I always get a kick out of these bureaucratic portrayals of the afterlife. One of my favorite stories from Pu Songling's "Strange Tales" features a man negotiating an employment deferral from his position in the underworld so he can take care of his sick mom. After some deliberation, the committee of deities reassigns the job temporarily to some other guy who died around the same time as our protagonist.
I always get a kick out of these bureaucratic portrayals of the afterlife. One of my favorite stories from Pu Songling's "Strange Tales" features a man negotiating an employment deferral from his position in the underworld so he can take care of his sick mom. After some deliberation, the committee of deities reassigns the job temporarily to some other guy who died around the same time as our protagonist.