Would you ever consider being an Undertaker?

07-01-2017 06:37PM

I don't think I'd be able for the upselling aspect. Flogging people expensive stuff they don't need.

Embalming I'd find interesting but as it's effectively beautician work on a dead person, I reckon it'd become tedious. That and constantly trying to recreate a look on the face or such and the fear of accidentally making them look wrong and upsetting family.. You'd want to be getting decent cash for it as it'd be a long day.

That said, given the chance, I'd happily help remove dead bodies from houses, accidents etc. I don't think that kinda stuff would bother me at all really. Once you learn the right way to move/carry the bodies without breaking things and the likes you'd be laughing.

Because there are a lot of people who feel they can't do that work; I'd jump at it if it was well paid. Would be great part time would. Would definitely do it.

I'm in drogheda and the only funeral home that I can think of locally are called Townleys. But they seem to have a lot of staff so id say I'd be wasting my time trying to get in the door (family business, too) but if I thought I could get a few days a week with them I'd be down like a light! :-)

munster87 · 07-01-2017 06:39PM

Hammer89 wrote: »

I would but I can't roll my heads up into my head.

How many heads do you have?

infogiver · 07-01-2017 06:44PM

cajonlardo wrote: »

Here is a strange one for you. Day after my Grandmother was buried my father walked into the undertakers with cash to pay. He was sent away with the money and told to come back "when everything has settled down"

I haven't a clue but I reckon it was a case of them knowing they would get the cash but being genuinely decent people didn't want to see my Father stuck until affairs were sorted.

No it's just that they hadn't made up the bill yet.

hannible the cannible · 07-01-2017 06:52PM

Graces7 wrote: »

May such supportive traditions last forever

/ Like when my mother was killed and all the houses in the avenue closed their curtains to show respect.

How did she died I'm curious to know

07-01-2017 06:58PM

Webt to wprk for kilkenny county council one year on student programme for aummer, thought id be picking rubbish up around town, they swnt me over to graveyard to help dig graves and maintain the place. Scary staring down into a plot at a casket thats veen there for years. They gave me a leaf blower to go on my back, so I thought I was a ghostbuster.

Went to australia and ended up getting a job cold calling for funeral insurance....hard sell.

My roomate wowwasrks in the hospital as a cleaner, was on a session with a lad, then two days later he found out he was dead by seeing his body in the morgue.

But to answer the ops question no id never be an undertaker, I have a big big fear of death!

BorneTobyWilde · 07-01-2017 06:59PM

Depends on how slow the car is ahead

mad m · 07-01-2017 07:10PM

Here is my take on it, it's a 365/7 days a week job. When you ring the funeral home they do come out quickly, very compassionate. It's their business and act very professional.

But one thing is most people don't ask what are the costs involved at the very start. A friend of mine questioned a local undertakers price and said he would go elsewhere and he got nearly a 1000 euro off price. It's a business like any other so it's ok to haggle.

9or10 · 07-01-2017 09:09PM

hannible the cannible wrote: »

How did she died I'm curious to know

Is that just prurience or are you compiling a report?

Bit of respect eh?

Rubberlegs · 07-01-2017 09:31PM

Sirsok wrote: »

Webt to wprk for kilkenny county council one year on student programme for aummer, thought id be picking rubbish up around town, they swnt me over to graveyard to help dig graves and maintain the place. Scary staring down into a plot at a casket thats veen there for years. They gave me a leaf blower to go on my back, so I thought I was a ghostbuster.

Went to australia and ended up getting a job cold calling for funeral insurance....hard sell.

My roomate wowwasrks in the hospital as a cleaner, was on a session with a lad, then two days later he found out he was dead by seeing his body in the morgue.

But to answer the ops question no id never be an undertaker, I have a big big fear of death!

That reminds me of hearing when my uncle was a gravedigger years back. He dug the grave that bit too deep and when he jumped down to test the depth he jumped straight through the coffin below and was covered in a cloud of dust.
A woman my mother knew had a big patch of snow white hair. When asked how she got it, she had been a cleaner in a mortuary and a body had sat up bolt upright and scared the crap out of her turning her hair white overnight. Something to do with air leaving the body and forcing it into a sitting position.
I can remember thinking my Dad had come back to life as soon after he died he pulled a face and moved.
But as they say more reason to be afraid of the living than the dead

.

hannible the cannible · 07-01-2017 09:48PM

9or10 wrote: »

Is that just prurience or are you compiling a report?

Bit of respect eh?

All the respect in the world but she pointedly mentioned it 3 times in the thread , no need to be so sensitive , eh ?

07-01-2017 09:53PM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

There is actually decent money to be made in it. It doesn't require a four degree or anything.

