Comments on: Jobs Worse Than HR: Funeral Directors?

By: Annie

Annie — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:53:02 +0000

Hi Laurie!
I have been a licensed FD/Embalmer for about 9 years now and love what I do. Families share with me the most interesting, funny and shocking stories! Most people focus on the fact that we deal with the dead but we actually get to celebrate a life.

By: thefuneralbizz

thefuneralbizz — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:32:55 +0000

I work in the funeral industry and though it is a very busy job (most people/friends/family) think that it is a quite slow paced job, it is far far far from the truth. I encounter “different” people all the time, and yes we do get the “impossible” family, actually quite often, unfortunately. However, we do get the families who are so appreciative and thankful, and that makes the job all that much better. Knowing that you made one of the most difficult times in their lives a little easier for them.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:25:48 +0000

Jeff, what an amazing website and what an interesting statement about compensation & health insurance. I love your involvement with Bo’s Place, too, and I wish you the best of luck with your business. You are great representative for your industry.

By: Jeff Friedman

Jeff Friedman — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:35:25 +0000

Laurie,

I am a Funeral Director and a Funeral Home owner. I would love to answer all of your questions. This is an industry that I love and gives me the unique ability to serve many families through a very stressful time. The pay is not high due to the corporate giants who answer to thier stock holders. As an small independent funeral home we pay directors more, due to the fact that we can not offer the best of Health Insurance due to cost. Please feel free to contact me at any time, I am an open book to you or anyone else.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:35:14 +0000

@Lexy I’m with you about the young obits. Totes sad to read when young kids die of cancer or young adults die in auto accidents. Life = depressing.

By: Lexy

Lexy — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:30:22 +0000

I read the obits too… I like to read about what people did with their lives you know “she loved her garden” or “He was passionate about model airplanes” and I also like imagining people’s weddings from a long time ago.

But the obits of young (not elderly) people make me super sad so I usually just glance at them.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:56:14 +0000

I read them & my grandmother reads them, too. She says things like, “Lots of cancer & lots of heart disease, this week.”

By: hr wench

hr wench — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:47:58 +0000

I like to read the obits. People think it is weird, but you can learn a lot from those things. They are interesting.

Or maybe I just have way too much time on my hands…

By: Laurie

Laurie — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:13:20 +0000

@cols You can tell that I was too cheap to pay for HBO for many years.

@lea I can’t imagine that it’s cheap to run a funeral home. Lots of chemicals, compliance issues, etc. I can only imagine that it’s a tough ethical decision for funeral directors to hike prices to keep up with the cost of goods. I would suggest charging on a sliding scale: if your family is decent and doesn’t cause too much trouble, we’ll give you a reasonable price. You’re family wants drama? That’s double.

By: Lea

Lea — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:18:33 +0000

I used to be an obituary writer (for the last newspaper I worked for), and I’m still good friends with one of the funeral directors I met through my job. Yes, there absolutely is a corporatist movement afoot — lots of small, family-owned funeral homes have been purchased by big corporate entities. I think that part of it may be the expense that comes from running a funeral home that encourages people to sell; that, and if no one in the family wants to keep the business going.

My friend was an excellent funeral director, but I think he burned out on dealing with the impossible families. I was an obit writer for about 15 months, and the impossible people were REALLY impossible! I’m not surprised that there isn’t more money in the field, either, given that funerals are expensive and it’s got to be difficult to feel inclined to build in a large profit margin when dealing with people who are grief-stricken.