One of the many experiences that I have had that keeps me in University is the summer job I had moving furniture. While it payed better than any other job I have ever had (around 13 dollars an hour), the pay was one of the few good things about it. The people I worked with were not the easiest to get along with, bordering on abusive. As for the actual work, I didn’t mind it so much, until we dropped that oak dresser on my knee.
All of this isn’t really the point though. I helped a friend move from Burnaby to Harrison this weekend, and remembered many of the things that I have noticed about how people moving tend to act. This is not to say, however, that my friend acted this way. Actually, it went better than any move I have seen (infinitely better than my own, which were generally stressful, arduous affairs that stretched on for far longer than they should have).
In moving myself and watching others these are things that have happened:
1. We will always find things that were missed during packing. This has created interesting situations like moving freezers full of meat down narrow stairs. Lets not forget the time we packed the cat (which had fallen asleep inside a box) somewhere in the middle of the van and had to tear everything out to get at it. The cat was pretty pissed.
2. Sometimes not all members of the family are as happy with moving as the others. This has created interesting situations like handcuffing oneself to the mailbox, and others with much crying, screaming, and uncomfortableness. I even got threatened by a very large teenager that I was NOT going to take things out of his bedroom or else. With things ending as they did, the pay did not look so good that day.
3. People have way too many Christmas decorations that they don’t use. Especially those glass balls.
4. It is amazing what you can find behind furniture. Sometimes this can be articles that are embarrassing (ie. condoms) or exciting (ie. diamond earrings).
5. I only stumbled upon drugs once while moving furniture, in the form of a live pot plant.
6. Apparently, sweaty movers in their early twenties are not attractive to same-aged females who are moving. Not that I would know.
7. When you are unpacking, you will want one specific item, and have to go through all of the boxes at least twice in order to find it….. in your pocket.
8. People rarely reply with a : “thanks for finding that for me” when you stumble upon illicit drugs, sexual self help books, or pornography stashed under mattresses, under dressers, or behind the chest freezer in the garage.
9. People are not generally at their best when moving. Though they might apologize later, being yelled at or told where to go isn’t all that unexpected. The only reason this didn’t bother me is that I had moved myself recently, and felt their pain.
10. Once I moved a family out into Chilliwack. The two kids directed us beautifully on where to unload the stuff, put the furniture, and even got mad at me for tracking stuff onto the carpet (bad Mike!!). The parents were nowhere around (at work) and the Uncle next door, where the kids were staying, was either high or drunk out of his tree. I think he might have been both. While this was the best instruction I ever got on where to unload boxes and furniture, I am not used to being ordered around by children who are 8 and 13 years of age.
11. Lets just say that if you have allergies to cats, the place you least enjoyed moving was the crazy old lady who had TWENTY of the damn things. It wasn’t the cats, it was the inch of dander and cat cells that was covering everything. AAACHOO!
Two words: cat piss.
12. Apparently I was overlooked when the tips were being handed out, as I only found out at near the end of the summer that this was a common practice, and that I had in fact, missed out on a few. Aholes.
13. My boss got really mad at me for telling the customer that her television cabinet had been broken when a box spring had fallen off of the truck onto it. Apparently, I can go to hell.
14. Also, people blame the messenger.
15. You never have enough boxes.
16. You always are amazed at exactly how much you own.
17. You are also amazed at how much of this stuff is crap, but you will probably still have it next time you move.
18. Working with a sore back is the best way to get a behind the scenes cash bonus from elderly rich people (which made up for the tips I had missed before).
19. Sometimes the family will leave before the movers have completely moved all of the boxes and furniture out of the place. This is when the neighbours converge to tell you all the nasty stories they have about them, and how they don’t light a barbecue the right way.
There are many other experiences that I have had. I will probably remember the best ones immediately after I go to bed.
I moved three times during one summer. This was the same summer that I moved furniture for money. I haven’t moved since, even though this place kind of sucks. I know that I have too much stuff, much of it crap, and I swore that I wouldn’t move all of it next time. I can’t be just another No. 17 can I?