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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Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Liar Liar, Pants On Fire

This has not been a good week so far. My boss is on vacation, so I've been meeting with all the families, which is not my favorite part of the job. Actually, that's quite ironic since the whole reason I became a director was to help people avoid the kind of stress my family went through when we lost my dad. One of my families this week wants cremation with a gathering at the funeral home with the ashes present, followed by a service the next day, and burial of the ashes at the national cemetery. I met with them on Monday, and was fairly confident I could have everything done by Thursday/Friday. So we set the schedule up accordingly. Come to find out the Medical Examiner wants to get involved, which is throwing a wrench in the works. Today is Wednesday, and unless we get cremation approval tomorrow by lunch, the funeral service will turn into a memorial service with no cremated remains present. Plus, the National Cemetery Scheduling Office is still trying to verify eligibility, despite giving them the veteran's full name, date of birth, social security number and military service number. So even if we had the cremated remains, there is still the possibility we would not be going to the cemetery on Friday. Tomorrow when I get to work I will have to call the family and tell them I failed. I feel like I've let them down, even though logically I know it's not my fault. Under normal circumstance I could have had this done. We had the death certificate to the doctor on Monday, and it was signed the next day and sent to the state for approval. Still, I can't help but feel I've broken a promise.

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