A stranger dies and my sim gets time off work?

Pretty much what the topic says.  I had a sim that met someone in a coffee shop for literally as much time as it takes to get a cup of joe and then that person walked outside into a thunderstorm and was zapped to death by lightning.  My sim returs home and the game sends a message of condolence that there was a "death in the family"?  What?  And they get time off from work.  i looked in the relationship menu and the only ghost is that stranger they had just met.