Egads! Funerary Vultures...

[intertext]

I got a phone call this morning from a representative of the funeral home that dealt with my mother's remains. In soft, solemn tones, she said that she remembered me expressing some interest in the Memorial Society and prepayment of funeral services, and did I wish to meet with her to discuss this some time. I tried to fob her off tactfully by pointing out that I felt that a month after my mother's funeral was a bit soon to be thinking about such things, and in any case I didn't remember saying any such thing. She then pressed the point and asked if she should phone back in two or three months. At this point I told her sharply that I found it highly inappropriate to be soliciting over the phone and hung up on her. Jeez. But why the encounter should have left me shaky and upset, I'm not sure. Honestly, though. Talk about vultures preying on the weak...

Comments

[gillo]

When you feel up to it, why not write a letter to the management of said funeral home explaining why you will not be encouraging any of your friends and acquaintances to use their services in future.

Bloody vultures.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Jessica Mitford, thou shouldst be living at this hour.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Ha! How true :)

[ellarien]

That's downright tacky, and I'm sorry you had to deal with it.

[umbrella-term.livejournal.com]

I know how that feels. It seems like everything is just a business, even dying. It's grotesque, and I'm sorry that you had to endure such madness. I think you might feel as shaken as you do because right now is a time of extreme vulnerability--I remember thinking the light turning red after my great-grandmother's passing was some sort of personal attack!

[lilyfriend.livejournal.com]

That's on a completely new level of inconsideration. My grandparents founded the Memorial Society to help avoid funeral homes exploiting people in that position. Sad to see it being used against people like that.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and what annoyed me was she was doing it in the _guise_ of the Memorial Society, but it was quite clear that what she wanted was for me to sign up for a nice expensive plot somewhere, and a mink-lined casket... And I may have been out of it (it was the day after my mother died, after all) but I wasn't THAT non compos mentis that I would have forgotten asking someone to call me with information. I wouldn't have - I hate phone calls even for things that I _do_ want to talk about...