Funeral home, body mover. A place that does not want to be set foot, a profession that many people do not want to mention.
A funeral home in Shenzhen has issued a recruitment notice inviting "bold people" to go to the funeral home to take up the work of carrying corpses.
The salary is still closed on a daily basis, with a daytime salary of 800 yuan and a night salary of 1600 yuan. In this way, funeral home movers can earn nearly 50,000 yuan a month.
Such attractive salary conditions, but few people come to apply. The job of a body mover is destined to deter most people.
Some people have wondered why the body mover has such a high income, but he has been recruiting and lacking staff for many years.
In fact, becoming a body mover not only faces great difficulties, but also loses far more than you get.
First, physical and mental exhaustion
To become a qualified body mover, the first thing you need to overcome is the fear in people's hearts. Mr. Huang, a body mover at the funeral home, recalls how he felt when he first took up the job, and he still has palpitations.
Just arrived at the funeral home, Mr. Huang looked at the body covered with white cloth, and his heart was very scared, and even began to tremble in his legs, and he did not dare to come forward.
China has long been in awe of death, and processes such as cremation have strict time limits. The crowd did not dare to be idle, and they urged him in every way, and he could only go forward with his scalp.
In the process of moving, Mr. Huang suddenly felt that the head of the corpse was shaking, his face turned pale in an instant, and a cold sweat broke out from his back, and he almost fell to the ground.
"I don't know what it was, it touched my hand, or it felt wet..." Mr. Huang said.
The first time he carried the body, Mr. Huang was quite jealous in his heart, and after finishing his work, he washed his hands countless times with disinfectant, but the tip of his nose was always full of odor. Later, he learned that the so-called odor, the so-called "fake corpse", are just people's psychological effects.
As the number of cases being carried in the funeral home increased, Mr. Huang did not find anything unusual, and the fear and rejection in his heart gradually dissipated. Today's handling of corpses is nothing more than the same work as others.
Compared with Mr. Huang, the 45-year-old Master Jiang's first experience of carrying a corpse is much more bumpy. The first time he was in charge of carrying the female corpse that had just been salvaged from the water.
Generally speaking, corpses soaked in water have a very vicious appearance. When I first saw the female corpse, the body was foaming and almost deformed. Master Jiang took a look at it, and for three days and three nights he did not get out of fear, let alone eat.
"As soon as I closed my eyes, I had the scene in my head, and it took me a long time to ease up." Master Jiang said.
Second, strict restrictions and difficulties
As they became familiar with the work of moving corpses, the movers discovered that the responsibilities they had to bear were far more and more complex than people thought.
Master Wang, a 23-year-old body mover, had just come to work at a funeral home and almost made a mistake. Wrong address, improper wording... And these happen to be the taboos of body movers.
If the patient dies at home, the body mover needs to leave the funeral home and carry the deceased out of the home. Before going to the home of the deceased, they need to determine the address repeatedly, and once they knock on the wrong door of other residents, it becomes a major accident.
"If there were a crematorium standing in front of people's homes, what would they think?" You can't go wrong with that. Master Wang said.
In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, before entering the deceased's home, the movers also need to look around, what the identity of the deceased is, and what kind of family level, in order to consider the next step.
Body movers are a service industry, and for courtesy, they always habitually greet their families when they arrive at the home of the deceased.
Master Wang said: "When I said goodbye to others before, it was normal to say goodbye. But when we are working, especially in the homes of bereaved families, such words can never be said. ”
For a long time, in the Chinese concept, death is a painful and taboo thing. If the body mover blurts out goodbye, it will be considered a curse by the family of the deceased. Yes, when moving a body away from their home, the body movers always replace it with "we're gone."
The most painful experience of the body mover is to meet a high-rise occupant while carrying a corpse. No matter how high the floor, in order not to arouse the disgust of others, the body mover did not dare to take the elevator, and could only carry the body down the stairs step by step on a stretcher.
At the same time, in order to avoid stopping in front of other residents, they can't stop halfway. In the process of carrying, they also need to ensure the stability of the body, and they dare not relax for a moment.
Carrying the bodies from the homes of high-rise occupants, the body movers were already shaking their hands.
In the process of moving corpses, if special circumstances are encountered, the difficulties faced by the body movers are far more than people imagine. The United States under the epidemic is a strong proof.
Since the pandemic swept the world, the number of deaths from infections in the United States has increased, and New York City has become the hardest hit area. A large number of people died in a concentrated manner, and the space in the New York morgue was in a hurry, so the hospital could only use refrigerated trucks to temporarily store the bodies.
