Spent today helping my sis in law move. I hate moving and moving other people is even worse, especially if they are not ready. (I am guilty of this myself, most of my moves have been pack and throw jobs two days before I need to be out.) We all have bad moving stories but I have had a few that go beyond bad and could have been written by Steven King himself.
When I was in the army (not sure I ever mentioned that I spent three years with the screaming chickens in the 80's and 90's, that's the 101st airborne for those who don't know) I had a sergeant call all the guys in the platoon who lived in the barracks to help him move on a Saturday morning. When we all arrived we where shocked to find that not only where things not packed but all of their things (his wife, him and their children) where still in the normal places, dirty dishes in the sink, cloths hanging on the hangers and folded in the drawers and kids toys scattered over the whole house. So we packed everything up for them. His wife was a little upset when she walked in the bedroom and found Kolterman packing her underwear drawer. Of course she may have been just a little upset that Kolterman was wearing a pair of her panties on his head! One word of advice, you must always give those who help you move beer, but do not open the beer until the move is almost done! Jimbo where ever you are this one is for you.
On at least three other times I have arrived at my new residence only to find the old tenants still there. Now one of these times there was circumstances that warranted the delay, it was in the middle of a blizzard. My moving van was stuck in the snow in front of the duplex while their moving van was stuck in the driveway it was three days till we all got dug out. Another time the landlord had failed to mention to the old tenant that he had someone moving in and she thought it would not be a problem if she took a few extra days to move into her boyfriends. Myself and my friends spent three hours getting her moved into her boyfriends, and Mark even ended up going out on a date with her. I guess she was not so serious about that boyfriend. The last one I arrived to find the landlord yelling at the old tenant threatening to call the cops, they had no place to go and would not leave. He was going to have them evicted but this could take a week or two. So much for my apartment, the landlord tried to pawn off on me two lesser apartments in other parts of town. In the end I ended up staying three weeks at a flea bag motel till I moved in with a friend of mine. I have had storage unites broken into stealing everything I had and once found a strange guy sleeping on my couch while it was in the van. I have moved in the middle of heat waves (92 degrees at midnight), blizzards, with help and more than once all by myself. Since 1990 I have moved a total of twelve times and have almost always lived in or around downtown. Why so many moves? When I was in college I had a constant stream of irresponsible roommates! Four of those moves occurred in one year because of a girlfriend who did not understand that the rent did not pay itself. Ahh to be young and stupid.
