Your Funeral Won’t Be So Depressing If You Hire People to Attend It
Would you bring a ringer in to your funeral? Because it might become a thing.
A British company called Rent a Mourner does exactly what you think it does: it rents out people to show up to funerals so the deceased can have a proper memorial. The cost? About $68 per person.
The company promises to “supply professional, discreet people to attend funerals and wakes. If you simply need to increase visitor numbers or introduce new faces, then we can help.” Basically, it's a way to avoid that low "Hey, no one favorited my tweet" feeling we've all had before setting sail for the afterlife.
It's like being a seat-filler at an awards show or a cast member of ‘The Truman Show,’ only it’s because you had no friends while you were alive. Way to go. Actually, Rent-A-Mourner claims the turnout could be low because due to “a popularity issue or being new to an area, or indeed, the country.” But, come on -- we all know it' really due to "a popularity issue," right?
Prior to putting on their sad faces, the hired guns will receive a rundown about the dearly departed, so they can talk with some level of knowledge about them to the non-compensated mourners.
Amazingly, the practice of hiring people to attend funerals is not entirely new. It’s quite popular in other parts of the world, which just goes to prove that, along with cars, electronics and healthcare, the U.S. is lagging behind the times in yet another field.