Professional Image or not?

Rick Franklin

PCS Member
Just returned home from my cousin Susan's funeral. She was born with Downs Syndrome and lived to be a month shy of 61. The past few years she has dealt with Alzheimers disease. Of course, any time Im at a funeral, I have to check out the hearse. Aside from it being one of those hideous looking Lincoln MKT bodied coaches, what really stood out was that the coach obviously had not been washed and looked as if it hadnt seen a coat of wax since it was new. On a black car, thats pretty noticeable. Cant blame the weather for the lack of cleanliness; it was 50 and sunny here today. To the funeral directors in the group: your thoughts?
 
Sorry to hear about your family's loss, Rick.

That's unfortunate about the coach too. Some might not mind, but I think attention to detail for a ceremony like a funeral is important.
 
I have attended a couple of funerals at SCI owned funeral homes, and in both instances, the hearse was in less than clean condition. On one hearse, the whitewalls hadn't been cleaned in such a long time, that they looked like black wall tires. This was at their facility in Worcester MA, which has since closed. At my brothers funeral, the coach was in dire need of being cleaned properly, and the limo that I rode in, had bad shocks, and was extremely uncomfortable to ride in. The passenger side mirror was duct taped onto the door, but it was still falling off. The driver didn't have a GPS, and got lost on the way back to the funeral home. The building itself was new, so it hadn't had a chance to deteriorate, however, if they take care of their properties like they take care of their cars, it will be like the Worcester MA property. So run down, that families stopped using their services. All that I can think of is that they are more interested in profits, then their facilities, equipment, or reputation.
 
I have attended a couple of funerals at SCI owned funeral homes, and in both instances, the hearse was in less than clean condition. On one hearse, the whitewalls hadn't been cleaned in such a long time, that they looked like black wall tires. This was at their facility in Worcester MA, which has since closed. At my brothers funeral, the coach was in dire need of being cleaned properly, and the limo that I rode in, had bad shocks, and was extremely uncomfortable to ride in. The passenger side mirror was duct taped onto the door, but it was still falling off. The driver didn't have a GPS, and got lost on the way back to the funeral home. The building itself was new, so it hadn't had a chance to deteriorate, however, if they take care of their properties like they take care of their cars, it will be like the Worcester MA property. So run down, that families stopped using their services. All that I can think of is that they are more interested in profits, then their facilities, equipment, or reputation.
This was not an SCI firm. It is one of the oldest firms in the Seattle area and privately owned. I was quite surprised
 
a lot of car washes out there no excuse for them not being set up with one and run it threw a basic wash before a service.
 
This was not an SCI firm. It is one of the oldest firms in the Seattle area and privately owned. I was quite surprised

SCI doesn't own the rights to being the only poor quality funeral home operator. Unfortunately, many of today's funeral home owners and operators just don't have the same attention to details as was common place in the past. The SCI facility that is run by Richard Vyse is the total opposite of the two that I described, and he runs a well organized facility.
 
I think it's just another sign of a society loosing any acquaintance with manners.

It isn't just the Home, or the cars, it is reflected in the people showing up as well and Churches too. I've observed in the last 2 years a carpet in a Church room where a service was held with obviously old duct tape holding it together. The FD in that case was grabbing a catnap in the hall while his staff dealt with the mourners. He had arrived at the family home to pick mourners up in a Buick barely capable of holding 4 adults and tried stuffing 7 in. Fortunately other transportation was available.

In another situation I observed 2 ladies appropriately dressed arrive with husbands in tow. These were people in their 50s. OK, the ladies worked with the departed so they came to her funeral. The husbands must have been towed because they were in shorts, teeshirts and sneakers. Why they weren't left in the parking lot escapes me. Better yet, they could have stayed home or where ever their wives found them. Perhaps I'm old school but I live knowing my mom would nail me with a lightning bolt from above if I did that.

I know one FD who has mowed his own lawns since he built his facility in suit & tie because he wanted it done right. The man is in his 70s and still does.

Seeing the people attending funerals, including those who now find a "tailgater" with beer on tap in the parking lot I understand why FDs in this area still tell people State Law prohibits food and beverages in the Home. They and I know the Law changed in January 2017, but they probably don't need the mess or behavior sure to come.

I should probably also mention a group called Patriot Guard. If they are going to be involved is it unreasonable for them to rehearse for want of a better description? If they are going to participate is it too much to expect them to postpone beer & snacks until after the hearse has arrived at the Cemetery?

I gotta call it Society entropy. I might be wrong, but I don't think I am.
 
My senior year of college, '69/'70, I worked/lived at a funeral home in Iowa City, Iowa. They had a white '66 M/M combo and a beige '64 Series 75 limo that the apprentice FD was responsible for keeping washed and vacuumed. The garage had a floor drain so that the cars could be washed inside in the winter time. I don't remember ever seeing the cars dirty. How times change.
 
Lots of car washes in Seattle, I know, I was in the funeral and cemetery business there for 32 years. No excuse for a vehicle that is not up to standards. I will tell you that the car wash I used made the whitewalls dirtier after it went through. I would just pull back around and have them redo the whitewalls by hand. I always found that regular Comet and a scrub brush got them as clean as they could be. No excuse for not having a vehicle clean on the day of a service. I might suggest that you give the owner a call and mention how disappointed you were. It might cause him to stand back and take a better look, and perhaps offer an apology.
 
