And So Begins My New Life

Join me as I embark on a new life and new career in Funeral Services.

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Location: Southeast, United States

I'm a Funeral Services graduate embarking on a new career. I graduated high school in 1981, served honorably in the United States Navy from 1982-1986, been married since 1986, and have one son. I've relocated to a new state and have begun working in my chosen profession of Funeral Services, and I've never been happier.

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Friday, April 28, 2006

Busiest Day So Far

I've only worked three days in my new profession as apprentice funeral director/embalmer, and today was the busiest of those three. We had an 11am service, which had a huge turnout. We had another service due to begin at 2pm. The family from the first service was still saying their goodbyes to their dearly departed at 12:30. Normally, that would be fine, but with another family due in at 2pm, that leaves us less than 90 minutes to: move out the flowers, move out the deceased, vacuum, clean up the chapel, move in the next dearly departed, arrange his flowers, etc. etc. In addition, even though the service was scheduled at 2pm, families always show up early. Always.
Thankfully, we pulled it off. At the same time as the 2pm service, we had a second visitation in another room. So in addition to getting the one room cleaned, we had to place the second person in the second viewing room and get her flowers arranged, etc.

So at 1:30 or so, both families start arriving. I stood by the door guiding the appropriate visitors to the appropriate room. In the meantime, my immediate supervisor is in meetings with pre-need customers, customers who need to order markers, and other such things. The second guy on duty was playing errand boy, picking up death certificates, dropping off death certificates to be signed by the doctors, running flowers to the family, etc. So for most of the afternoon, I was covering the floor myself. Still, it went fairly well.

Later, we had a 6-8 visitation, which I had to work solo. That went fairly smoothly, except for the lady who asked to buy a Mass card. I have never heard of those in my life. So I called my boss, who told me what and where they were, and how much to charge. So I found one, took the check, and the visitor was happy. All in all, my busiest day ever, which leads me into a brief rant. During today's chaos, I was astounded by two things: the number of people who bring babies to funerals, and the number of people who do not turn off their cell phones. The psychology textbooks say to encourage small children (over the age of 5 or 6) to attend funerals, because it teaches them about death and life and such. Whoever wrote those textbooks has not been in a funeral home with two visitations occuring simultaneously and bored, energetic children racing up and down the halls, chasing each other. I say only very well-behaved children should be encouraged to attend funerals. Secondly, if at any time in your life you should fork over money for a babysitter, you would think a funeral would be that one time. But NO!!!!! Let's bring little Susy to the most solemn, serious, sad occasion on earth and let her fidget and cry and whine. Most of the people who brought babies today spent so much time outside the funeral home, trying to keep them quiet, that they should have just stayed home in the first place.

Lastly, cell phones. Same as babies: if there is one time in your life you need to shut that thing off and leave it in the car, a funeral would be that time. But NO!!!!!! Let's run outside every 10 minutes to see who's calling and what they want. People, get a sense of etiquette and decency about you!

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