Moving London Ontario
Recently here at University Junk Removal, Alumni Movers and University Mini Movers, we encountered a very special job. I use the word special as I feel it is very hard to properly articulate the goings on of what happened. I could use the term like “hoarding” to describe our most recent endeavour in junk removal and moving, but I feel that wouldn’t do justice to the experience we all were lucky enough to partake in. You see, our usual days of work consist of maximum 10-11 hours of waste removal and/or moving apartments, houses, etc... but not over these three very special days.
To maintain the privacy of the
client, I will not say the city, address, or even allude to this person’s name.
When we did the estimate for the job, it definitely seemed like there
would be a lot of things to be moved, but also even more to be disposed of.
To our surprise, on day one of three, hour one of an eventual 40 over
just three days, we realized that this person was in fact unable to part with
the majority of his/her items. Even after being enlightened of the
importance of each specific piece, pieces that included old 90’s CD samplers
from beer cases, and even paint chips, we still thought that it might only take
our team of two young men about 1.5 days... We were sadly mistaken...
If you
have ever watched the reality shows about people who can’t throw things out,
they always seem to show the most extreme cases, like mental illness and other
very particular circumstances, but we realized that even a high functioning
professional member of society can hoard with the best of them. Our
client, who will remain nameless, is in fact a very successful person in the
field that he/she works in, also very well educated, more than most of us, unfortunately
the house was not representative of his/her work life.
In the
beginning we were asked if we could bring about 25 of our University Green Bins
in order to safely move the items... At the end of day three, and hour forty,
there were upwards of one hundred University Green Bins completely full and 20
extra large moving boxes. To put that in perspective, that is like 100
medium-large sized cardboard moving boxes completely full, and somehow we were able to put the majority
of them into a two bedroom apartment! There were boxes stuffed in
closets, hallways, and even a bathtub. I could go on and on about the
amount of stuff we moved, but this would turn into a 300 page novel, rather
than a weekly article. Let’s just say there was enough stuff that you
could barely see the walls and floors of the new apartment.
The items
that we moved represented a lot more than just material goods, they represented
definite emotional issues that this person was experiencing. I feel like
it is safe to say that no one wants their home to be completely cluttered and
almost impossible to navigate through, but for some reason it can be nearly
impossible for some people to simply throw things away. To be frank, this
was as much of a mental and emotional test on our team as it was a laborious
one. What I mean by that is we had to be part movers and junk removal
guys, but more importantly we had to be very patient and kind to our client in
order to not seem insensitive. Believe me, after two fifteen hour days of
labour in a row, it is not at all easy to be patient. That being said, we
pulled it off, and throughout the entire time we maintained a proper and
adequate level of professionalism while moving.
This
article is not meant to be simply an account of what happened at this job, but
more of a message to our customers that if you feel like you have someone like
the person I’ve described in your social circle, we can help. This job
was a test of our abilities in every capacity, and by then end of it, we
realized most importantly that there virtually isn’t any job that is too big or
intimidating. We learned that we can relate to our clients on a deeper
level than most, and can work with even the most interesting people when it is
necessary. I hope that if you have a “hoarder” or “pack rat” in your
family, that you will not let it go on for too long, and I hope that when you
make the decision to alter the course of your life or someone else’, that you
call us and let us help. We would love nothing more than to be a part of
your life changing transformation.
