Posted on 08/03/2009 4:31:47 PM PDT by rawhide
A grieving mother who took too long to say goodbye to her dead baby son has been hit with an $146 penalty charge by crematorium staff.
Terrie Rouse could not bear to leave five-week-old Zane's coffin and spent an extra 10 minutes with him before allowing it to be taken away for cremation.
However the mother of three was later handed the fine - $14.50 a minute - on top of the standard baby cremation fee of $54 for her tearful final goodbye.
'The vicar asked if I would like to spend a bit more time saying goodbye," said Miss Rouse.
'I sat by the coffin for 10 minutes, telling my son how much we loved him and begging him not to be scared.'
Zane's unemployed father, Lee Smythe, today branded the charges imposed by officials from Milton Keynes Council, which runs the crematorium, as 'sick and disgusting'.
'Terrie was weeping hysterically. She just wanted a few extra minutes to say goodbye to our much-loved little boy. How could anyone be cruel enough to charge for this?'
The couple's funeral directors, Masons of Bletchley, said there was still plenty of time for the next funeral which was not due to take place until 50 minutes after baby Zane's.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
>>but thats irrelevant - its business.<<
Well actually, it depends on the contract she signed. If it states this charge, it’s still heartless but also business. If there is only a sign, grief will be used in a court case. She’ll win.
There’s more than one crematorium in the UK. The UK is about the size of Ohio. These people won’t like the press they get on this. I suspect they will eventually go out of business.
Which is what ya get when you are heartless in business.
Who was paying for the “funeral”?
Mention was made the cremation cost was $54.00.
That's an amazingly low cost for dead body disposition!
Must have been government subsidised.
I walked into a Baptist church a bit over ten years ago. A very beloved member of my family was being buried elsewhere, and I was not a member of that, or any church.
I asked if there was a room I could just sit in, and pray for a while, since I could not attend the funeral service.
The people in that church, who did not know him or I, let me sit in their beautiful chapel, and left me alone to pray and grieve.
I had respectfully offered to pay an offering for the room, and they politely refused.
They quietly offered me the presence of a church pastor, and I politely refused.
If that church had a per minute fee, I would have gladly paid it.
Instead, that particular church freely offered me, a stranger, spiritual succor, and I gladly defend them, whenever and wherever possible, for a debt I can never repay.
I would not feel the same eternal debt to a government run crematorium.
But that tends to prove the point, that government entities do not, and can not replace the functions of private entities.
>>But that tends to prove the point, that government entities do not, and can not replace the functions of private entities. <<
Spot on!!!!
ewww. As a mother who has lost a son, I can only just barely avoid wishing such horror on you, to stop your hard heart from moving on this path.
You have no idea.
It's a government-run facility.
Surely you can’t really be such a fool. If you’re being sarcastic I’m not getting the joke.
First, when one is in a service business, raping a customer for cash is a sure way to lose most of your business. Word gets around.
Second, what does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?
“AussieJoe...an upside-down idiot.”
Is that all you got?.... c’mon, if you’re going to insult a man you better step up and do better than that.
Petronski didn't insult a man. He insulted you.
“Surely you cant really be such a fool. If youre being sarcastic Im not getting the joke.”
There is no joke to be had.
“First, when one is in a service business, raping a customer for cash is a sure way to lose most of your business. Word gets around.”
Provide exellent service tio go with the CONTRACT price and word gets around of the exellent service. If the funeral place said no to the extra 10 minutes then that would be poor service, but they provided the extra 10 minutes as requested by the client, at the contract price.... there’s a difference between a business and a charity.
“Second, what does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?”
Would you be happy to hear that from Obama in response to him being asked to justify porkulus spending? no? well, if you won’t take it then don’t dish it up.
Christallmighty, I could go over to DU for this liberal bile.
“...market forces...
It’s a government-run facility.”
That’s a disingenuous misrepresentation of what I said an you know it. That post was a comment about Obama’s socialised healthcare, not about the funeral place.
No, it's the opposite. The furnace had to run additional time (Big fuel bill), and the staff had to be in place additional time, probably making followers wait too. Should the business just eat the cost? I don't think so.
This is not capitalism, it is a government-owned crematorium.
Your idiocy persists.
You belong over at DU, with your bile and you’re no conservative with this inane crap of yours!
That’s a little unclear on the concept.
Sniff sniff.
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