Have you ever buried someone who was LGBT? If so, would it be considered proper to drape the casket in a pride flag?
Thanks for the welcome, Sunspace!
Composting- State Regulations are relatively strict when it comes to human remains so composting would not be allowed in the traditional sense. Some families, however, have chosen to take their loved one’s cremains (cremated remains) and have placed these remains in the ground on top of which they plant a seedling or a plant. The cremains apparently are good for root systems and the plant becomes a living memorial to their loved one.
There is actually a biodegradable cremains urn which contains a tree seedling which can be purchased in different forms depending on the vendor for this particular purpose.
http://www.creatinglovingmemories.com/2009biodegradableurns.pdf
: ) Good one!
Thanks for your welcome!
Having served as a Unit Manager at an Urgent Care Clinic for a large local hospital I salute anyone in the nursing industry. They are the true lifesavers!
The CNA gig can be very demanding - I can completely understand. W
With regard to pursuing a career in the funeral industry, here in California a licensed funeral director must have at the minimum an Associates Degree (in any field) and pass a rather complicated exam, however the majority of the people in the industry never actually get their licensing, and instead work as “family counselors” under the direction of a funeral director. Essentially, they do everything that a funeral director does, with some exceptions (some contracts and legal forms require the signature of a funeral director, for example). The primary advantage to having a Funeral Director - as far as I understand it - is that you can demand a higher wage than would be given to a mere Family Counselor.
For those who are interested in Mortuary Sciences (embalming, cosmetizing) there are specific licenses and mandatory periods of apprenticeship involved.
In terms of exploring the industry, your husband might choose to contact some local funeral homes to gain an assistant’s position - they attend services and intake meetings and work as the funeral director’s assistant. This is an entry level position and will give your husband a good idea of what he should expect from a directors position.
Being a funeral director is not the easiest job you can have, and you certainly are not going to become “rich” as a funeral director, but I can say that of all the positions I have held in my time, I have found being a funeral director the most profoundly spirtually rewarding job I have ever had.
Good luck to you and your husband!
I’ve never slept in a or have gotten into casket - they do look comfortable, though appearances could be deceiving. They are not padded in the sense that you would expect a bed to be, for example.
It is a good niche market idea, now that you mention it- premium caskets outfitted with memory foam beds to ensure the long term comfort of your loved one.
Thanks, Yog!
No, that is not me - though funny thing is I have seen that Caddy Hearse with the GOTH plates from time to time driving through the southland.
Thanks for your welcome, moving!
In the funeral industy, the primary stream of profit comes from the markup of merchandise - caskets, urns, etc. There is also typically a fee for the funeral home to handle your arrangements that will vary depending on what services you want. A simple cremation, for example, would require a lot less work and therefore a lower fee than a full traditional funeral service. Most of this fee, however, is devoted to overhead costs and typically very little profit is made from this (of course depending on the funeral home or cemetery)
The funeral home I work for is family owned and has been serving our local community since 1918. They pride themselves on service to the community, and as such they do not mark up merchandise or charge the exhorbitant fees that some other funeral homes do - in this regard there is a low profit margin for our home.
There is a large national funeral industry conglomerate who I will not name that is well know in the industry for their profit motivated operations- a quick google search will point you to them - and they charge more than double in fees than we do and mark up their merchandise to the highest level possible. They are know for their practice of going into areas and buying up all of the family owned funeral homes that they can. They then do not change the name of the business, but jack up the prices. Consumers who are price concious will then telephone a number of local funeral homes not realizing that they are all owned by the same conglomerate and will then assume that the high prices are standard. The owner of our funeral home has been approached by this conglomerate for a buy out multiple times, but he has sworn that he would sooner burn our business down or sell it to the staff at a loss before he would ever sell our his family’s name.
Thanks and good to meet you!
Thanks for your welcome and for fixing the thread title.
