Stress
Like many other facets of this job, the stress of an embalmer is understated, but it is definitely a part of the gig. First, there are the random hours. Depending on your position and where you work, you may be on call at any time, day or night. You'll be attending funerals―a lot of funerals, about as many as you have clients.
If you don't know how to tie a tie, you might want to add that to the stress pile, too.
Then, there are the deceased themselves. You won't just be working on the elderly who have lived a long, full life. There will be people of all backgrounds and stories, shapes and sizes, ages and mentalities. No joke here, sometimes it can get rough.
As an embalmer, you'll also be expected to wear many hats. Not literally, of course…hats aren't considered appropriate funeral attire. We mean you'll have to put on a lot of different jobs, including surgeon, dentist, driver, host, cosmetologist, janitor, and sometimes even a professional warm hug or a soft shoulder to cry on. That is a lot of responsibility, and you gotta be on your game at all times.
Sure, if you work in a burger joint and occasionally forget to add the special sauce, no one's going to lose much sleep over it. But mess up someone's funeral and you might be the next person in a casket. Think you can you handle that kind of pressure?