The following message is not real…..   “Hello, and thank you for calling Lowe-Neddo Funeral Home. Your call is very important to us and will be recorded to ensure quality. Please listen closely to our menu options as you are probably accustomed to a live person answering the phone. Press 1 if someone has died. Press 2 if you need service information. Press 3 for contact information and directions. For all other concerns, please Press 4. You may press the # at any time to repeat this message.”

Can you imagine if a funeral home answered your call like this? I guess there are some things in life I take for granted. Like calling 911, I know that if I call a funeral home any time of the day on any day of the year, I will get a live person to talk to.

The bottom line, when I need service, I expect to have someone to talk to. When I just need a product and service is not a priority, I expect the phone tree, limited calling hours and possibly no option to speak to a real person.

By now you are probably wondering why I am pondering customer service? I recently had the privilege of discussing cremation service options and pricing with a family. While not uncommon to do that, what was uncommon was that it was at 3:00 AM and for a family member who died under hospice care. Though they could have called anytime during “normal business hours”, the family knew that if they called at 3 AM they would get the same level of service as they would at 3 PM.

There is a reason why I am in funeral “service”. That is why you can speak to the owner at 3 AM for prices. That is why we answer our phones 24/7. That is why we choose to be locally owned and accountable, and why you will never get the phone message at the beginning of this column. Sometimes it isn’t about product, it is about service.

Take time to live, laugh and love and know that when you need us, regardless of the day or time, we will be here to serve in the only way know how, treating you as we would want to be treated ourselves.