The Daily Outrage
So, today the thing that we veterans are supposed to be outraged about is this hearse driver who stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts with a veteran in the passenger compartment.
Two employees were fired over the coffee break. I think that’s being just a little too sensitive. I’ve never been able to drive past a Dunkin’ Donuts myself, so I understand the stop. If the guy in the box was a real veteran, he’d have understood it, too. The military runs on caffeine – and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is just soooooo good – not like that stuff that they used to bring us in the field that they called coffee.
I’m more outraged that the driver was fired. One does not simply drive past a Dunkin’ Donuts. Believe me, I’ve tried and it doesn’t work. The nearest DD to my home is 50 miles away, and I do make the trip.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit
Yeah, I think firing the guys was a tad over the line. The better response I think would have been to pull them aside and say “Hey, listen guys when your transporting as not part of the procession pull the curtains to keep prying eyes off.” I try not to over react to these sort of things and having personal experience, they had to transport my father in law from Georgia to North Carolina for burial, I don’t think I would have been upset had they pulled over for a break. Moral of the story, flag or no pull the curtains when transporting.
Agreed. Kind of difficult getting a rage boner about this.
I don’t want to be sacrilegious about this, but….
Have to agree as well.
Yep, pull the curtains.
As for when I’m tits up; the party is at my former house and the first 2 kegs are on me, figuratively, not literally, I think……….wtf do I care, I’ll be dead!!!
Nothing like throwing a great party for someone on the one day you know they can’t make it.
According to the newsy chick and the scroll on the screen, the decedent was a “fallen veteran.” No he wasn’t. He was a deceased Veteran. That distinction–or, more precisely, the distinction the TV idiots don’t comprehend, pisses me off. The coffee pit stop doesn’t. And the widow of the Veteran didn’t like it but even she did not want to have the men lose their jobs. Me? I think it’s rather funny in a morbid way.
“Will that be for here or to go?”
“Well, the fella outside would very much like it for here, but it’s to go.”
With apologies to Lerner and Loewe:
I’m getting buried in the morning.
Ding, dong, the bells are gonna chime.
Just get me to the church on time.
I’d fire his ass for parking in two spaces. Hate that.
Yeah, but I don’t hate that as much as I do auto-play commercials.
2/17 Air Cav, try this:
Top toolbar, click on tools. From the pull down menu, click Active X Filtering.
Done! You’ll have to de-select to run Java scripts.
Thanks but I have no tools on the menu! I use Firefox and I googled the issue and found it but I’m not into starting in Safe Mode…blah, blah.
I don’t know the context of the stop. When my wife passed away, her remains were taken by hearse on about a 5 hour ride home. That should have been a non-stop ride, but if the ride was 10 hours, I would expect the driver would have to make a stop or two. However, New Port Ritchie is not along a major freeway, so it might be 100 percent local. If it was, then the driver should have had a talking to. If this is a repeating occurrence, then losing their job might have been warranted.
Getting coffee while a dead guy lies in your hearse, whether a veteran or not, is no sign of disrespect it’s just a part of being human. If you’ve ever worked in a funeral home, or the medical field things are done and said that most average folks won’t understand mostly because when you deal with the dead day in an day out it becomes just another job and the dead are just part of the product/service that is being output.
I worked with a gentleman picking up bodies and bringing them to his funeral home mostly because at that time I was a big strong younger guy who could move a lot of weight. He was a very respectful courteous man who understood the solemnity of his job and was quite good at it…he was also in his late 50s with a bad prostate and there were many nights when we were some distance from the funeral home where he couldn’t hold his water and stopped to urinate on the side of the road with someone’s mom or dad lying dead in the back of the hearse. It never occurred to me that he was being disrespectful he was just doing what he needed to do for his own personal health. I’m sure some families would have been discomfited to know their loved on was waiting on an old guy to finish pissing before they were properly prepared for their wake/funeral.
The dead are pretty forgiving, they don’t complain and are seldom upset. The living could learn much from that.
Have had that discussion with the wife a few times…. told her she could have any kind of funeral or send-off for me she wanted. I wasn’t going to be there.
“The dead are pretty forgiving, they don’t complain and are seldom upset. The living could learn much from that.”
Yep.
Totally agree Jonn. Hearse drivers have to pee too. Now if it were a titty bar….
But Jonn, you violated OPSEC. If anyone wanted to Cometh, they’d Cometh to the nearest Dunckin! But, your Dunkin is probably 2nd A friendly.
I was the driver for Rumsfeld one time. He asked me to pull through the drive through at Starbucks. He was in the back and the sedan had heavily tinted windows. I ordered two coffees, he handed me money from the back, and the kid at the window had no idea who I had in the back.
Then we pulled over for a minute and watched a mother bird, who had a nest and babies in a small tree along the sidewalk, swoop down on unsuspecting passersby, as they freaked out. He got a good laugh out of that.
