Aarrggghh!
Another frustrating experience occured today, which could appropriately be filed under the label "failure to communicate." The owner asked me to phone the cemetery and let them know we will be having an entombment later this week, probably Thursday. These were more or less his exact words, "Call the cemetery and give them a heads up, let them know this body is coming, probably Thursday." Now, at this point, all we knew was that we had a body that was being shipped in from out of state. That's it. Period. We did not have the visitation scheduled, we did not have a funeral scheduled, we hadn't even spoken to the family. In addition, this was my first time dealing with a cemetery and trying to schedule a burial.
So I call the cemetery and tell them, more or less, "This is Granimore at XYZ Funeral Home, I'm calling to let you know we have a body coming in from out of state, and we will need an entombment, probably Thursday. Just wanted to give you a heads up." The cemetery representative said, "Ok, just call back when you have all the details." End of phone call.
My boss immediately starts in with, "You handled that all wrong. You should have given them the name, found out about opening and closing costs, and any other fees the family needs to know about." Now, he was sitting right there when the owner told me to make this phone call, and I got pissed. I pretty much snapped at him, "Well, you could have told me all this BEFORE I got on the phone!" He counters with, "Well, that's how you learn, by getting in there and doing it." To which I replied, "Yes, but you heard what the owner said, and that's exactly what I did. I should have known what to ask before I got on the phone. You could have told me."
From now on, when I'm asked to do something like this, I will be sure to ask what information I need at hand, what the cemetery or whoever I'm dealing might need to know, and any other special instructions I need to be aware of.
Before you get the wrong impression about my training, please bear in mind I only post the frustrating, negative experiences. Overall I am receiving decent training.
So I call the cemetery and tell them, more or less, "This is Granimore at XYZ Funeral Home, I'm calling to let you know we have a body coming in from out of state, and we will need an entombment, probably Thursday. Just wanted to give you a heads up." The cemetery representative said, "Ok, just call back when you have all the details." End of phone call.
My boss immediately starts in with, "You handled that all wrong. You should have given them the name, found out about opening and closing costs, and any other fees the family needs to know about." Now, he was sitting right there when the owner told me to make this phone call, and I got pissed. I pretty much snapped at him, "Well, you could have told me all this BEFORE I got on the phone!" He counters with, "Well, that's how you learn, by getting in there and doing it." To which I replied, "Yes, but you heard what the owner said, and that's exactly what I did. I should have known what to ask before I got on the phone. You could have told me."
From now on, when I'm asked to do something like this, I will be sure to ask what information I need at hand, what the cemetery or whoever I'm dealing might need to know, and any other special instructions I need to be aware of.
Before you get the wrong impression about my training, please bear in mind I only post the frustrating, negative experiences. Overall I am receiving decent training.
posted by Granimore | 6:57 PM
4 Comments:
This sort of thing happens in every job, but I believe it's more accentuated in small business, because everyone is so close.
It's something that one day, much like your "black friday" experience, you'll be able to look back on and chuckle. I hope.
I agree. Weeks or months from now I'm sure I'll be laughing at this story. On the plus side, we finally got all of the information, so today I did schedule the cemetery, and I pretty much had everything lined up before I made the call.
Merry Christmas, Granimore!!!
Merry Christmas, Jennifer! Happy New Year, as well!
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