Movin' Furniture

Budget: -$397.19

A past comment from Matthew Marchesi came back to haunt me today.

I walked back to the office in the afternoon and was given my work ticket, along with a pair of gloves.


I was also given vague directions to where I was going. They were so vague that I used my extra time to go to the library and get a map to figure out how to really get there. Then I set out, through miserable wind and rain, to walk what was supposed to be a couple of miles to the address.

Of course, I missed a turn, and then relied on my navigation skills—which are rather poor in the rain, when there's no sun and no stars—to follow some cross between a spiral and a zigzag to the address.

I got there first, so I started carrying TVs, couches and random marble slabs down the stairs and outside as instructed. Joe arrived a bit later and joined in. Even before he arrived, I was feeling light-headed, and wondering whether I had randomly developed some condition such that I could no longer handle physical exertion and would have to call off the trip.

But soon we'd carried everything down, the truck with the replacement stuff still hadn't arrived, and Joe asked for a drink of water. Thank God. I was normal. I asked for a drink of water too.

Two hours passed. Still no truck. Just Joe and me, hanging out. I'd started feeling hungry before I'd even arrived. I broke down and ate half of a granola bar I'd brought with me. I gave Joe the other half.

Finally, Dawn, the homeowner, told us she'd called the company and the truck wasn't coming for another 45 minutes. We went around the corner to a convenience store and I bought a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. The store had tables and chairs, so I sat there and had a feast. I was in heaven.

Then Joe and I walked back out into the miserable rain, watched the truck arrive, unloaded it, and carried all the stuff up the stairs.

Moving couches is awful. Moving everything else is amazingly easy. (The gloves really help, by the way.) Too bad the truck took so long that the office was closed by the time we were done, so I won't get paid until next time I show up, which will probably be Wednesday. It'll be something like $30.

It's getting frustrating to watch my budget creep downward again. I wish at least one of my clients with a balance would finally cut me a check. Perhaps the ever-so-slow Commonwealth of Massachusetts? I've been waiting for its check for a LONG time.