The rapid increase in the death toll has led to a rapid increase in the demand for the number of body movers in New York, and a Porter in New York has also told people about the whole process of his work.
Before the outbreak, 46-year-old Frampton used to be a photo frame maker, and the economic income was considerable. However, after the outbreak of the epidemic, Frampton's business was not occupied, and his shop could not be maintained, so it was forced to close.
By chance, Frampton learned that funeral homes were recruiting a large number of body movers, paying $75 an hour. For Frampton, who is struggling to maintain his life, this is a very tempting condition.
Yes, under the introduction of a neighbor, Frampton went to the funeral home in New York and became a temporary body porter. Frampton and nine other body movers, a group of 10 people, were responsible for the removal of bodies on two refrigerated trucks.
The moment the refrigerated truck was turned on, Frampton was taken aback. He recalled that each refrigerated truck had makeshift three-layer wooden planks densely packed with corpses.
The car, which could only accommodate about 40 corpses, was now crowded with more than 100 corpses. The bodies lay in a state of confusion.
Due to the shortage of body bags in New York, factories stepped up production, and the bags became extremely thin and easy to tear. As a result, the body was often exposed, revealing the somewhat hideous face of the deceased. When the stock of inferior body bags was in short supply, Frampton had to temporarily wrap the body with hospital sheets.
In order to verify the identity of the deceased, the mover needs to open the bag first and check the wristband on the deceased's hand, which is that the mover's hands will always be stained with a part of the undried blood or even excrement.
In order to prevent accidental injury, the porters had to wear only two layers of protective clothing, two pairs of gloves and two layers of masks. In this way, the body of the body mover is almost sealed, and a thin layer of sweat will ooze from the back of the body at the slightest movement, and the body mover's skin will usually be soaked white.
At the same time, they have difficulty breathing with masks, often feel suffocated, and face death and fear, and the body and mind of the body movers are subjected to great physical and psychological torture. The body movers worked hard, and a considerable number of people could not stand it and quit halfway.
In order to prevent this phenomenon, the hospital implements a strategy of payroll day, paying the previous day's expenses every morning to prevent people from leaving the next day. Despite hospital efforts, the number of body movers is decreasing.
In the face of the pandemic, the hospital's body movers are even greater. This act of putting one's life at risk and solving difficulties for others is originally noble and precious.
Third, criticism has come and gone
The moment they chose to become body movers, they were ready to endure loneliness, and Master Rong deeply understood this.
When he first started working, Master Rong was not yet married to his girlfriend. When she learned that she had gone to the funeral home to work as a body handler, her girlfriend was very angry. When shopping, Master Rong wants to hold his girlfriend's hand, which is a great luxury.
"Touch the dead, don't touch me!" The girlfriend said so.
The reporter wondered why Master Rong still married his girlfriend home, since his girlfriend was so rejected. Master Rong replied happily, "My mother-in-law supports me." ”
It turned out that in the eyes of the old man, Master Rong's work as a corpse mover was a good thing to accumulate virtue and do good deeds, and he had always been very satisfied with him.
Later, the girlfriend gradually understood the bitterness behind the body mover, and gradually understood Master Rong, and the two finally entered the palace of marriage after experiencing many difficulties.
In addition to the family's lack of understanding, the work of the body mover is rarely sympathetic to friends. In daily life, the body mover came into contact with new friends, and the two had a good conversation.
Friends of other identities will say goodbye: "Next time something will come to me." "For the body mover, it's a phrase that can never be spoken.
In the funeral home, no one wants to set foot, and the body mover who works in the funeral home is also a lone traveler in life. They represent funerals and are never on the invitation list for parties or celebrations.
As body movers, they rarely take pictures. People who work in funeral homes don't print business cards, don't take pictures, don't take photos. After work, they rarely go out to see people, and most of the time they stay at home as "otaku".
Because of this, late marriage and late childbearing are a significant label in the body mover industry.
Noble social responsibility
Fear, taboo, loneliness... The work of the body mover is full of dangers and difficulties, but there are always people who insist. What supports them is actually the reverence for life in their hearts, sympathy for the families of the deceased, and responsibility to society.
Li Wen, a body mover who retired from the military in 2007, was originally assigned to a government department and took the initiative to go to the funeral home as a body mover, which really shocked everyone.
In 1999, a ferry carrying 302 people was shipwrecked, and 280 people were killed and disappeared.
Li Wen stood at the door of the morgue and was responsible for transferring the body inside. Referring to the victims, Li Wen still felt pain: "They are so pitiful, they have everything, almost all the corpses pass through my hands." ”
The first time he faced such a fragile life, the first time he saw the tearing cries of the deceased's family, Li Wen made a decision: if he could one day engage in such a profession, he must find a way to make them walk better.
