal if I am late. we are not talking 10-20 mins here. It's hours. Hours of my time with my family that I lose, or money I lose for being late for work. Do you know what it's like to need every penny of your pay? So yes, if it does impact on me like that it does piss me off. I've said it's sad if people want to kill themselves, but if they are doing it in a selfish and cowardly way then my sympathy goes

You can feel sorry for a one-off tragedy. You can feel sorry for a handful of tragedies. But it's impossible to carry on feeling deep empathy for a routine occurrence - which is what 'a person under a train' becomes if you are a commuter. (The same way doctors who see death on on regular basis don't weep every time.) And it's not necessarily a minor incovenience - it can mean you can't get to nursery in time to pick up your child, maybe you don't have any mobile phone reception where the train is stranded, it can be a real nightmare. Clearly not as nightmarish as whatever hell the poor jumper experienced, but it's not trivial either.

I always feel vaguely sorry for the jumper and very sorry for the poor traumatised driver. But on this thread I feel most sorry for people like Regna who have been there and experienced that depth of despair, for the train driver whose wife posted, and for the man who missed seeing his Mother before she died.

My Dad used to work for the railways - he saw someone jump from a moving train, and was driving a steam loco when some idiot tried to beat him at a level crossing (if you try this, you will lose, badly, btw). He managed to deal with it, but many drivers do not.

Btw, I know the Samaritans put notices up at places where lots of people go to end their lives - I've seen them on cliff edges. But haven't noticed any at railway stations. Wonder why?

crashdoll

I didn't mention "selfish" anywhere in my post.

Like many others I am showing the knock on effect that these peoples actions have. In some cases it is (in the scheme of things) small, several hours late home from work, in some cases (like my friend it can have a huge effect).

Not trying to drip feed but his mother had not been ill.
Much as I try to empathise with the person killing themselves, I will always have more empathy for my friend rushing around on a train trying to get his point across that he had to get "home" for valid reasons.

I don't feel particularly sorry for people who use trains to kill themselves, they have put themselves beyond pain and suffering.

I am terribly sorry for their families. I also feel terribly sorry for the people who have to deal with the consequences. The train driver, the witnesses on the platform, the police and railway workers who have to walk the lines and collect whatever they can, the people who have to clean the train, the policeman who has to knock on a door and explain what has happened. It seems to very, very unfair for all these people to have cope - often many times in a career - with these situations.

no Mrs devere, not trying to elicit sympathy in the slightest, more pointing out to the caring and sharing the pain middle-class mumsnet types that this can have a serious knock on effect for others. I care more about me and my family than some faceless stranger I have never met.

And yes, literally hours while negotiators try and talk them down from it.

Nope last month I lost about £20, and in Jan lost about £30.

And there's been about 6 train related suicides/attempts in the last 8 months. don't know where you get 100's from

I missed someone jumping in front of a train by seconds. The loud bang and seeing an arm and her torso laying across the track still haunts me till this day. it really fucked me up for a long time

do I think she was a selfish twat? no far from it. she was obviously desperate, at rock bottom and saw no way out. her children leave flowers every mothers day etc by the track which I find incredibly sad

Well I'm pleased fortify Mrs devere that you have a job which is so accommodating- mock me all you want but in my job if you are late you don't get paid for the hours you miss. I needed that money. I don't work for pleasure.

fortify???
For you, even. bloody autocorrect!

Boney I know you didn't call anyone selfish but many people did and it was very upsetting to me. I don't have limited empathy either.

delboy No one is saying that cannot feel annoyed but to call people cowardly for being mentally ill is a vile thing to say. You (and some of the others on this thread) clearly have no idea how serious mental illness can be and how it can alter the state of someone's mind. Many seriously suicidal people are sectionable under the MH Act, that means they are considered by law as really bloody unwell and unable to make rational decisions.

crash- I'm not calling them cowardly because they're mentally ill, rather the method used.

So if there's approx 200 a year, and I reported 6 in 8 months (including attempts) then that is more than feasible no?

Why would I lie?