What A Day!

My first day on the job was spectacular. It started out slowly, with me doing a lot of standing around wondering what I should be doing while waiting for someone to give me some guidelines. About 8:30 am (I got there at 8) family members started arriving for the 9am visitation and funeral. So for two hours I played doorman, greeting mourners as they arrived. After the funeral, I was told to dismiss the crowd, which I did by approaching the podium and saying something like, "Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the service for __. On behalf of the family, I would like to thank you for coming. In the next couple of days, ___will be laid to rest in her hometown {out of state}. In the meantime, the family will be available for any questions or comments. Thank you for coming."

After the funeral, I took my lunch. Right in the middle of that we got a first call {when the family of the deceased calls the funeral home to arrange to have the body picked up}, so me and another guy went to pick up the body. This was my first removal, ever. We made the pickup and returned to the funeral home, where we immediately began the embalming process. Right in the middle of that, we got another first call, so while we continued the embalming, someone else made that pickup. About the time we were finishing the first embalming, the second body arrives, so we embalmed that one and called it a day. A very busy afternoon and a very welcome change from the mall where I used to work in a previous life.