Same trip Rumsfeld wanted to visit some troops in the field. So they flew him out to the location by helicopter. It was rainy and cold that day and of course he’s in a suit. So the Brigade Commander (Colonel/O-6)loans Rumsfeld his goretex jacket. After the visit Rumsfeld climbs back on board the aircraft and takes off with the Brigade Commander’s goretex. The statement of charges/loss statement went something like “loss due to the SECDEF departing the area with the jacket”
Dude, I hope you got a copy of that statement somehow. That one would be priceless. (smile)
Pull the guys aside and chew some ass for:
1. Not pulling the curtains in back closed
2. Shitty parking job (c’mon, TWO spaces)
Firing for this… a little over the line, unless the duo are “problem children”.
While I like their donuts and the like, I’m a coffee snob because I was at Ft Lewis for a bunch of years. So, I have to have Starbucks, can’t get a taste for Dunkin unless its a severe need.
However, I wouldn’t be offended if someone stopped for coffee, use the bathroom, etc.
Now, if they stopped at a titty bar, I’d be offended if they didn’t take me inside for a lapdance.
There are so many other things we are dealing with for people to get wrapped around the axle about.
Has Starbucks actually started selling real coffee these days, or do they still just sell that overpriced yuppie/snob/”image is everything” stuff?
I’d say so. I only drink one Americano a day on work days and it lasts me for a whole day.
But yes, they are still full of yuppy larva acting important while typing away on their mac’s…
Though I will say when I was stationed in Los Angeles, rare was the day I paid for my coffee. Whether it was starbucks or someone in line, I usually got it for free. Though if starbucks covered it, I tipped extra. In these here parts, not so much.
Well, I’m not necessarily going to criticize the employer here because I think they were justified in, at the very least, disciplining the driver.
Who knows, maybe he had screwed up before and this was just the last in a series of screw-ups?
What I don’t quite get is the “veteran” angle. What difference does it make? Even if it wasn’t a veteran it was somebody’s husband, somebody’s father, somebody’s uncle, etc.
People who enlist the services of a funreral home (and pay big $$ for it) expect their loved ones to be treated with respect not carted around like a UPS package.
I’m trying to recall if I’ve ever seen a hearse with a coffin in the back parked anyplace but a funeral home, church or other place where you would expect a hearse to be parked. (Obviously I’m talking about an “active” hearse, not an old hearse somebody bought used and then thought it would be cool to drive around in. I’ve seen quite a few of those.)
Seriously, driver, if you need coffee that bad, park the hearse in a discrete location and walk to dunkin donuts or better yet, get your donuts and coffee BEFORE you report to work, Mmmmkay? You’re hauling around someone’s deceased relative, not a bunch of car parts from Auto Zone.
Most of the time when a body is moved other then the funeral its self its done in a closed van.
“You’re hauling around someone’s deceased relative, not a bunch of car parts from Auto Zone.” Nice line and good point regarding the decedent’s Veteran status. It really doesn’t matter, in terms of this story, does it?
I would love to see a control experiment on the reactions of this forum if this article had argued that readers should be mad at this.
I find the outrage on this forum over things like this is as predictable as the wind.
Well, well. Looks who’s back. Was fun while it lasted.
Been around. Just to busy to argue lately.
L. Taylor. There is a reason why most comments agree with the owner/host. It is because we usually agree with his take on things. That said, there are issues in which two opposing camps form over an issue. For instance, half of us think obama is an asshole and the other half thinks he’s a royal asshole.
I agree with my esteemed colleague from the Cav.
“King Barry is an asshole.”
See? Royal Asshole.
…and almost all of us think Lars is an asshole.
Doing what? frat parties or Airsoft commando raids?
You still predicting 400%? Go MESNA!
//finals over? So soon?
KMRIA!
Don’t you have a platoon to get lost, sir. I find your pretension and overall dickheadery as predictable as the wind.
Hey Lars – try re-reading the comments. With very few exceptions that “outrage” you cite is better phrased as “meh”. The outrage came from the civilian who posted a picture of the hearse with the casket visible on the Web… more people here are ticked that they parked across two spaces. You’re projecting… and it ain’t pretty.
One of our friends is a mortician. One of his wife’s favorite stories:
He was transporting a body in their van. Wife came home from work (she’s an oncology nurse) and needed to go to the grocery store. Unaware that there was a body in the van, she takes it to the store. When she was done, she had a kid help her out with the groceries, only to open the back and see the body. Fortunately, the kid didn’t see it and she said “I’ll take it from here”.
Mistakes happen, people are human. I’m sure no disrespect was intended. As most others have said, a reminder that such things leave a bad impression with some folks should be sufficient.
Funeral directors and their staffs are generally of the highest quality and they are mostly very professional.
If the guy was a Veteran and/or a COP I could fully understand this decision to stop. Since they fired the Director and the Driver, there must have been something deeper going on because I’m certainly not upset about this unless they were late for the funeral because of the stop. I can think of a million other Veterans issues right now to have “rage” about.
