mayflower

**the correct answer to the multiple choice question in my last entry is C.

[the story below is long so bear w/ me]

last year, someone i know (whom i'll refer to as *), made the move from california to washington (state). i was visiting that individual and was present for their move. if you've never dealt with a moving company before, beware. i'd heard bad things, and that they tend to be notorious for lateness and missing items. little did i know that i'd see it first-hand.

* had to be up in seattle to start work on july 1st. our departure date from palo alto was june 26th. given the nature of her work, she didn't have a really flexible schedule and was very specific about when the movers could come get her stuff. that's when mayflower started jerking us around. they said they'd come saturday june 22nd to pick up. then friday they called and said they were on their way, and there was no way we were ready. to make a long story short, it became saturday again. they said they'd pick up the stuff saturday early, but didn't end up coming until saturday at 6pm. the company handling it was mayflower/mont rose moving systems (san jose).

okay, so that's that. when they left, they said that everything would be delivered to seattle either july 3 or 5th. great, right?

no. that's not how it happened at all. to make a long story short, it took an entire month of daily calls asking about a delivery date, and trying to pin them down, before the stuff came.

apparently, the way moving companies work is that they don't pick up your things and drive it directly to your new destination. they pick it up and take it to a local storage lot and leave your stuff there until they have enough goods accumulated to load onto one truck, plus a driver who plans to pass by that route and is headed to your destination. essentially *'s things were in a san jose storage facility for about a month.

it was maddening. finally, on july 19th they said they found a driver who had to drop off stuff in bend,or, then port angeles, wa, and finally one other house in seattle before coming to us. they told us mayflower would be arriving early in the morning saturday the 20th. needless to say, the entire day passed and it was getting dark and they still hadn't come yet, and it took repeated calls and voice mails to the driver's cell phone before we could pin them down.

FINALLY around 8pm, july 20th they arrived with everything. except *'s bicycle and several framed posters. i guess under the circumstances we were lucky nothing was damaged and no huge, valuable items were missing. b/c i hear the claims process can take up to a year or more.

the driver (named j.r.) and his assistant said they were late and had expected to get to us earlier in the day, except that the house they moved things into that afternoon (right before coming to *'s place) had been in a neighborhood called queen anne.

i only drove through queen anne once, but all i can say is that it's this neighborhood on a hill. some of the houses there are pretty nice. apparently the house these guys had unloaded at earlier that day was one of those "queen anne" style homes. they're tricky to move furniture into because while their architecture is interesting, often there are lots of narrow, crooked, steep staircases that are hard to maneuver sofas or beds around.

anyway, i guess one treat for me was that the driver's assistant was pretty cute. in fact, he was hot. i didn't get his name. all i knew was that he was "j.r.'s assistant", and that he lives somewhere in ballard. i never told * that i thought this ballard guy was cute b/c she'd have teased me so much about it if she knew that's what i was thinking. but boy, he was hot in that macho, tough, masculine, rugged way only some guys can be. his arms....mmmmm....(boy i sound like a such a geek saying that)! obviously, as bad as this sounds, a guy working for a moving company isn't normally someone i'd look at or anything, since i doubt we'd have much in common. but there he was and i had to appreciate his looks.

a couple days later, and a few days before i left, * asked for a day off from work and we decided to tear up the city together, driving around and exploring a few spots we hadn't earlier in the month.

among other things, i made a request to her that day:

EMERALDTIGER: "hey can we drive through ballard?"

(she gave me this weird look).

HER RESPONSE: "ballard? *why* do you want to drive through ballard suddenly? don't tell me you met a guy from ballard. do you like someone who lives there??"

EMERALDTIGER: (nonchalantly) "oh, no. nothing like that. i know we already went there earlier in the month. i just thought it was a really cute and quaint neighborhood. the view of the water is really pretty so i wanted to see it one last time before i leave".

....and so we drove through ballard and i was a happy girl.

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why do i write about this now?

1) b/c i never told this story before

2) i was reminded of it saturday afternoon when i was at lowe's and saw a mayflower truck in the parking lot. as i got closer to the truck i noticed that not only was it a mayflower van but that it said "mayflower/mont rose moving systems, san jose, ca" on the side. that's the same company we used. what are the chances of that happening and me seeing that specific company? keep in mind i live far away from there, on the east coast.

unfortunately i didn't see the cute guy from ballard this time, though.

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finally, beware if you ever have to use a moving company. lateness was the biggest problem for us. sure, it was inconvenient having to sleep on an air mattress (it was pretty much like a raft), and having to go to ikea numerous times to put together furniture and make the place more livable. but i've heard horror stories since then (damaged goods, etc).

* told people at work about it and one of the guys there who made a transcontinental move a few years before said that it took the moving company NINE MONTHS to deliver his piano to him. NINE MONTHS!

and that is my mayflower story.

the end.