HW 50- First Third of Grave Matters posts

Precis

One of the more important rules of working in a funeral home: don't let your guard down. In other words, don't feel sympathetic to those who have lost loved ones. For where there is lost, there is gain, in profit. Always keep the bigger picture fresh in your mind, when you are in the business of caring for the dead, you must show what you care for your customers, while really you are caring for what comes out of the grave you are setting up, profit.

Quotes

- "In keeping with our high standard in living, there should be an equally high standard in dying" ( pg. 16)

- "Embalming serves no useful purpose in preventing the transmission of communicable disease" (pg 63)

- "Parents tend to want to pamper their children right up to the end; as a sign of love and a sense of guilt, regardless of what they can afford"


Reading just the first third of "Grave Matters" really opens my eyes and thoughts on the realistic process that those who are in the business of caring for the dead go through on a daily basis. I mean, its actually pretty obvious that these people could possibly be sympathetic to one specific party of customers. Being that they do this for a living, its more of a list of chores to do around the house. Meet greivers, make arrangments, set everything up, stand by as greivers mourn for their lost loves, wrap funeral and everything else up, collect profit, move on. While it may seem kind of messed up that these people don't really care about your feelings, I feel that by reading this book, I can understand why they feel that way and therefore can't blame them.