Yesterday my mother moved and I helped her...just wait until you find out what happpened! Lets rewind a moment though...........

A couple days ago my mother leaves me a message while I'm at work asking me to call the moving company she set up for Friday, and ask them a few questions. I caught the guy at a bad time, so he said he'd look at his paperwork at home and call me back. The next day at work I get the call from him, and lo and behold, she hasn't booked them.... and we can't because it's first come first serve, and he already has two others in line. He explained to me that my mother called a week prior, got a quote, and said she might be moving Friday. Since it wasn't definite he explained that she needs to confirm immediately, because it's first come first serve. She never called again. My calling was the only time he heard of it again. He even tried to call her to see if she really did need it....nice of him :) ....but her phone is disconnected.

Dilemma: I was at work, and her phone is disconnected and I now have one day to find a moving company (on a side note, she has to have a moving company because no one will help her move anymore....the last time they did it was a horrendous experience for them all, including my husband). I call my husband frantically, begging him to find someone. Thank goodness he did, around the same price too. I wasn't going to drive 60 miles to her house and back to tell her, so I'm going to tell her early on Friday, there's nothing we can do about it anyways.

Now we can fast foward back to Friday.....the moving day.

I wake up at 6 AM, get ready and drive to her apartment. I tell her about the moving people situation, and she seems fine with it, though she starts getting all critical and huffing and puffing and throwing her arms around when I don't know every answer to her questions about them, remember hubby set it up, not me. I finally tell her, it doesn't really matter....we had no choice and only one day to find someone. We then drive across the city to get the moving truck. Which sucks, because of the three freeways we had to get on, in the middle of morning traffic. SO...we get the truck, she drives it and I drive her car, and we start on our way back. I am following her because I'm not used to the city and its freeways. She takes the wrong freeway, and now we are late getting back to her apartment, and the moving guys are there waiting....and charging because they were there when we asked them to be.

We begin the move. They put the couch cushions on the "attic" part of the truck, and right away my mother begins to bitch at me, saying "see! What did I tell you! They are taking the cushions down, and taking their sweet time when they could have taken them down WITH the couch!" I tell her "oh well"....because it didn't look like they were slacking to me. Later, when they begin taking her paintings out between her couch cushions, she gets defensive saying that she shoved them there so they could go down with the couch. The moving man, very nicely by the way, explains to her that is impossible, because her couches are large, and the door frame is not. They have to lift and carry them out on their sides, which would make everything (including cushions) fall off. Ha! I knew it!

It took a while to pack everything in the truck. It always does, they were even nice enough to take heavy items to the dumpster for me. After over 3 hours we leave to go to her apartment, about 30 miles away...and about 5 minutes from me.

Here's the problem, we get there and she says, "I just have to get the key"......this is bad news already. When you move....YOU GET THE KEY BEFORE THE MOVE BEGINS! Well....another problem pops up, first the apartment manager is not there, and we have to wait. Then, when we sit down with her, she explains she doesn't really have the apartment. My mother shoved a $100.00 money order and application papers through the door after closing, she had talked with them, and the $100.00 was to reserve the apartment. But....everything had to be worked out, when you get an apartment you have to show proof that you make enough. She did not. The manager had tried to call her.....BUT HER PHONE IS DISCONNECTED! And my mother did not call the apartment before this? Why not???? You don't just assume everything is ok, especially when it entails moving and $100's of dollars she does not have.

The manager explains that my mother's boss (at her new job) only gave a letter saying she worked there and made commission, not HOW much she made. Well of course that would happen....She gets paid based on commision, not hourly, and she DOESN'T have a paystub to show them, because she hasn't gotten paid yet! How does a person just drop off information and money to reserve an apartment, and then NOT talk to them again until the move day! It is not responsible, and the manager was saying that corporate and her own boss will say no to her unless they get proof that she makes enough money (every apartment here is like that, you can't just say you make enough and move in!)

So we don't know what to do at this point. The movers are waiting, the truck is due back that night, and here we are, possibly having to wait until the next day (providing the manager's boss approves it, which she knows she won't) I offer to co-sign, to show my own stubs....but that would require a new application which would take days more. (Later----my husband is upset that I offered that, and rightly so. Luckily I didn't, but he is correct. It isn't just my credit on the line, but his too, so it should be his decision as well). The manager thinks for a moment and says, "well...you're already here. Let's just do this. If I get fired or in trouble, oh well. Get me a money order for the first months rent and deposit, and you can move in. If corporate asks...well....I'll get the verification from you then" Sooo, my mother leaves to get a money order and I stay behind (because at this point I'm feeling a bit sick by all this).

