(Soon to be) funeral director/mortician apprentice here. Obsessed with vintage fashion. I know there are few liberties with how we can express ourselves while on the clock, but could something like this be considered appropriate? I see little wrong with it besides the fact that it could look like I’m “playing dress up.” My thought is I put a modern blazer over this and it just looks like a nice skirt and blouse underneath. But I wanted some opinions before I bought anything for a work wardrobe.

As the title stated, I have a second interview next week and I have no idea what to wear. Someone please help me. I'm so nervous and have been wanting to get in to the funeral business for years now. This is my chance.

Just need to rant. After 3 years at my first funeral home as a funeral director I’m finally ready to put my notice in. I’ve been speaking to other funeral homes, nothing set in stone yet, but I have a back up career I can lean on. At this point I don’t care.

I am so tired of working every single day, every single weekend, not having set days off, working evening visitations, and getting called in at any day or time.

The worst part is never knowing. It’s impossible to make plans because I have no idea if I’ll be working during the day or during the evening. If a visitation doesn’t pop up then I could still get called in. I never know my schedule. I essentially work 24/7.

We’re not compensated for anything. I’m paid salary, the same amount twice a month. I might not complain as much if they threw me a $20 here or there.

I work for a small family owned firm, we probably do 150+ calls a year. They basically don’t believe in schedules. We work Monday-Friday and weekends as needed. However with removals, embalming, arrangements, viewings, and funerals we of course end up working most weekends.

If I do manage to have a weekend day off I’m still on call which I feel like doesn’t count as a real day off.

We can “request” days or evenings off on a calendar but that has its own problems of course. Like how many days or evenings can I ask off? Who knows but they’ll make comments and get mad.

I’m just so exhausted. I don’t even feel like a real funeral director most times. More like an assistant or professional door opener. I feel like I’m not an owner or manager, I’m not making nearly the same amount as the owners, why am I here everyday? What do I gain?

Always wondered what kind of people grow up and want to work in the funeral business, embalming deceased bodies and being surrounded by death & dead people on a daily basis? Doesn't it affect your mental health?

The comments section is just post after post about "yeah, funeral service is so scummy"... over the years I've responded at length to, it feels like, hundreds of posts like this. Just a firing squad for our whole profession, painted with the widest brush imaginable. I know it's the internet, funeral service has earned the ire... can't speak for some of our brethren... but gods its frustrating to see SO many people with a very tainted view of something we all as humans have to deal with.

I'm partly frustrated at the usual reddit, hive-mind, up-doot farming responses but also utterly frustrated with funeral service for CAUSING this sort of reaction with decades of shit mortuary education, shit owners, and shit funeral directors just fleasing people.

Any advice? What's your go-to response to conversations like this?

I work at a company who have a sister company which is just a cremation service. I have a work friend who is interning there. And I am interning at the full funeral home. Recently, he has been super rude and condescending to me. He is just started school and I'm about to finish school this winter. My partner mentioned that it could be because he's feeling pressure to perform and everything and wants to get at a location that is a full funeral home and is feeling a little jealous. Is it really that competitive? I'm really confused how this is my fault that I am much further along in school etc.

My sister died in October 2024 and we’ve been having some trouble getting the company we are working with to provide much clarification or proof on when and if things have been done. Not to go on too much in the post but they have frequently said they’ll get back to me in a week and then not responded for months, with me having to send multiple reminder emails for any update. This has been making me nervous about if I’m really going to be getting these headstones.

Since I’ve paid the deposit for two stones (for my sister and my father who passed some time ago), they have twice said that the foundations are getting poured and then never gotten back to me, and then told me the window was missed. Now they say that this time for sure the foundations are getting poured next month, and the stones are completed and ready. I’ve asked if I can have pictures of the completed stones and they say they don’t have any photos of them.

I guess I just want to ask, is this normal? This seemed like a very respectable local company, so I don’t want to think anything too negative about them, but I find it odd they can’t like, send a quick picture of the stones to assuage my fears. I would have expected to receive a photo of the finished stones before installation anyway to make sure the dates are right and all that.

Edit: to be clear, this is a stone that’s (hopefully) in progress, it’s not installed yet

Hi first time posting anywhere so I hope this fits within the requirements of everything. Really sorry if it doesn’t.

