They weren't completely incompetent. Not completely.
This past September, we moved to a new house 10 miles away. I've heard tell of worse moving experiences, but for a local move, this was a torturous day. All we wanted was everything to go relatively smoothly.
We aimed too high.
First, they arrived nearly an hour past the tail end of their ETA. From the start, one was badmouthing the rest of his team to us, including his boss. (His boss was, in fact, his nephew, who had nothing but good things to say about him.)
Instead of covering the stairs like the marketing material said they would, they left them bare and slid a heavy chest down them, scraping off chunks of stair.
Any idiot can tell you if you lift a pressboard microwave stand from the top and hold it at a 45-degree angle, the sides are going to snap. Clearly, that guy wasn't just any idiot.
They broke three other items due to improper stacking (i.e. putting boxes on their sides; placing heavy items atop more fragile ones). They also twice dropped bins/boxes on their way off the truck, but fortunately neither lapse involved anything breakable.
Two of the movers barely spoke a lick of English. You'd think, as movers, they'd at least know the names for the rooms in a standard house. Nope. Bathroom, bedroom, basement, all the same to these guys. I had to explain "kitchen." They started leaving half the boxes in our garage rather than ask where they should go. Even the two who knew English left heavy items in completely different spots (or rooms) from where we specified.
It took 4 guys 10 hours for what was estimated to be an 8-hour job for 3. And that was with me moving just as much as they did the last two hours, simply to ensure things ended up in right place. In the end, only 1 guy stuck around inside to help assemble the beds like they were supposed to. (And one of those I had to redo later, since they'd mixed up the parts from two different bed frames.)
Nice guy that I am, I bought them lunch midway through, and despite all the trouble they caused, I tipped them each $20 a piece.
Then they stole our ladders.
They stole your ladders?
ReplyDeleteOur movers were super impressed with the amount of organization I put into the packing and moving process (Well, at least they claimed to be...) and said more than once that I should consult for them to better teach them how to do their job. And after just the pre-move inventory experience, I had to agree.
After watching them attempt to put one bed together, I didn't even let them attempt the others. It was easier to do it myself.
Plus, they played with my sword collection right in front of me, and I did not find that the least bit amusing.
But yeah, I also tipped them $20 each.
They played with your sword collection? At least everything else was plain stupidity, but that was just rude.
DeleteBut yeah, they stole our ladders. I'll have to share that story in more detail later this week.