Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Story of the Storage Unit

So post flood I decide I need some more space and decide to rent a storage unit. I've hired my share of movers in the past so I don't feel totally unqualified or in-the-dark about the process. I'm an intelligent person and I'm confident I'm capable of asking all the right questions, which I think I do.

The day of the move arrives and the movers show up with truck and dollies in hand - along with and outstretched hand not saying pleased to meet you - but hand over the cash lady. I say - huh??? You haven't even done any work yet, how many hours do you know its going to take so you know what it will cost and what to charge me? Not to mentionyou haven't done anything yet, so why should I pay you? You might damage my things and then I've paid you.

Well, they give me the story that its a tough economy and they've had a lot of customers move everything and then say - sorry we can't afford to pay you so this is their new policy. They are standing in my house and I really need my stuff moved so I get out my checkbook and begin to write a check - and they inform me they don't take checks - cash only. Well, that's news to me - and do they expect I just have a whole bunch of cash laying around?

So now I'm not just mildly annoyed - I'm getting angry. FYI - let me update you on the situation that they are also over 4 hours late for arrival of the scheduled appointment and I had made arrangements at the storage unit to be let in as well.

The nice young men holding the "invoice" in question and making demands are just the hired help and are surprised that their boss hasn't shared any of these delightful customer service policies with me up front - but they say its the norm so please don't shoot the messenger. (hmmm - maybe I should get a gun).

So now I'm full on mad and call the boss man and voice my concerns. In the end its agreed that I'll stop and get cash on the way to the storage unit to pay them. Ironically, they offered to stay at my house and load things when I went to get cash. I looked at them and said "SERIOUSLY"?
You need me to pay up front and I can't write a check because you don't "trust" me. But I should let two total strangers hang out at my house with my stuff and a moving truck ALONE!!!!! You've got to be kidding - I can't believe you just said that.

So on with the story - let the loading commence. All furniture is loaded and I give them the storage unit address and write directions and we head out. I need to stop and get cash and they roll on forward to the storage unit. Well it turns out I had to go to a second cash machine so it took longer than expected. I arrived at the storage unit and they weren't there. My first thought is HOLY SHIT - they stole my stuff - thank god I didn't pay them too. In the end they arrived about 10 minutes later - apologizing for getting lost - that GPS gave them bad directions. I said, I know - that's why I wrote you directions.

So they backup to the storage unit - jump out of the truck and ask for the money. By this time I'm totally frustrated. What was supposed to be a $160 job ended up costing $317 by the time all of the "unspoken" surcharges, etc. were added and I was sweaty (it was hot out) and mad.

In the end, I asked the kids why they worked for such an unethical guy since it made them look bad and they got the brunt of people's frustration. I said, why don't you just rent a truck and do this yourself. The kid honestly replied. Here's my business card. I have my own moving company, I work for him on the side and use this as an opportunity to market my company for free while getting paid.

Moral of the Story - Too many to list - but that kid might just be a genius.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Recovery - It's Just Things

If an ordinary life is about shit happens - it really does. So clearly the way to undo it is to get rid of everything. The last three weeks have really been about undoing. After 11" of rain in just a few hours, it meant over 3 ft of water in our finished basement. Ruining general things like furniture, necessities like the furnace and water heater, and of course momentos like Christmas decorations and childhood memories.

Depending on how you look at it, the emotion can have lots of meaning. It can be cathartic - like the cleaning you know you needed and getting rid of things cluttering your life allowing you to live more freely. But it also is emotional as you recall the history that will now only be a memory with no physical history.

The first couple of weeks the adrenaline carried me forward and allowed me to clean and remediate and replace all that was necessary. It's been the last few days that the emotion has started to set in and the difficult emotion of starting over has been difficult.

I'm reminded that life is filled with things that we give weight and value to, when truely its only people we should put our emotion in. We come into this world with nothing and need only the people who care for us. I believe we would all be happier with less attachment to things.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

How Does My Garden Grow

Over the last few years I've realized how much I enjoy working in my yard. Seeing the transformation from yellow lawn and clodded dirt to a yard filled with flowers. It's a little piece of artwork to constantly change things and make new interesting palettes of color and texture. But the best part is growing my first garden. It's just a small "urban garden" 4x7, but I have carrots, radishes, potatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, cucumbers and squash. I've also managed to stick some corn, broccoli, peppers and tomatoes into other little spots thorughout my flower gardens. It's so rewarding to watch the changes everyday and see the progress and know that I had a hand in it.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Not to Kid

All kidding aside - my husband and I choose not to have kids. We made a decision early on for a multitude of reasons. However, its somehow considered a bad thing that you don't want to have kids. In fact, my mother-in-law tells people we can't have kids instead of just telling them the truth. We find it ironic that we've made a responsible, mature choice based on our lifestyles and work - however, we should praise the world for believing married couples should have kids and then use welfare, daycare, nannies and mores to raise kids. There are great parents out there and bad parents. What makes us bad people for just plainly deciding early on we didn't want kids. 2 kids and divorce later is a hell of time to realize you made the wrong choice.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Getting Started - At Lots of Stuff

So I've always considered myself to be fairly tech saavy person - but in learning to set up my blog - its thankful that my 24 year old co-worker was here to help. This is the first sign I'm getting old. Next thing you know I'll need bifocals to see the words while I type.

So my firsts to getting started
1. My First Garden (this weekend)
2. My First 1/2 Marathon (finished 2 weeks ago)
3. My First Century Ride (late summer)
4. My First Blog (a work in progress)

I hope I can start living life fully and undo my ordinary life.