Yet Another Solo Cot View
Yesterday afternoon we get a call from a family who has lost a loved one. They were basically price-shopping, but my boss had a feeling we would eventually get the call. About 7pm or so last night, I get the call to go get the body, bring it back to the funeral home and prepare for a cot view the next morning.
So I went and got the body and spent about an hour to an hour and a half getting everything ready; getting the body on the table, cleaning it (there was blood in the hair), getting the eyes and mouth closed and posed, and doing as much as possible prior to this morning, when the family would be bringing clothes in for the cot view.
My coworker arrived at work this morning at 9am, and he double checked my work and said I had done a good job. I had to fix one spot at the corner of the mouth; the cheek was sunken in a little. I put a small piece of cotton in to plump it out and that was that.
The owner came in about 9:30 and took one look and said he looked good. He made no adjustments at all. I believe he thought the other employee had done all the work. The family came in a short while later, and while the owner sat with them the other guy and I dressed the body and placed it in the chapel. The owner came out a few minutes later to check the body before letting the family in. He made one adjustment to the hair and let the family in.
They came out a few minutes later and were raving about how wonderful the body looked and how bad the person had looked at the moment of death. They just couldn't believe we were able to make them look so good. And that made me feel good, not because I'm a glory seeker, but because I was able to make them feel better about their loss. After they left the owner was commenting on what they had said, and I made sure to say something to the effect of, "yeah, I was here for two hours last night getting him ready..." So the owner now knows, if he didn't before, that I am capable of making these kinds of preparations.
So I went and got the body and spent about an hour to an hour and a half getting everything ready; getting the body on the table, cleaning it (there was blood in the hair), getting the eyes and mouth closed and posed, and doing as much as possible prior to this morning, when the family would be bringing clothes in for the cot view.
My coworker arrived at work this morning at 9am, and he double checked my work and said I had done a good job. I had to fix one spot at the corner of the mouth; the cheek was sunken in a little. I put a small piece of cotton in to plump it out and that was that.
The owner came in about 9:30 and took one look and said he looked good. He made no adjustments at all. I believe he thought the other employee had done all the work. The family came in a short while later, and while the owner sat with them the other guy and I dressed the body and placed it in the chapel. The owner came out a few minutes later to check the body before letting the family in. He made one adjustment to the hair and let the family in.
They came out a few minutes later and were raving about how wonderful the body looked and how bad the person had looked at the moment of death. They just couldn't believe we were able to make them look so good. And that made me feel good, not because I'm a glory seeker, but because I was able to make them feel better about their loss. After they left the owner was commenting on what they had said, and I made sure to say something to the effect of, "yeah, I was here for two hours last night getting him ready..." So the owner now knows, if he didn't before, that I am capable of making these kinds of preparations.
posted by Granimore | 12:53 PM
1 Comments:
Good for you!
There is nothing worng with letting the powers that be who did the job, you should get the credit, take it!
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