Conference hydra::dejavu

    What a novel idea.  :-)

    I wonder what a funeral home would be like with this guy hiring the
    staff.

    Jamie.

	Jamie, only you would wonder that. ;-)
	I'll take it as your attempt at humor.  :-)
	
	.0 makes a lot of sense to me! 'Course, it could be cuz it
	describes me ;-) and who knows, I cud be lookin' for a job
	someday. :-\
	
	Jay

    
    Jamie,  it would probably be like the movie "Little shop of horrors"..
    
    Adele
    

    
    It could also be Mardi Gras.  *<(8%)  Naw O'leans French Quarter style!
    
    Funerals are generally far too somber here anyway...
    
    Cindy

    I'll introduce myself and also try to answer Jamie's question at the
    same time. My name is Rick Lamont, I work and live in Massachusetts.
    
    In answering Jamie's question: I took a college course a few years
    back called "Death and Dying". It's a wonderful course and I think
    everyone should have something like it in school to better deal with
    the subject. We went on a "field trip" one night to a crematorium and
    then to a Funeral Parlor. The head of the funeral parlor took us on a
    tour and during our walk through the place he had a great sense of
    humor bordering a bit on the nutty!
    
    I really believe that people in a business like that need to be a tad
    nutty on the inside to be able to handle what they go through. Don't
    judge a book by it cover :^)
    
    Peace

    I do know one person who worked in a funeral home and he is quite a fun
    guy. He did show us round the funeral home, in Atlanta and most of the
    people there were quite cheerful. However when there were any grieving
    relatives around they were quite somber.

    I just have this tendency to push an idea to the extreme limits and see
    what happens. The idea of a funeral home staffed entirely by wacky
    people made me smile.

    Jamie.

    My cousin is a mortician and he has a terrific sense of humor!  Then
    again, I think one would have to...
    

    
    I do believe they were referring to you as well in .0, Jamie.
    
    With ideas like that, you fit the description completely.
    
    Cindy

    might explain my family (Dad's side were caretakers for a cemetary -
    they lived IN the cemetary).  We learned to respect the dead, but it
    didnt stop us from playing hide-n-seek or other twilit games among the
    tombstones and such.
    
    Beth

    Bit behind, but anyway:
    
    RE: .0
    
    	Nice idea, but in today's economy, good luck in trying to get the
        concept initiated.  In this organization,  we know bullets #2, 4, 5, 
    	and 6 are out (not a slam, just a statement).  Maybe when we get
    	profitable enough again, there will be excess to allow for some
    	craziness.  But, until then, it's "mature", "adult" business-first,
    	blah, blah, blah.
    
    RE:  Morticians, etc.
    
    	I've had the privilege of knowing three in my time so far.  Two
    	were totally opposite the stereotyped somber, no-fun person, 
    	except during and around bereived (sic?).  The other, well, he fit 
    	the stereotyped somber, macabre image perfectly.
    
    -Bill  

    I've known one mortician well. He was a girlfriend's dad when I was in
    high school. He used to let us have pajama parties in the viewing room
    when he had no, er, custumers.
    
    We loved it because he was wacky, and always did something bizarre when
    we were there to scare the stuffing out of us! He was not stereotypical
    at all. (of course we also loved it for telling ghost storeis, and
    because the carpet was so thick in there, you could sleep on the floor
    VERY comfortably! Assuming you slept At all that is!)
    
    Of course if someone died, the party would either be moved into the
    living quarters, to another house, or cancelled. Made things
    interesting for sure. 
    
    Y

    By pure coincidence, I met an ex-mortician this weekend (it was at,
    by a further coincidence, a small conference on the theme of
    Parapsychology and Thanatology -- thanatology being the study of death;
    though her attendance had almost nothing to do with her previous
    employment).  She agreed strongly that morticians tend to have an
    intense and active sense of humor.  She compared it to the syndrome
    which formed the basis of the M*A*S*H movie and TV show -- bizzare
    humor as a defense against the stress of the job.

    She thought that that was particularly true where she worked -- they
    got a lot of "indigents" as "clients".  Frequently the signs of their
    pitiful life were all to evident, and not infrequently, it was a long
    time before their bodies, despite their exposure, would be found.  Very
    stressful -- and she said you never really did become used to it at
    those extremes, though you learned to cope (including with humor).

                                     Topher