We'd a death in our family recently and I got talking the two guys when they brought the coffin home. They were a father and son operation. I'd be like this now but I asked them and they told me that they made €90,000 profit in 2015. This is a small operation in a small town.

Can you imagine the money the big firms in the big towns and cities are making?

In the cases where a coffin has to be closed for the wake i can imagine it would be tough (for me personally anyway) to have to look at a mangled corpse especially if you know the person. If you are desensitised to that type of thing though then it might be a good career choice.

A bit of etiquette involved in undertaking too id imagine.

tomwaterford · 07-01-2017 09:53PM

hannible the cannible wrote: »

All the respect in the world but she pointedly mentioned 3 times in the thread , no need to be so sensitive , eh ?

Plz tell me hannible the cannible is not becoming an undertaker :eek:

hannible the cannible · 07-01-2017 09:59PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

Plz tell me hannible the cannible is not becoming an undertaker :eek:

I'd only go for the bits not seen

razorblunt · 07-01-2017 10:06PM

It's a job at the end of the day, I'd consider myself quite good at switching after after work but then again I'm in an office. The same thing can be said about doctors, nurses, emergency services etc.

The one thing I'd have trouble with is those fúckers at the removal who don't leave when requested to give the family some privacy, always hanging around to see the reaction of the family members. I'd have them all tossed out.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 08-01-2017 05:37AM

razorblunt wrote: »

It's a job at the end of the day, I'd consider myself quite good at switching after after work but then again I'm in an office. The same thing can be said about doctors, nurses, emergency services etc.

The one thing I'd have trouble with is those fúckers at the removal who don't leave when requested to give the family some privacy, always hanging around to see the reaction of the family members. I'd have them all tossed out.

Noticed that too. After the Rosary the undertakers had to usher non family members out of the room when the coffin was going to be closed.

That's a very private moment. Only family members should be present.

Graces7 · 08-01-2017 08:57AM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Noticed that too. After the Rosary the undertakers had to usher non family members out of the room when the coffin was going to be closed.

That's a very private moment. Only family members should be present.

Hate the way a a family funeral is a eg daily mass. IfI see a coffin in front of the altar I leave. Should be private.

Graces7 · 08-01-2017 08:59AM

Someone mentioned a death grant. We had that in the UK and the 40 sterling came with a note to please return any you did not use.... although that was many years ago, still...

infogiver · 08-01-2017 09:56AM

Graces7 wrote: »

Hate the way a a family funeral is a eg daily mass. IfI see a coffin in front of the altar I leave. Should be private.

Mass cannot be private.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 08-01-2017 09:59AM

Graces7 wrote: »

Hate the way a a family funeral is a eg daily mass. IfI see a coffin in front of the altar I leave. Should be private.

There is no such thing as a private mass in a church. You may have an individual mass but you cannot prevent people entering the church.

In many ways a funeral at the usual scheduled mass means the whole community is there to pray for, and with the family, which many would consider a blessing.

Graces7 · 08-01-2017 12:47PM

Mia Damp Bleach wrote: »

There is no such thing as a private mass in a church. You may have an individual mass but you cannot prevent people entering the church.

In many ways a funeral at the usual scheduled mass means the whole community is there to pray for, and with the family, which many would consider a blessing.

While I know all that of course, I do not agree and we do things very differently in the Anglican Church and with great respect for the privacy of the family in their grief.

Thn the Sunday after the funeral, family can attend an Evensong that remembers the lost one within the community,

Different ways for different traditions. All deeply respectful which is what counts.

So I keep my own ways of this; when there a coffin, I pray, then leave the cathedral.

Over and out from me on this; there was a huge debate on this on the US forum I am on and the same ideas etc.

9or10 · 08-01-2017 07:33PM

Saw a docu a while back about a person who's job it was to look after families of deceased.

She said that its obviously sad because even though you didn't know the person, their relatives are visibly upset. She said what she found most upsetting was when the families thank her.

Thank her for basically making a cup of tea - but how someone possibly going through the worst day of their life could have the human dignity to thank the people that had looked after them in whatever little way.

ChikiChiki · 09-01-2017 12:34AM

judeboy101 wrote: »

Most undertakers like to use gravediggers they can depend on to dig a proper grave that wont collapse and will look tidy. The amount of uncle joes and cousin michaels who cant build a box for the dirt or line a grave.

Me & the brothers (all office folk, not a building bone in any of us) built a box for the auld lad a couple of weeks after we buried him. Thought it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours working together. We were standing there proud of our work until the caretaker came and told us we were about a foot off centre. Had take the frigging thing up again and move it to the proper spot. :-)

Would you ever consider being an Undertaker?

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