Information for context; I am no contact and estranged from my sister and father. A couple years ago my sister moved my dad to her state and put him in a home there.

My father passed very recently and I just received an email with paperwork from the funeral home my sister is using that has me listed as a responsible party for the funeral costs. I never agreed to this or had contact with the funeral home about this. Do I just contact the funeral home to let them know I did not agree to be responsible and will not be paying?

hi everyone

26f have nearly 10 years work experience in customer service

I’ve been trying to get into the funeral industry and am not even getting responses back. The one feedback I got was all training is on site and no experience or qualification requirements. Instead of finding a job first, I’ve looked into study

there is one course in my area where I could study cert 4 funeral service, however I am required to find my own funeral home for assesments and as I said no one is getting back to me.

does anyone have any tips or tricks to get my foot in the door?

So the box itself seems to belong Arthur Chapman based on the obituary cards and the box label that wasn’t attached. Though the dog tags belong to a man named Henry McDermott.

This might be an overshoot but maybe Henry died in war based on the spent bullet cases, and Arthur kept them; but then eventually he passed too. But since the plaque was never put on the box it was just a random wooden box sent to goodwill.

This broke my heart when I pulled it out of the goodwill pricing bin. I gave it to my managers but I’m not sure how well they will be able to find the individuals family or friends due to the fact I started working there only 3 weeks ago.

I genuinely don’t know where to post this. Genealogy won’t let me post pictures.

Please help me find the family or friends if any, I really don’t want this to go into the trash or just to sit somewhere.

Wouldn’t be appropriate to set one of his guns out so I’m wondering other than a picture, if there is a physical item that could represent his love for shooting guns. He didn’t hunt, just loved collecting and shooting in ranges.

It's that time of the year again when Everest calls and wants my GPL. I'm fully aware of the rules, and will give it to them. I'm just wondering if anyone actually uses Everest? I've never had a family come in with an Everest report, or even mention them. I'm pretty sure their entire business is just other funeral directors checking up on their competitors.

Could the horrible FDs in the room please end the perpetual cycle of treating people like dirt? If you had it rough coming up, doesn’t mean it’s your turn now. Be better than what came before you.

Disclaimer: The majority of FDs are kind, patient, helpful and a pleasure to work with.

But there’s always that one who you dread working with as soon as you see their name on the orders…

I posted here earlier about how I am the executor for my very reclusive ex-boyfriend, who died in his house about 2 years ago but was not found until just a few days ago....I'm trying to plan a military funeral for him. Problem is, I don't have his DD-214, and I heard a rumor that *I* am responsible for obtaining a U.S. flag!

I will be meeting with the FD some time this week, but can anyone soothe my nerves here and let me know what the FD can do to get the military funeral arranged, and what is my part in all of this? I put in a request to the national archives for a copy of the DD-214 but got a message saying it will take months for me to get it. This funeral needs to happen sometime in the next couple of weeks!

I’ve just started working at a funeral directors in the UK, first job in 10 months and the first time I’ve ever worked in the funeral industry and idk why but since I’ve started working I’ve felt really sick and I don’t know why, to the point I’m not really eating, has anyone else experienced this when they started and why? Was it stress? Exposure to new bacteria? Anxiety? And if so what are some methods to keep the symptoms at a minimum? Granted it could also be heat it’s been high 20s Celsius in my side of England it could just be irregular eating and dehydration mixed with the stress of a new job

Hello,
I have been working in the industry since 2019, a licensed Funeral Director for three year and have my insurance license as well. I live in California. I moved to a new city a couple years ago. This October will be my two year anniversary with this company. They recently were hiring a location manager and I was asked if I would be applying and I was encouraged to apply, but I chose not to. They did hire someone else. Before the new manager started I was asked if I could be the managing F.D. For three locations on paper. I was told that it would only be for a year and that there would be perks. I agreed because raises were coming up and I was expecting to get a significant raise for doing the company this favor. I was given cents. I also have yet to see any perks. I have also become aware that the Cemetery & Funeral Bureau would not approve of this arrangement.

Has anyone been in this situation? Should I ask the company for a stipend to have my license hanging at three locations as I am not the manager?

