Moving on (Pt. 7)

MEDFORD, Ore. – Well, packers came on Monday & my possessions were loaded yesterday; the Rubicon (or at least the Columbia) has been crossed.

I wonder—does anyone ever have a good experience with interstate movers? I don’t believe I ever have done; at best just bearable & at worse a complete nightmare. This one is leaning toward the former, but we’re in early innings yet.

Allied sent out a team of three to pack, which was a vast improvement over what United did in Virginia. However I had to keep making rounds to check that they were actually packing things. For example, they left a mirror unpacked & only when I asked if the loaders would wrap it in padding did they laboriously use one of the mirror packs they’d brought.

At the end of the day they also managed to use $300 more in cartons than was in the “guaranteed not-to-exceed” farrago of an estimate.

It’s kind of sad to see all your stuff in boxes—even when you think you have become much too materialistic & should cut back by at least 30%. It all looks so…forlorn.

But yesterday it got worse. I saw the semi parked up the street, not moving & blocking any traffic (Seattle streets are hardly worth the designator); they were there for at least 30 minutes. One of the loaders said they got “stuck”—I have no idea what that means, but it doesn’t speak well for the driver’s ability to negotiate a city.

Then there was a SNAFU with the parking permit—they’d put out barricades on Friday, but apparently never registered the permit with the city & the parking enforcement chick who came out because there were a couple of cars parked where the van needed to be couldn’t cite the violators without having confirmation. Took a while for that to get sorted.

Once in progress, the first thing Joe the driver did was whine that my load’s too small. You could see his gears turning, trying to figure out what extras he can tack on to make up for the lack of weight. Oh—I’m moving into a townhouse? With STAIRS? Oh, he’ll have to “hire an extra guy”. Did he have to “hire an extra guy” to pick up my stuff? Or an extra two guys, since I have two staircases?

I showed him the layout of the apartment complex. Oh, don’t think he can get IN there; have to be a shuttle. (Offload the stuff at a warehouse & onto a smaller van. Of course at extra cost.) At the very best it’s a “long walk”, the way it was to pick up from my place.

Moreover, my delivery is scheduled for the 17th, which is the very last day of the spread they gave me. Seems Joe’s hanging around Seattle until Friday to pick up his next load. So I have an extra three days of faffing about San José with nothing constructive to do.

But the part that just leaves me gobsmacked was when he started asking me how to get to my new place. I’m not talking finding the unit, I’m talking finding a route to the street. The exaggerated look of dismay & confusion on his face was un-freaking-believable.

(I called the “move coordinator” to inquire as to whether their drivers don’t have GPS or even maps. She said they’re independent contractors & not all have GPS; but implied that they should have maps. When I said Joe didn’t seem to have them, she said she’d pull some out & make sure he had them before he leaves. God give me strength.)

Between the disdain for my paltry load & his cluelessness about delivery, I’m really not getting a warm & fuzzy feeling for this guy. The one thing I know is that my moving tsuris is not over.