Anyone who knows the funeral industry knows that large swathes of it regard evolution with fear and loathing. Last week’s blog about funeral directors who post their prices on their website will have affected a good many of their fellows with F & L. It is beneath the dignity of a funeral director to resort to open competition on price and service.
We know all about funeral directors’ amour propre here at the GFG where, despite our support for brilliant boutique undertakers, the trade body which represents the independents, SAIF, will not speak to us. Consumer scrutiny, even when favourable, would seem to be an affront to the dignity of this secular priesthood.
A common affliction of funeral directors is self-importance. When this self-importance is piqued the effects can be revealing, and not in a good way. For an especially revealing example, pop across to the Lovingly Managed blog here. Prepare to be horrified.
I wouldn’t mind putting money on who this is. Don’t worry. His bark is much worse than his bite. I could tell you a whole lot of other things about him, but, to quote LM on their blog, I’m not prepared to stoop to that level.
Yup. Horrified!
We have broad shoulders. I would hope that he is/they are in a minority, otherwise my faith in humankind would take a knock.
Change is knocking on everyone’s door, embracing it would be much easier
Ah, it sounds like our American undertakers’ habits are crossing the Atlantic. Ugh. I’m sorry to say but in my experience this is the common, majority reaction of funeral directors in the US. Self-importance doesn’t begin to adequately describe it.
Good of you to drop by, Josh. I am sure you are right – up to a point. The professionalisation of undertakers in your country gave them a status which some of ours have looked to with envy. Status anxiety is always going to afflict corpsegatherers; that’s universal. I wonder to what extent the power relationship between undertakers and the bereaved is another corrupting factor. And we reflect that self-importance is a smokescreen for stupidity. Having said which, a lot of Brit undertakers are incredibly nice, decent folk who disdain the posturings of the panjandrums. In them repose our hopes for a brighter future.