I get a call from my husband, asking me what's going on, because the mover's boss just called him asking what's happening!?! That his movers were contracted for 4-5 hours, and we are already over 5 hours, and his movers called him and said she might not get the key. So I explain to the movers and my husband, and the movers are staying, but me and my husband had to promise they would get paid in cash for however long it took. Meaning: My husband and I have to pay the difference, because my mother only has so much set aside for movers. My husband is pissed....he is a very calm guy, and wow was he upset! He knew this would happen...I should have too. He even made a good point: She knows she needed a pay stub, and didn't have one, so she probably thought if she just showed up they'd let her move in....it sure sounds like her.

The movers and I are waiting......and waiting....and waiting.....for my mother to come back.....

My mother doesn't come back for an hour! She had to get money and go get a money order....which should have NOT taken that long. (Another hour.....still paying the movers for it too!) She then spends almost 30 minutes with the managers filling out more paperwork/lease stuff. This should have already been done! You do that BEFORE you begin to move! Finally, she gets a key and a different apartment. We move the truck and begin to unload....which always goes faster, thank goodness. (Just a note: We don't have that much extra money, we just paid our own rent, and now I have to wait until next pay day to pay our other bills, which makes some of them a few days late) I am pushing myself to move the lighter stuff, so the guys don't have to. I flat out tell my mother, no telling us where it should go (That is what she usually does, sits there and tells everyone where it should go, usually more that one place until it's perfect....and that takes forever and is so trying on the nerves). It goes much faster with only arranging the heavy furniture and placing all the boxes in one area.

A little before they are done, I leave to get money out of the bank. They ask for some soda, and then I realize, it's been 8 hours, and these poor guys must be starving! I feel horrible, even now, for not asking beforehand. I was just so stressed, and I wasn't hungry even after not eating all day...but they must be...and they were! I offer to pick up some food and drinks, they are delighted! I still feel bad, like I have no manners for making sure beforehand :( I get the money, food and drinks, and head back.

They are finished when I get back, and so happy with the food. I pay them, give them each $20.00 tip, and refuse their offer to pay for the food. They were so patient and nice, others might have just left us because 4-5 hours turned into 8 hours. Thank goodness for them :) They leave, and my mother and I leave to return the truck. I don't know the city freeways that well, so I'm following her....but when we get to a split, I know that we should get on a certain freeway....she's not getting over though! I get over, get in her mirror spot, and she still won't budge! I pull foward next to her and in front of her, and all of a sudden, she gets over 2 lanes to the right....to another freeway....and I stay in the left one....where I am supposed to be. (Plus there was no way I would have had time to go over 3 lanes that fast.) I get to the truck place, and wait. I wait about 45 minutes....and she finally pulls up. Instead of taking that freeway back around to another that connects to the right one, she turned around and got lost :( She is SO pissed off when she pulls up, she didn't even fill up the gas tank....which is a mistake because they charge a lot per gallon, plus a gas fee to fill it up. The guy convinces her to go across the street to fill up the tank, because it's so much cheaper. We do, after her trying to get it full on two small amounts....I know she's hurting for cash, and if I had my purse with me, I probably would have paid for it, but luckily I didn't. We return the truck, and head back to her apartment. Where I load up my car with goodwill items, and some stuff I wanted to keep that she was going to toss. We go back to her apartment and I unload the stuff in her car, and hook up her TV. Then she complains about her lamps not being plugged in, and HAVING to do it herself. She complains in a way that makes me feel guilty, so I hooked up her stuff, and finally left.

I got home at 9 PM. I spent from 7 AM - 9 PM moving stuff, I was sore, tired, annoyed, and just angry. It should have taken 5 hours less at least! Most of it I spent waiting for her, so I took a bath, had a drink, and ended up falling asleep in the tub. My hubby got me, and put me to bed. Now...I still worry about her. Worry about if she has enough to eat. Worry how long she'll be in that apartment, that she'll get kicked out because of no proof of how much she makes. Worried that poor manager will get fired for helping her. All I do is worry. My husband tells me to stop, but how can you just stop?