Working Christmas Day

As luck would have it, the on call rotation worked out to where I was on call for Christmas weekend. In all honesty, I didn't mind too much. After our last big weekend, we've been very quiet. My only concern was being called out to someone's house on Christmas Day. That would have sucked.
We wound up with three calls on Christmas Day. One was an assisted living facility. I did not make that removal. It came in at 4am. My shift didn't start until 8am. The second call came in around 3pm. This was a local nursing home. The last call was around 9:30pm. This was a residence, but there was no family in attendance, only neighbors and friends. The son was out of town.
I have not been called out today, but I'm on duty until 8am Monday morning. We'll see what happens overnight. I hope all of you out there had the kind of Holiday you wanted, be it with family and friends or just a quiet weekend to yourself. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

When It Rains

When things break, they break big. I was commenting in my last post about our lack of business. The other day we got two calls. Both of them are full service burials, and both of them had their visitations on Sunday, both afternoon and evening. One family is very nice, calm and reserved. The other is very high maintenance, demanding and loud. They brought a laundry basket full of photos to display, insisted on getting to use our new hearse, even though they are a local burial, and the other family is going to the National Cemetery. They also wanted their memorial cards laminated, and even though it was explained to them that we are out of laminates right now, they still complained that the cards were not laminated. I am so glad I am taking the other funeral out tomorrow.

What Gives?

One week into December and we have had no calls at all. We did get one on December 1st, but that was a ship in from another state, and since the person died in November, it's counted as a November call. In the meantime, our other location has had three calls so far. I spent all day yesterday dusting the offices, and all day today cleaning and mopping the bathrooms and kitchen. If we don't get some business soon, I'm not sure what work I can do to keep busy and fill my days.