Later, with compassion for human nature, Li Wenyi went to the funeral home to carry out body handling work without hesitation, and insisted on this for more than 10 years.
In his opinion, to become a qualified body mover, you not only need to overcome the demons of the heart, but also maintain absolute reverence for life.
In the winter of 2009, Li Wen received a call from the police station, where a man was lying on a train track, ending his young life. Li Wen hurried to arrive and saw the scene of the man's body separated.
It coincided with winter, and light snow was falling in the sky, which made the search work extremely difficult. The crowd searched around, but found only the man's torso. Most people gave up looking, and only Levin persisted.
In order to give an explanation to the family, and in order to give the deceased a chance to die completely and decently, Li Wen searched for blood and walked for a long time, and finally found the head of the deceased.
Body movers often say that the more respect you have for a corpse, the less afraid you will be. Only with a reverence for the profession, with a respectful heart, can we be responsible for the deceased and for ourselves.
As a body handler for many years, the body movers are accustomed to seeing life and death, and because of this, their hearts are soft and incomparably kind. "Life is not by him, and in the process of experiencing death, there are many things that move me."
In 2011, Li Wen received a call from a little girl whose mother had died of illness and needed a funeral home to carry the body. Li Wen hurried to the designated place, but was hit hard by the scene in front of him.
A little girl of only 15 years old, methodically carrying out the follow-up work. She wiped her mother's body alone, changed her clothes, and spent sleepless days and nights with her mother.
A long time ago, the girl's father died of illness, and now her only relative has left, and the little girl has lost all her dependence.
In the face of the sudden blow of life, the girl seemed very calm, but Li Wen also saw grief in her red and swollen eyes and hoarse voice.
In order to alleviate the pressure on the girl's life, Li Wen and his colleagues bought an urn for her and donated 500 yuan for later life. The little girl took the money with trembling hands and thanked her again and again.
As body movers, they experience too many lives and deaths every day, some people tear their hearts and lungs, some people are silent and indifferent, some people are indifferent, and some people are out of control. When all the families are helpless in the face of death, the body mover is their strongest support.
In the eyes of people who have not experienced death, the body mover is unlucky, and those who have personally experienced despair truly understand the kindness and value of the body mover.
Years of work experience have also allowed the body movers to develop a positive attitude towards life. The deceased has passed away, but the living still need to be strong, and only by living well and bravely facing reality is the greatest consolation for the deceased.
It is precisely under the impetus of this kind of thinking that the porters who deal with corpses all day long are never dull, but actively integrate into life and society.
While working, every body mover remembers his or her original intention when he first entered the industry: to make the deceased walk decently.
Because of this, the staff of the funeral home also put a lot of effort into continuously improving the comfort of the interior.
Yantai Zhifu District Funeral Home, in order to fulfill the children's wish to fulfill their filial piety, opened two new spiritual rooms. In the memorial room, the funeral home has set up an offering table with relics, incense, flowers and other offerings on the table.
The scene of the guardian, soothing music, the coffin surrounded by flowers, solemn and solemn. Outside the vigil, the funeral home also provides a place for the families of the deceased to rest.
The body mover works with the funeral home to provide maximum assistance to patients and their families. They endure the greatest loneliness, but they find ways to pull the families of the deceased out of the quagmire of grief, and also contribute to changing the society's view of death.
Widely circulated information in society, high salaries for body movers? The answer is no.
They need to be on duty 24 hours a day, there is no break in between, they are on the move, they don't even have a chance to reunite with their families, and their income is far lower than that of their peers.
Even so, countless body movers are still at their jobs, they say:
"I'm used to it, bitter is a little bitter, not understood, but I've fallen in love with this business, and I'm willing to work until retirement." 」
Sacrificing a small family and achieving great love, every body mover sticks to his job, endures criticism, and bears the finger-pointing of the uninformed.
They are accustomed to the indifference of life, but they always maintain a hot heart and realize their value in ordinary work. They are the brave people of life and deserve the respect of society.
Resources
[1] Jiaodong Online, April 6, 2014, "Demystifying funeral home "body movers": "Horror" occupation also has warmth"
[2] China News Network, April 2, 2012, "Revealing the Living Conditions of Corpse Movers: Identity "Scary" Mostly Marry Late and Have Children Later"
[3] "In Search of Love", No. 20170403, "The Life of The Hundred Flavors of Post-90s Body Transporters"