“How Do You Handle Working at a Mortuary?” | A Labor Day Special
I often wondered what Labor Day was as a kid, what did I care, I got time off from school was my thinking. As I got older I began to understand the reasoning behind the three-day weekend. Other then the unofficial end-of-summer, this day was a chance to stop and celebrate the everyday heroes of this country. This country was not built by the Rockefellers or the Carnegies, it was built on the backs of the everyday laborer. These are the people that sacrifice for their families and their country to work as a team, to build or do something great. So as I take pause today to recognize this it makes me think of where I got my work ethic.
Unequivocally it was from my dad. My dad was not necessarily a laborer; he was a well-educated man graduating as an aeronautical engineer from Penn State. But he worked hard to be where he was and he always instilled in me the virtue of hard work as well as smart work. He did this not so much by telling me, although he did that as well, but by showing me. Getting up early everyday and working to achieve a worthy goal with a worthy team showed this to me. He almost never called in sick and ended up loyally working with one company almost his entire career. As a culture we worship our sports and movie stars, heck even some of us worship our politicians, but it’s the common man, men like my father who command our respect. It is these tireless men and women that labor & sacrifice daily to achieve a quality of life for their own family who we admire and celebrate today.
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Because of what I witnessed my work ethic was strong from a very young age. My first job was as a paperboy at 12 years old. I had arguably one of the hardest paper routs in San Diego due to the volume and hilly terrain. I threw the San Diego Union newspaper to 120 homes every single morning starting at 5am. I never took a day off, not even for Christmas.
To get my second job I lied about my age and was paid under the table at an Italian restaurant washing dishes at the age of 14. You talk about hard work. I kept in the restaurant business for many years laboring hard and working many long hours. I then moved into sales within the industry and got a taste of how life is working on 100% commission.
Finally, I landed here at O’Connor (I married the [then] bosses daughter) and the hard work did not stop. I wasn’t given any special treatment, believe me. I was on-call to assist with transfers of the deceased at night. Some nights getting 2-3 calls in the middle of the night and then having to wake up (if I went to sleep at all) to work a double shift from 8am to 9pm the next day.
But, through all of this I was equipped and trained to handle the privilege of helping families that were experiencing a death. A year I became a licensed funeral director and my life changed forever.
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This isn’t an easy job, as you can imagine, working with grieving people is sad and difficult. In the beginning I sometimes wondered if this really was my final destination. But as I began to experience the fulfillment that came from serving and creating a meaningful and healing event that helped people with their grief – I realized that this was it. As weird as it sounds, this is the most rewarding of all my jobs. To be able to come along side people and help them through what is the most difficult journey of their life is an honor and to this day it’s not something I take lightly.
22 years later I still think back and appreciate all I have learned from my co-laborers, we have become family, and I’m so blessed to be with them on a daily basis. Thank you Dad and thank you to all of the great American laborers that have made this country great, past, present and future. Happy Labor Day!
Where did you get your work ethic?
What was your first job?
What is rewarding about your work?
21 Comments
I love hearing your stories, Chuck! I think I got my work ethic from my Grandmother, she lived with us until she died in 2005, and I always always saw her working, even when she wasn’t working. She always did what needed to be done and was very selfless, which i admired. My first job was a “courtesy clerk” at Ralph’s where i mainly bagged groceries and collected carts from the parking lot. My work now is rewarding because I know how important it is that people’s deceased loved ones are handled with care, when they cannot do so themselves. The fact that I can be a part of it is very meaningful to me.
Thanks for sharing about your father. My father is one of my biggest drivers to succeed in life. He was successful at such a young age, and then taken too soon. So with that I strive everyday to live to a standard he would hold for himself. I only got to experience my father’s work ethic for a short 12 years. But in that time I understood how much time and effort he put into life to make sure the needs of his family were met. He was a hard
worker, go-getter, great listener, and all around caring man. I always try my best to walk in his footsteps. Although I may fall short sometimes, I will still always try.
My first job was a cashier at Mervyns when I was 16 years old. I worked there for a couple years part time while I went to school. This taught me responsibility, accountability, organizational skills, how to interact with customers, etc.
Working here at O’Connor Mortuary has been incredibly rewarding in the short time I have been here. I can see the relief in the family’s eyes, when an arrangement or service is done and has been exactly how the family pictured honoring there loved ones. I take great pride in being able to experience the amazing work the O’Connor team puts forth to make sure a families needs are met. This is the career path I have chosen and couldn’t be more excited to see how many families I can help in the process. Helping grieving families gives me a sense of worth. Because I have been in the same situation
I know first hand how impactful it can be having someone there to help with all the details in such a stressful point in time.
Hi Chuck,
What a nice read! What a nice tribute to your dad and his years of devoted service to his company. We have one thing in common as my dad was an aeronautical engineer working for Lockheed in Burbank. I remember him pulling my foot in the early morning to get up before he left for work at an hour that seemed earlier than when other dads left home.
Work ethic? We had a fairly rigid Saturday morning routine, when I was younger I remember going around the house in a fixed pattern dusting everything while my parents did the wash, vacuumed, etc. Same routine every Saturday. When I was older, I moved to cutting the grass. We had a fairly large lot front and back with orange trees, so I remember priming the gas engine, the smell of its smoke, in the early days almost losing control of it, and maneuvering around our orange trees without the mower pulling me into the water troughs dug around them.
The regular responsibility of family shared work was a normal thing. That is just what folks we knew did…and that assumed day to day sense of responsibility for one’s actions I have taken along with me in life ever since.
Thank you for helping me bring back these memories. I am glad that yours are also good ones of those times.
Greg
Tom,
We stand on the shoulders of those that came before us. Thank you Tom for your work ethic and all the hard work serving our families over the years.
Chuck
Chuck, Thank you for this somewhat forgotten side of life in valuing the everyday masses that toil expending their time and energy not just to make a living. I saw it in my father who was a public school teacher, Vice Principal, Principal and Superintendent over his career. I still remember him pushing me to get my fist job by driving me to restaurant row in Dana Point harbor the summer of 1975 to fill out applications for any startup position I could. Like you, I learned the value of the hard work bus boys, servers and cooks do day in and day out. I am always more than polite to those who serve me at any restaurant just because I remember what it was to be on your feet all day and moving non-stop.
My father was committed to excellence always mindful that his customers were the students. He filtered everything he did in his career focused on “what is best for the students”. That simple goal drove him do his very best everyday. I would be proud to resemble my dad in his work in any small way.
Chuck, thanks for what you do to bring all you have to bear on our daily problem solving, service and care for each other and our families.
I love you big guy!
Jeff