28 Funeral Directors On The Craziest Thing To Happen To Them At Work
Article originally from: FuneralOne Blog
Now that 2013 is officially ending , it’s time to think about your most memorable moments this year.
And let’s face it, when you work at a funeral home, weird stuff happens. All the time. That’s why we asked funeral professionals “What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you at your funeral home?” on Facebook recently.
The answers were hilarious to say the least. So hilarious that we want to share them with you. Check out the craziest stories we’ve heard so far, then tell us about your own crazy experience in the comments below!
1. A not-so-deceased husband
“I’ve had a reverend talk about the deceased woman finally being with her dead husband who was actually alive and well and in the front row [at the service].”
– Marika M.
2. Funeral directors on the run
“When the funeral we were conducting decided to follow a hearse from another funeral. We had to chase them all the way to the church to retrieve them!”
– Andy P.
3. Cat lady
“A cat laying on its owner in the casket.”
– Debi I.
4. The circle of life
“One woman went into labor and gave birth at the funeral home!”
– Donice H.
5. Hidden cell phone
“Dropping my cell phone from my pocket into the casket while transferring the deceased. We didn’t even notice. I was on call that night, so I went out and got a new phone because I couldn’t find mine. Right before they closed the casket, the funeral director nonchalantly checked under the deceased person’s legs and… THERE IT WAS! Can you imagine if I didn’t get a new phone… it could have started ringing during the viewing! GASP!”
– Kimberly P.
6. Put up your dukes
“A fist fight…. but thankfully the law was there at the request of the family….whew!”
– Theresa W.
7. One tiny mix-up
“I went to the wrong viewing and didn’t know a single person there. I acted like I did though… I expressed my condolences, signed the guest book, even gave hugs! Then I shot outta there!”
– LaMona F.
8. Need an arm?
“While I was doing the hair on a body, alone, in a very old house that had been turned into a funeral home, an arm slipped off the gurney.”
-Janis R.
9. Ring around the Rosie
“A doll that sang “Ring around the Rosie” started singing inside the casket after we closed it for the funeral service. The deceased (whose name was Rosie) was a 45-year-old woman with Down’s Syndrome and it was her favorite doll. It went off randomly throughout the funeral service at least four or five times.”
– Pat F.
10. Angry walker
“My boss at the funeral home was caught in the crossfire of an angry grandmother throwing her walker.”
– Marika M.
11. One tiny mix-up
“Myself and one other lady were working the evening shift at the funeral home processing insurance claims, death certificates, etc. We were the only people in the building and could see each other’s desks across the room (this was before cell phones too). There was a knock on the door, and it was the police saying someone had dialed 911 from the funeral home…”
– Nancy M.
12. Sorry about your luck
“Most embarrassing moment… just last night, my husband, speaking with the widow says “sorry about your luck”. I called him out on it, he SHOULD of said ‘sorry for your loss’”.
– Tonyai E.
13. UFC breakout
“A professional UFC fighter passed away and I had to break up a fight out in front of the chapel between his sister and his ex-girlfriend. That was a fun one!”
– Taryn C.
14. Talk about bad timing
“Not while i was working, but when my father passed away, I was making his arrangements at another funeral home and the funeral director asked me out on a date. Just wasn’t the appropriate time.”
– Rachel K.
15. The wrong procession
“My husband was carrying the casket to the grave and I was trying to tell him that we didn’t know those people. We were following the wrong procession from the funeral home! Luckily, the right cemetery was just across the street.”
– Elsie G.
16. When tragedy strikes
“I was directing a funeral for an elderly man, and his wife died during the service. Right in the front row. No words could ever describe how I felt that day…”
– Julian J.
17. Strange traditions
“There was a Hmong service where they butchered a cow and gave everyone a piece of meat for luck.”
– Louana L.
18. Breaking and entering
“The craziest thing that ever happened to me at a funeral home was when someone tried to break into the funeral home in the middle of the night. I lived in the apartment right upstairs. People should really be more afraid of the living than the dead!”
– Danielle W.
19. A private chicken dinner
“The funeral home I worked for didn’t allow food. One night I was working a visitation and I walked into the men’s room to check on cleanliness and re-stock it. Suddenly I realized there was a guy sitting on the corner of the sink eating a chicken dinner. He looked at me and quickly said ‘I’ll put this away’. I just looked at him and said ‘if you have enough guts to eat in the bathroom, be my guest’.”
– Thomas L.
20. A funeral war zone
“When gunfire erupted at the committal service. I took cover behind a big black granite monument!!”
– Ralph T.
21. Impatient widower
“Having a widower ask me out while we were doing the committal service for his wife.”
– Vicki K.
22. Mistress at a funeral
“I picked up the mistress in the limo… instead of the widow.”
– Thomas S.
23. A mysterious limousine
“We had a funeral for a man who was a blue collar worker. He always said he never wanted fancy cars (i.e. limousines) in his funeral because he could never afford such cars. When he died, he left behind his wife and unmarried daughter. They said they would be too upset to drive themselves, so they asked for a small limousine. We led the procession to church and when we left the church, the limo would not start. The battery was completely dead. I apologized profusely, and secured a ride for them with the cousins behind the limo in the procession. When we returned from the cemetery after the funeral, the limo started right up.”
– Stephen H.
24. Slick move
“I got a brand new pair of tights (the really slick kind). I realized I forgot my underwear, so I just slipped them on over the tights. When I got to work, I started walking towards the backdoor where an older father-type co-worker was standing. When I got to the door, I felt something funny around my ankles and I looked down in horror to find my underwear around my ankles. The co-worker covered his eyes, I gasped, and I quickly slid them off my feet and in my pocket. We both started laughing so hard and swore to keep it a secret. Hey, if you can’t laugh at yourself…”
-Kimberly P.
25. Wrong time for a crash
“We had a car crash through the funeral home while leaving with a funeral!”
– Chuck T.
26. Angel lust
“Duck taping down ‘angel lust’. I looked at my co worker and said, ‘how much can they pay someone to do this?’ LOL.”
– Jeffrey J.
27. One pricey funeral
“Had a family member pull a pistol on me during arrangements because he thought the cost was too high on the casket he had chosen!!”
– Clay H.
28. Amazing grace
“I had a woman preach the funeral of her own son. After calling him a litany of derogatory names, she proceeded to call her boyfriend (who was younger than her deceased son) to the front podium, then asked me to ‘play that song’, and as I played Amazing Grace, she and her man slow danced in front of her son’s casket. No lie.”
– Dylan S.
What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you at work? Tell us in the comments below!
