I learned it is important to have them do a visual, in-home assessment of all of your belongings to get a “not to exceed price” quote for your move. I learned you should get several quotes. I learned that I needed to make sure they are Better Business Bureau approved, and ideally approved by the American Moving and Storage Association so you avoid all the funny business of dudes with trucks just looking to make a buck. I did my homework. [Now you don’t have to. You’re welcome.]
Doing all this homework means I’ve interacted with a whole slew of interesting people. It has been a stressful headache, but some of these people [unintentionally] helped provide a little comic relief. Here are a few profiles of the movers I won’t be hiring. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Dude number one: “Anxiety Attack Al”
When I explained my complicated moving situation, I soon became concerned that this man was going to have a heart attack right there in my apartment. I was nervous about the move, but this guy was having an anxiety attack over how complicated it was. This did not calm me down at all. After assessing my belongings and pulling his hair out a bit, he comes up with an estimate. He looks at his screen, he looks at me, “oh no,” he looks at his screen, and back at me, “you’re going to flip, this is so much money” he tells me. I did not flip; I did not do a summersault either. Five days later when he finally called back to discuss part two of my move, he tells me he can not do it because I don’t meet his minimum pound requirement, so he wants to know what I want to do. This conversation also stresses him out. Three other movers seem to have found a way to help me do it, so I tell him we’ll just go in a different direction. He flips. And then he hangs up on me.
Dude number two: “Too cool for school Sean”
Dude number one had come in carrying a briefcase, a laptop, a portable printer, a clipboard, etc. etc. etc. Dude number two walks in with nothing but his smart phone. I don’t think that guy even carried a wallet. Sharply dressed, hair gelled, he was fifteen minutes late but ready to hit the ground running. He was suave. He was confident. And then he mistyped my email address. Smooth, Sean, smooth.
Dude number three: “Keepin’ it chill Charlie”
In all honesty, I really liked this guy. Fellow parent, quite friendly, totally recognized what a trial I had before me, he bent over backwards to try to make me feel relaxed and calm about it all. But perhaps he got a bit too relaxed when I told him of my concern about getting our mattress box springs out of the 3rd floor apartment. Our stairwell is horribly narrow. No matter how we turned that box spring, it would not fit. Keepin’ it chill Charlie asks me, “how did you move it in?” I tell him, my brother-in-law overcame his fear of heights to play superman for the day. He climbed on top of our moving truck, slid it over our 2nd floor neighbors’ balcony, through their apartment to the courtyard below our front door, up over that balcony, and into our apartment. It was a feat! Charlie says, “cool, can we just do that again?” Nope. I was kinda lookin’ to hire movers that were better equipped than my in-laws. Thanks for playing.
I’m hoping the guys I am hiring work out and we make it across the country in one piece. I’m going to have to leave you on a cliff-hanger though, stay tuned to find out how it all pans out!
Any Lobsters out there have any moving advice for me?
Any Lobsters out there have any moving advice for me?
Hilarious. Moving across country is definitely an adventure. My only advice is to make sure you have enough moving space to move everything. We ended up "selling" a nice leather recliner to a friend for $25 just because we couldn't fit it in our moving pod thingy. I doubt you'll have this problem when using a moving company, but just thought I'd throw that out there.
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