Advertisement: “You are almost taught not to break when you are to serve a family,” he said, explaining that revealing too much could transfer more pain onto those already suffering. “A lot of people don’t understand that as a funeral service worker, you have a big task,” he added. “You are not just picking the body up, cleaning it, putting makeup on and placing it in a casket. You’re expected) to coach the family, to be a financial adviser and to be a psychologist” during one of the toughest moments in life. And in a year when death became an excruciating daily experience for most Americans, even these men and women have been touched by it.