Am wondering about transporting it with the flag draped on the coffin. Haven’t actually seen that in a long haul transport.
Completely agree that the curtains should have been closed. Perhaps another indication that this was a local transport?
Another one here who has ridden with a coffin cross country. Yeah, we had to eat, use rest areas, even overnight in a motel. But, the flag was not on the coffin and the curtains were pulled. At least the hearse ride was very comfortable.
When my father passed a few years ago we had the church service and then stopped for a preplanned luncheon at a nice restaurant — on the way to the cemetery!
I laughed about it then and I am chuckling about it now.
Dad would have laughed about being left in the car while everyone else went to eat! I can imagine him saying “C’mon, let’s get going, we need to get this show on the road!”
I believe they did have the curtains drawn…
“If the guy in the box was a real veteran, he’d have understood it, too.”
Especially if the deceased was an MP.
RIP, brother.
My outrage meter is not working on this!
The driver was probably about my age, needed to hit the head, grab a cup of motivation and get back on the road!
Curtains would have avoided this non-issue!
It’s not as if they walked him into the place weekend-at-Bernie’s-style and asked for the vet discount. Hold on, that sounds kind of fun, and I’ve got some paperwork to update.
Lars, you incredible shitstick-brained moron. Try to get in touch with reality occasionally.
Here’s some for you.
My mother passed away in April 2003. She moved to Freeport, IL, after my father died in 1985, because my brother lived just outside Freeport. It’s a distance of over 200 miles from there to my old hometown.
So, AFTER THE FUNERAL SERVICE – Got that? AFTER THE FURNERAL SERVICE, my mother’s casket was driven those 200++ miles down to my old hometown to be buried next to my father.
It would be unrealistic to expect anyone driving a casket containing a deceased person some place to NOT take a break, so NO, I do NOT think those two should have been fired. But privacy curtains make sense in this case.
What would you prefer, Lars? That they stop along the roadside and drink out of a ditch? Or find a place in the ditch to take a leak?
You are so out of touch with the real world, it’s painful to witness your sheer stupidity AND arrogance.
Haaaaaaa !!!!!!
She took a switch to you ass, Lars.
Bet your booty is BRIGHT red after that!
Just an observation, FWIW: as someone already pointed out, the hearse contained a deceased veteran and not a fallen veteran. The irony is that one day some of the phonies busted on here will actually qualify for the flag draped coffin. Imagine folks getting worked up over a stop for coffee if our resident non-CPO is the one in there.
Personally I’d much prefer a send off like this – with the song blaring from the speakers mounted on top a la Blues Brothers ..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEe_2g0Bjuc ..
I’ll settle for a tape loop of Robert Earl Keen singing “I’m-a shootin’ you the finger”
My dad, a navy vet, was put in a hearse after the funeral. I stopped at a quick stop and a guy in a suit came in. I looked outside and saw a hearse. I asked who was in it and it was my father. The guy was taking him over an hour away for the cremation and wanted a soda before leaving. I didn’t get a hard on over it either.
Kinda off the subject a bit, bet the people mad at this would throw a fit if they saw how dad went out.
Veteran, so full military ceremony, but he was being cremated, so picture this:
Open Casket Ceremony –
Cardboard Cremation Coffin – Dad dressed in his favorite beat up bib overalls and raggedy Redskins sweatshirt, and his beat up work boots.
Just the way pop would have wanted it, but we did get some snide comments.
And I just smiled.
I believe that unless it was a pretty long drive, there would be no excuse for the driver to stop anywhere, regardless who was being transported.
The curtains not being closed are a wtf too.
I was raised that when you saw a hearse passing by you showed respect.
Unless I’m missing something this was plain unprofessional.
To all who shall see this posting, Greetings. Know ye, that when I assume room temperature the individuals responsible for transporting the carcass I inhabited are authorized to stop where ever they choose. Additionally, during the transport of said carcass, there will be no headlights turned on, silly flags attached to following vehicles, or a spectacle made of the process that will disrupt the steady free flow of traffic. Any person who wants to stalk my corpse to the whole in the ground must manage to navigate to said depression under their own recognizance. Any oncoming vehicle which swerves, stops in the middle of the road, or makes a nuisance of itself will be greeted with the wave of a middle finger and a hearty “Fuck you very much”. Carry on.
Jonn,
You’re from up North…remember the commercial…
“Dun-kin donuts. It’s worth the trip!” That jingle pops into my head, every time…and yes. That coffee stop was a tribute, no doubt!! 🙂
Another reason I’m being cremated instead of buried. If the living don’t care, I sure as hell won’t.
And it would have been a simple courtesy to have curtains on the windows of the hearse.
Because of this, I’m putting a request in my will, that when I am being transported to my final resting place, I am to have my pants pulled down, and my ass pressed up against the rear window of the hearse with both of my fists curled up and pressed against the glass with a double fingered salute crisply presented side by side of each cheek.
/”Well Mildred, there’s something you don’t see every day!”
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