Yes. Like many other suburban white folk, I had an all too naive view on racial issues. While I didn’t think all racist issues had been solved, I didn’t realize how bad things actually were.
I try to look at it like this: before 2016, I thought this level of hatred, bigotry and cruelty was an outlier in the right. That most of them just wanted tax cuts and weren’t hood wearing racists. I’ve since learned that the “outliers” are the party and the “moderates” are the actual outliers.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” Maya Angelou.
This was the catalyst I needed to switch to self hosting rustdesk. It was a bit of a pain setting up, but people comfortable with cli would handle it much better than I did.
Reputation is key. As you touched upon, nothing short of hearing from others what they went through helps as much.
Like you said, a lot of people wait until they need the service before they think about it. This is usually at the worst time in a person’s life, so emotions are high. It’s best to, at minimum, think about what you would want to have done ahead of time. At the last place I worked, I specialized in helping people pre-arrange services. The whole idea is to put your wishes down so it’s one less thing for your family to worry about. I personally preferred it since it was a much lower pressure situation since no one had to purchase anything at the time, unless they chose to pre-pay, which is strictly optional.
I’ve always looked for directors that are honest (duh) and forthcoming to families on what things are without pushing higher end items. For example, explain the difference of a sealer casket vs an unsealed casket, without using emotional language like: “you don’t want mom drowning in water, right?” Barring not knowing anyone that can give you a recommendation, Google and Yelp are your best friends. It just takes a bit of forethought and looking at what the reviewer is saying. We all have seen the insane reviews that don’t have any bearing in reality.
15 year funeral director here. I’ve worked for both “mom and pop” local funeral homes and a corporate funeral home. I can unequivocally tell you the local ones are some of the most corrupt, greedy places I’ve ever worked for. Charging $15k for funerals, adjusting prices based on what they feel like they can get away with, all while raking in lots of money and paying the staff less than minimum wage after factoring in the expectation of being on call.
I’ve watched owners manipulate grieving widows into buying caskets they can’t afford “because your husband deserves the best.”
I went two months without a day off, all while trying to take care of a newborn, and when I tried to take a day off because I was so exhausted I couldn’t drive safely, I was given tons of grief.
Everything else you said is completely true though. The entire industry is completely corrupt and needs to be dismantled.
We have a “landline” (3rd cell phone). He’ll be going into 5th grade (age 10 for non-Americans). He’s not allowed to have a cell phone at school. I also don’t want it lost. This will be for an hour or so before my wife gets home.
While I’ve never messed with an esp board, it’s something I was planning on learning in order to create a few other things, so this might be the best time to start.
Yeah, I have an August lock right now. That one is nice because I can keep the out-facing lock the same, so people like my father-in-law don’t get flustered. Ultimately, I’m trying to solve this in the most complicated way possible for me. I could just give him a key, but where’s the fun in that?
What you mentioned with the proxy is probably the way I’ll have to go.