A week or so ago,
we received a marketing survey in the mail from the [Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home]. The following in purple and italics is my
response to their efforts to generate some more business.
My wife and I saw one of your television commercials
the other day while watching an episode of The Burns & Allen Show on
Antenna TV. We both felt like it was a
very well-produced ad that presented your services in a very dignified manner.
Ah, but the damage had already been done. For we received your marketing survey in the
mail a few days before.
In all fairness, we got a big kick out of it at
first. Well, at least in regards to the
envelope that asked, “Can you help us?”
For the only ways we could think of to help a funeral home would be to
die or kill someone.
Your television commercial had an older gentleman
helping some people, and I hope you really do have someone like him, who might
have enough sense left to realize what an AWFUL mistake it was to resort to
direct solicitation through the mail.
Making it even worse was that the solicitation was
addressed to the Lozano family, which is my 76 year-old mother-in-law’s last
name, and she just lives with us. Did a
marketing-major advise targeting people who have a high likelihood of not
lasting much longer in accordance to statistics?
Alas, an old family friend was Doyle Williamson, who
ran his family’s funeral home in Cassville and served as the Barry County
Coroner for a number of years. I wonder
what he would think of current funeral homes sinking to direct solicitation to
generate business. Yes, the legal
disclaimer with the “survey” probably covers you from being sued, but you sure
won’t get any of our business.
I emailed that last
Saturday (April 18) and we have not heard a peep back. In all fairness, I do not know if buzzards even
can peep.
The SOLE purpose of this series is to help call
attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one way or
another. Just to be clear, inclusion in
this series is not necessarily meant as an endorsement, and I have included
sites that I found rather disturbing.
The link below each image is to the site itself, and each image is
linked to the particular post from which it was taken when applicable. Please, go see for yourself. Oh, and as of August 10, 2012, I will be no
longer including sites that have auto-play and word verification engaged.
This series will include as many of my all-time
favorite (ATF) tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak). Now, each one included in each edition will
have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination,
but they will not be numbered. For I
just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others. So, this will not be a countdown, but if you
are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter. Besides, with no countdown, this could go on
forever and ever! Oh, and despite the
fact that there is absolutely no way your musical tastes could be as exquisite
as mine, I welcome any suggestions you might dare to make. For I am, after all, quite magnanimous by
nature.
Back during our childhood, our parents would often load
up my brother and me after Sunday morning church services for a leisurely drive
around where we lived. Even though we
were seeing mostly familiar sights, it was still good to see them again, and
this is why “A Sunday Drive” sounded about right for the name of a series
revisiting familiar sites that are well worth seeing again and again. The link below the image is to the site
itself, and the image is linked to the post it was first included in here.
The SOLE purpose of this series is to help call
attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one way or
another. Just to be clear, inclusion in
this series is not necessarily meant as an endorsement, and I have included
sites that I found rather disturbing.
The link below each image is to the site itself, and each image is
linked to the particular post from which it was taken when applicable. Please, go see for yourself. Oh, and as of August 10, 2012, I will be no
longer including sites that have auto-play and word verification engaged.
This series will include as many of my all-time
favorite (ATF) tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak). Now, each one included in each edition will
have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination,
but they will not be numbered. For I
just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others. So, this will not be a countdown, but if you
are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter. Besides, with no countdown, this could go on
forever and ever! Oh, and despite the
fact that there is absolutely no way your musical tastes could be as exquisite
as mine, I welcome any suggestions you might dare to make. For I am, after all, quite magnanimous by
nature.
