PART TIME DEATH WORKER
I started working in the funeral industry at the end of November 2016. I am a Funeral Services Assistant and my job is to facilitate funerals from set up to burial. Everyday is different and you rarely know what to expect. I’ve meant to write a little about each service but I’m just now getting it together so I’ll make this one a sort of overview about my first couple months.
My first service was an urn/cremation burial and since have worked in-ground and crypt burials, Christian, Buddhist, and Catholic services, open casket viewings, infant and elderly funerals, etc. We bury rain or shine, so there have been hot, cold, and flooded cemetery days. A pack of coyotes live at the cemetery and randomly come out to hunt squirrels. If I’m there early enough in the morning, I’ll see them cruising around usually heading to their hidden spots for the day. There’s a pond with koi fish and too many ducks, nice spot to be buried.
The first time you go to the morgue is definitely the ultimate test to see if you can exist in the funeral industry, or at least in any position that directly deals with the deceased. The first time I walked in they were hoisting an older man into his casket via a ‘body lift’ - basically straps attached to the ceiling moved up and down by a motor. I was given a quick tour of the prep room and cooler. The cooler was a beautiful image - bodies fully wrapped in white cloths lying on metal shelves.
I saw a bit of the embalming process of a woman who died in a car accident across the street from the cemetery - kind of amusing, also sad. Her torso was open with the front part of her rib cage and organs removed. She had a broken neck and a bit of blood around her mouth. Her brain had also been removed, really fascinating to see a human body in that state.
So far, I love my job and am stoked to continue learning more about the death process. I think we should all learn a little more about what happens after the fact, considering everyone will experience death at some point.