At the beginning of the day, Bob assigned Carl, the expert loader, to babysit me. And eventually, I became a kind of errand boy. Bring rubber blanket wrap straps here, take apart the legs on that table there, wrap that piece of furniture (but be careful because the bands really hurt when they spring off and hit you in the eye) and then collapse that wire dog crate (no joke, you need a PHD to figure out how to collapse a wire dog crate without losing a finger …. I had to look at the directions which were hidden under the fluffy dog bed inside).
Here’s what I was NOT doing. I was not picking up brutally heavy pieces of a bedroom suit, bringing them down a flight of stairs, out the front door and onto the trailer. But the two helpers – Will and Josh – from A-1 Pioneer were. As a side note they were as polite as they were huge.
I was not moving 1,000 pounds of fitness weights and incredibly awkward, thick, rubber workout matts that weighed nearly 100 pounds each as they flopped around like giant fish resisting their place on the floor of the trailer.
I was not standing on a ladder inside the trailer loading the shipment with they eye of an artist as he looks at his first sketch on canvas.
“I don’t know if I like that,” said Carl, looking up and surveying the incredible jigsaw puzzle he’d been working on all morning. “Remember that piece upstairs, you know, the one that looked like this, right here…please bring that, it will fit perfectly here.”
Seriously? – How do you even remember that?
And, perhaps most importantly, I was not managing the customer’s expectations at every point during the day. But Bob was. He had brought them doughnuts and coffee in the morning. He had a clear understanding that we had to be done by a certain time because the customer’s kids were attending an important sports event that evening. He checked in with them regularly throughout the day. Toward the end of the day, he vacuumed the house.
Throughout it all, he looked like a professional football coach – clipboard in hand, going through inventories, giving orders where necessary and providing drinks and protein snacks to the guys when they needed a boost.
The customers were thrilled. They hugged Bob and thanked him profusely as they rushed out to their appointment. I concentrated on breathing.
Watch a video from the move here
On the Road with A.J. is a blog series about Executive Vice President of Wheaton World Wide Moving, A.J. Schneider, traveling across the country with truck driver Bob Krumpols of Preferred Movers of Nashville, Tenn. He will be experiencing life on the road while assisting with everyday interstate moves. Follow A.J.’s journey on the Wheaton World Wide Moving blog, Facebook page and Twitter page