I got into the industry after Six Feet Under, so I cannot personally attest to whether or not the attitude changed after the show. I can say it likely changed my own personal attitude towards the industry which, prior to the show, I knew little about.
My coworkers who have been in the industry for many decades say that they did not feel that the show did much, however, in the way of changing folk’s attitudes.
Occasionally, on the way to a service, I pass by the location used for the Fisher Mortuary (it is near the 10 freeway on Arlington) and I have to smile and laugh.
Thanks again!
Thanks. I’ve used that one once in real life, after a coworker, who’s husband was a funeral director (abbreviated Fun. Director), came into work one morning and said, ‘Guess what everybody! Chuck got a promotion!’
Which is the better hearse license plate? U NEXT or CYA SOON
On the hole – sorry, ‘whole’ – how sincere are funeral directors? Fortunately I’ve never had to deal with any. Unfortunately, this means that my experience with them has been on TV shows. These depictions show funeral directors as ‘sharing in the family’s grief’ and being ‘sad’. But how can they feel grief for someone they don’t know? Or else, how can they stand it if they grieve over every corpse? There are an awful lot of platitudes being voice, at funerals I’ve attended. Everyone else in my family is religious to a greater or lesser degree (mostly greater). I can’t help but think that the machine has stopped functioning, and that’s all. Does being a funeral director tend to increase one’s belief in an afterlife? Or do you (‘you’ as a group) see so many bodies that you develop a more clinical/scientific view?
Has one of your ‘clients’ ever broken your heart?
Aaron:
I certainly hope that people have enough respect to exhume and remove remains from a graveyard intended to be converted for construction - I am reminded of that Poltergiest suburban community on the old graveyard and there was some bad juju there. : )
But in all seriousness, I think it would be incredibly bad publicity if it came out that developers put their building on a cemetery without removing the dead from the grounds. I am not sure if there is a regulation on the books about this, but my assumption is that this must be a legal requirement (or if it isn’t then it should be)
There is always the potential for not realizing that the area you are developing was formerly a cemetery, however - see this link:
I like the idea of Green Burials and they are catching on as people find out about them. More information here:
Does your funeral home do Kosher (Jewish Halachal) funerals?
How do you square the naked merchandising aspect of the job with the fact that, in some cases, you’re meeting and (marketing to) these people on the very worst, most vulnerable, day of their lives? Any moral qualms? How do you handle it?
I apologize if I’m a bit acrimonious about this. I have not had very good experiences with funeral directors, who, in my direct personal experience, have been unctuous, mealy-mouthed used car salesmen. The guy who sidled up to my father, who had just held his wife of 54 years in his arms as she convulsed and died, and whisperingly tried to sell him some cheap gewgaw to be included in the casket to accompany my mother into the Great Beyond (for only $800 extra!), made me want to punch his face in.
Likewise the guy who charged us for the liner for my grandmother’s grave, and then tried to avoid installing one.
I read an article a couple of years ago that said that since the economy went under there has been more interest in funeral service: people always die. Is this true?
We have in the past, but not often. I never personally have directed one.
When you find someone wondering away from the viewing room (and into rooms that they really shouldn’t be, but some people are just nosy that way) have you ever had the temptation to clap them on the shoulder from behind and say,
[Angus Scrim]“The Funeral is About to Begin…Sir!”[/Angus Scrim]
It is always a difficult time whenever anyone suffers a loss. Moral support offered to the bereaved is always helpful. I know some folks are not quite sure what to say and sometimes resort to trite sayings they have heard in the past like “she is in a better place” or “Try not to cry and get over it” -which really does not help. Moral support doesn’t mean that you have to say anything at all- just being there for the bereaved can make a huge difference.
Contrary to what my preconceptions were about funeral directors before I started up in this industry, I have found that some of the funniest people I have ever met were funeral directors!
No, this is not true at least in California - though I cannot speak for other states- crematories are forbidden to use accelerants such as lighter fluid or gasoline.