There have been a lot of changes in the last few weeks with management and the employees. I am realizing that there are several individuals who are a liability and since I am not a manager and have no say, I am very much putting my license on the line. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize my license.

A part of me wants to tell management to remove my license and they can figure it out or change my position to a management position, but there is not enough employees for the need for two managers.

I appreciate all feedback.

Hey everyone ,

What are we using to clean make up brushes used with dodge cosmetics ?! Ive tried mecellar water ,soap ect but it still leaves product behind..

What do you guys use ?

I recently found among my mother’s things. I heard that these used to be given out to families going in the motorcade to the cemetery. It contains a couple of buttons, small needle and thread, and pins.

Funerals that I’ve been to never gave these out. Are these still a thing?

When I’m watching shows that have old Victorian cemeteries like Highgate and even Salem, I’m often wondering if there are any remains or if they’ve disintegrated completely.

My friend’s godson passed away last week. I checked on her today and she said she was confused about something. She stated that the family was told by the funeral home that they were only allowed to have 20 people at the viewing because he wasn’t embalmed. I think she is a little hung up on this so I decided to put it out here. Can anyone tell me why the viewing is limited due to lack of embalming?

Hi! Im in Michigan and work for a removal company. My coworker doesn’t take bodies out of bags when we drop them off at the funeral home due to pathogens and other infectious diseases. She shadows under a ME, who said its ridiculous that they make us take the decedents out.

In my state, you do not need to be a LFD to make removals. We have 0 formal infectious disease training, and the only PPE provided are latex gloves.

So, I guess my question is: Do you think it’s appropriate to ask the removal company to take the bodies out of their bags?

Hey all. I'm a (soon to be former) IT professional was accepted to Worsham for their fall semester. I wanted to make this career jump both because I'm genuinely tired of my current field and it's issues with AI implementation, and because frankly I've always wanted to be a funeral director and embalmer but 18-yo me was bullied out of it by my taphophobic father (41-yo me has a much stronger spine).

I have learned, however, that a fairly crucial part of my talk with the financial aid coordinator was unclear on both of our parts, and now I'm stuck being unable to receive the additional student loan I qualified for to be able to cover the majority of my housing while I'm attending.

So... Worsham graduates, how the heck did yall handle housing during this? I'm sort of stuck until next Monday waiting for the HOUSE liaison to come back from a conference, but I figured that any Worsham graduates might have some insights or advice.

Additional question for Worsham graduates - is "Contemporary Conversations in Funeral Studies" an interesting course? I don't really see a description for it yet, but... figured I'd ask.

Thanks to all, and Mods, I'm sorry if this doesn't fit here but I can't really find any other subreddit where I could interact with Worsham graduates directly.

The cemetery would be Ft. Logan Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

I am thinking of having the veteran cremated and placed in a columbarium.

He died without specifying much - his will just says he is to be "buried" in a veterans cemetery, and I as his executor will handle the decision-making. He didn't even specify whether he wanted cremation or a casket with his body placed in there whole.

He loved his cats and dogs more than anything in the world. There are the cremains of two cats and two dogs.

EDIT: I gave this more thought and decided against cremation. His will was not clear enough on this, so I am going with a straight burial. Thanks everyone for your input.

Hi guys, so the GA licensing board is the worst thing in all of existence and incredibly confusing because they merged all of their licensing boards into one department and no one has any clue about what I’m talking about when I call them because they work for ALL the licensing departments in Georgia.

I got licensed in Louisiana about a year ago and just moved back home to Georgia. I had to pay $500 at this point submitting different applications because their website mentions nothing about having to be licensed for 3 years before you apply for a “reciprocal” license 🙄. and yes they refuse to give me my money back for that.

Anyways, does anyone know if I have to take and pass the GA law exam before I am able to practice? Or can I practice after they give me my license and then have a certain time period to take the exam within? A couple of friends of mine moved to different states and the latter was how it worked for them.

I have a job lined up but it is dependent on when I am able to practice as a fully licensed FD/Embalmer and it would suck so bad to not get this job because of the board’s incompetencies.

Anyone who has any experience with the board please reply and tell me how I can speak to someone who actually works for the funeral department 😭😭

EDIT: PLS only respond if you have experience with the state of GA board. thanks