bnviking:
Very Nice Line of Work With Love and Care. Most Respect/
maiwan:
much respect for what you do. Dealing with emotional people can be difficult in itself! Sounds like your one busy lady at work! Intriguing. 
ellspeth:
It's hard sometimes because people crying makes me SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE and its quite a frequent thing! So I prefer the cremation and service running side to talking to the families. Plus if I flash a bit of tattoo I tend to get complaints, and its hard not to in summer! @maiwan 
robertbluesman:
I'll start by saying gimme an old school New Orleans funeral any day my time comes! my question: ever get hit on by the demised next of kin?
ellspeth:
Never the next of kin BUT, there was one unlucky family a while ago that had 2 deaths in as many months - the grandson of the deceased took both opportunities to flex on me, and spent the entirety of the second funeral giving me a run through of his best lines! @robertbluesman
robertbluesman:
that's funny! hmmm, the makings for a sit-com perhaps?
brogan:
How did you get into that line of work?x
tarot:
How interesting. I wanted to work in that business but never managed to get a position so I left that idea behind. 
raindogsteve:
Fascinating stuff! You must get some strange requests for scattering ashes, what is the strangest place that you have been asked to scatter ashes?
ellspeth:
@brogan A stroke of luck really - since I was about 16 I was constantly sending applications in to funeral directors - I went as far as handwriting an essay and my entire CV for one because I'd heard they didn't like email. I heard nothing back from any of them so I left the idea alone for a few years and got bar work, but one day when I was skiving from a terrible telesales job and browsing online I noticed a local crematorium was looking for an apprentice. One aged 16-24. I turned 25 in about 5 days so I spent the next few hours perfecting an application and within a week I had a job there - and swiftly turned 25 haha!
ellspeth:
@raindogsteve Funnily enough the places people are scattered are pretty tame, however I did have a family come in a while ago who requested for their loved one to be scattered (our scattering urns work kind of like a salt shaker) in the shape of a bunny rabbit! It did end up looking more like a cat so I've not done any more ashes-art ;)
raindogsteve:
That is surprising, I would have expected us northerners to be a little more creative with their ashes. But as long as they don't get them mixed up with the salt shaker and sprinkle them on their chips, that is the main thing... Oh wait, there's an idea! :)