Reminds me of a funeral we assisted on recently. The funeral director drove the deceased in from out of town. It was a church service the next day. We were asked to keep the deceased over night and assist at the service. They had a black 2009 Superior Cadillac funeral coach. The car really was not that dirty but they insisted on finding a car wash before they left for the church. The director and the car returned a few minutes later with the car sparkling. We used our service vehicle to assist them. We were in the lead so we left for the church. The church itself set off the road and there was a long lane leading back to it. There was a large mud puddle in the lane. We drove around it slowly but not the driver of the hearse. He drove right into it splashing all that mud all over both sides of that black hearse. There the car sat in front of the church covered in mud and nothing was ever said about cleaning it. I never could understand that one.
 
Lots of washing experience

I worked in a funeral home and I worked for two ambulance services that had livery service. I learned early how to prep a car for a service and it carries on with me on my daily drivers as well as my pro cars. If the boss didn't find something you missed the funeral director certainly will and that will be a lot worse.......at least back then.

Today doing things half a$$ed is fine. I require my officers to clean their cars at the end of every shift. Not drive through a car wash, clean them. I am still surprised at the sloppy work or the lack of knowledge. I told one officer to wax his car one day and he did........he waxed all of the flat black parts and parts that normally would not be waxed.
 
....... I told one officer to wax his car one day and he did........he waxed all of the flat black parts and parts that normally would not be waxed.

That is what happens when you ask someone to do something that they don't want to do. They deliberately screw it up, so you won't ask them to do it ever again. I have experienced the same thing many times, and I have learned that the only way to keep these type of people from screwing up, it to keep close scrutiny on them.
I had a plumber install a heating part on the furnace that the manufacturer specifically specified in the instructions manual that it be 3/4" copper pipe, and he deliberately, at least in my opinion, installed it with 1/2" copper pipe. I fought with his boss over it, and the boss, said that it wouldn't make any difference in the performance. I then asked him why the manufacturer would have been so very specific in the instructions, and got the deer in the headlights look. Decided that it wasn't worth the hassle, and that I will re-plumb it myself when I have time. Sometimes it just isn't worth the fight. If you want it done correctly the first time, don't walk away, but keep a constant vigil on them!

PS... if you double the size of a pipe, you will increase the volume by 4 times. In the instance of 1/2" vs. 3/4" pipe, it represents a 50% increase of volume capacity. The cost of the materials difference is about 25% more for the 3/4" pipe vs. the 1/2" pipe, or in this example probably less than a $20 bill!
 
I'm sitting here deciding if I should laugh or cry.
I keep reminding myself we now interface with 2 full generations of people rendered enstupified by taxpayer funded child conditioning systems.
I recall Jaque Cousteau explaining on Carson's show that prior to WW-2 France had a Cabinet Level Department of Instruction and people were educated in the schools. After the war there came a Department of Education, and virtually no instruction occurred. I could go on at length about union teachers in this town getting double digit raises twice over in exchange for guaranteeing results, and delivering lowered results without any repercussion. I'll just leave it that Rochester schools were just evaluated by the State in the bottom 3 nationwide.

Since Aristotle, if not before old men have complained of the pathetic quality of young men coming in to replace them. Somehow society has more or less survived, perhaps nature diminishes what is needed from successive generations, perhaps technology eliminates some needs, and society goes on. I don't know and I don't think I want to.

For 12 years I listened to more kids announce they didn't want to learn a job because if they knew the job they'd have to do it. I've been told to my face by a kid he had no intention of learning a procedure. OK, thanks for submitting your resignation, that will look better on your next job application. Little fellow was shocked. Yes, his mother did call to make threats. Bring it wasn't the answer she was looking for, it was the one she got.

Specifically relating to waxing the flat paint, equity forces me to ask; Did he know better? I can't recall seeing a kid waxing a vehicle in years, and the wax shelf in the auto store has shrunk at near the same rate as the flour section in the supermarket.

My hunch is we have reached a danger point in society. Very few people enter the labor market with the ability to do more than 1 task. NY State tells employers employees must be trained to perform every task and the training must be documented. NY Department of Labor sends forth goons to tell employers what they will agree to or be fined for not agreeing. NYState is not one bit happy with me teaching employers about thumb drive size recorders, especially when the employer sends the digital recording to the Department Inspector General.

Frankly, I'm glad I'm old, obsolete and out to pasture.
 
it is the old man's lament to dis the younger who don't know half what they forgot. but there has been a push in public education, not by teachers who today are not allowed to teach, just present the curriculum and document. but by administrators and above to do this modal admires by someone in the clouds. it's done in Europe today decide for the kid what they will be capable of then only teach them to do that and no more. most of us never even saw it coming.

but despite that what you have a old geese on staff for is to point out those little things, young people keep things in tune with the times old guys keep enough tradition to add dignity to the task. that job was normally to bosses.

but now there is no boss only a bottom dollar. :rolleyes:
 
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