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Post by Fechak on Mar 15, 2007 15:46:48 GMT -5
Ok so yeah I know what you're thinking - any moving weekend is hell. But what I'm about to tell you is among the bottom levels of the moving hell, like the ninth circle or quarum... whatever goes on down there, it's bad.
Setup: Got a new job... moving out to the beach... woman moving in with me.
So that's enough to make your head spin right there. New job brings a bit of anticipation stress. Moving to the beach is cheap *cough*. And woman moving in... well yeah... cold sweat time for some of us. So basically what I needed to get through it was a picture perfect weekend so I could relax and get started with the new job the following Monday, but of course, God had other plans... namely, attempting to break my will in two.
Before moving week, I went off to LA for training and stayed in a posh hotel for a week - it was great! I could live on room service all my life I suppose... and the fact that a sorority convention was staying at our hotel as well didn't hurt. Well the Monday I arrived, they didn't have my name in the group reservations, so I put my card down on it and figured it would be fixed up later. I go through training and whatnot, and the hotel staff says my card is cleared and everything is good! So I go off on my merry way. The next day I check my account and notice that the grand was pulled from my card... hmm... well no biggie, just a phone call will fix things, so I place that phone call on 2/27. Keep that date in your head...
So I took the week off before moving to pack and get things in order, that was nice, haven't had time off in I don't know how long. Up to this point, God hasn't taken notice to my little perfect life, but it must have been right around this time that he looked over at me and cackled to himself at all the fun he was about to have.
Plan: Move Friday (3/2) using a Uhaul truck for what little big stuff I have. Parents happen to not be working so they're going to help - have the upstairs portion of a duplex so it's going to be fun.
So my girl drops me off at Uhaul and I drop the 300 bucks to get the damn thing to the coast, run over to my house, load up the big stuff and head out to my mom's workplace - they have a fridge they're going to donate to the cause.
So far so good... little did I know my troubles had begun the night previous.
To be continued... DUN DUN DUN
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Post by Val on Mar 15, 2007 21:14:14 GMT -5
This kind of story makes me shiver with anticipation, I love a good crappy weekend story.
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Post by Fechak on Mar 16, 2007 14:16:57 GMT -5
So begins the sad portion of the story, the rest you guys can laugh at. On my way out to my mum's workplace, she calls me all freaked out because our old dog Shelby is home throwing up some sort of foam or something - not good, fluids in the lungs. The old girl was 16 or so and her spleen gave way. The only good part of this story is that one of my little sisters came home early to find her like this, so my mom was able to take her to the vet. I say that's good because otherwise she would have been in a terrible deal of pain for a terrible long time and of course one of my sisters would have come home to find her dead which I think would have been much more traumatic... anyway, morbid details aside, the girl had a great life and she will be missed.
What that meant for me at the time was having to load a fridge all by myself into the truck... that was fun. The people that work in her office are all dainty women and dainty men that weren't about to get their $200 slacks dirty (someone actually told me that). So I load the damn thing up, get it wedged into the front without any kind of cargo control, and pray I don't hit too many potholes.
So there I was cruising down the infamous 91 freeway at a governed 70mph (this drove me insane) in my 14 ft Uhaul... all is right with the world. I'm trying to figure out exactly how my woman and I are going to get all this heavy stuff up the stairs (she was already done with the whole moving thing and we were only halfway there). When I get to my woman's house, we load up a bit more stuff and take a breather.
It was here that I just about popped a top. I went online to check my account and see if they've finally refunded my thousand bucks and see my account balance at............ zero.
wtf?
Even though a grand was stolen from me by the hotel, I still had about 1700 left over in my account which was going to go for rent and food for the next couple weeks... and it was gone. I click on to my account and see that the actual total of my account was dipped well into the negative. Why you ask? Check this out...
03/01/2007 PAYPAL DES INST XFER ID xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx INDN SHANE DUFF CO ID PAYPALSI66 WEB REF xxxxxxxxxxx $2,000.00 -$516.17
That 2k was a withdrawl... and the -516,17 was my new balance. Not posted was the 9 or so transactions I put on my card like gas, rental, etc... all these pushed my balance further into the negative and I knew that the 9 or so overdraft fees were going to add up fast.
Problem: I had 2k stolen from me through a paypal hack.
Problem: Even if I could get my money back, it's not going to be today (3/2)
Problem: My landlord is going to be at the unit to get my first month's rent and hand over the keys in about an hour.
[insert head popping here]
I call the bank, they can't do anything, call paypal. I call paypal, they start a claim... give us 7-10 days, have a good day.
If you think that was all that could possibly happen in a weekend, think again... to be continued... again...
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Post by Emizael on Mar 17, 2007 21:32:01 GMT -5
Holy hell, dude. You win the Shitty Weekend award with just what's here...
Oh man..someone buy him a beer...or ten..
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Post by Fechak on Mar 19, 2007 13:49:28 GMT -5
So I call my landlord - he's actually a really cool guy - and I tell him what happened and I was going to borrow or steal the money come hell or high water so that he would have the rent no matter what the next day. He was supportive, but appreciated the effort in getting the promised money over ASAP. Luckily, I have a rich sister and bro-in-law. They just got like 13k back from a tax return so I put in the call and got the check. Enough to pay for rent and a bit of spending money for the 7-10 days it would take to get my money back. Ok so... disaster is averted, just need to wait... and wait... and wait...
So I finally get to the damn new place I'll be living in quite pissed off. There's not much parking so I decided to park at a church (it was Friday) for a few minutes to catch my breath and look for someplace to park. So the instant I park, this old guy comes out of a house across the street yelling at me, here is the exact exchange:
Old Guy (OG): That's private parking ((Notice no, I'm sorry... please...)) Me: Oh, I'll be just a minute, is that ok? OG: That's private parking. ((Probably a salesman, didn't even address the question)) Me: Yeah I know, is it ok if I just stay here for a minute. OG: No, I'm sorry. ((Oh ok, thanks for the apology.)) Me: This is a church, right? OG: Yes and it's private parking. Me: It's Friday, right? OG: Yes... ((He was getting annoyed)) Me: No like.... forgiveness or kindness in church these days? OG: You're going to need to move right away. ((Shouldn't have said that...))
So without another word I hop back in and drive around the block until I just say fuck it and park behind the place in the alley (basically taking up the entire area). I'm alone at this point, my woman is gathering up misc. stuff back at her place, so I start to offload the stuff I can handle on my own up the stairs... again... and again... and again. I hate stairs. What I hate about moving into our particular home is the immediate left turn from the entryway (about 4'x4') where the door doesn't open all the way since it'll hit the wall, up the steep stairs to the living room. Other than that the place is awesome (I'll have to include some pics at some point).
I figure by now, I'm going to have to keep the uhaul and extra day and bite the losses, but it's around this time that my mum calls - trooper that she is - and says they're on their way after breaking the news about Shelby to my little sisters as they come home from school.
I'm tired... and it takes a good 2 hours to get to my new place from the Inland this time of day... this means a night time moving of the fridge and bed and all that crap. Yay... oh well, at least I'll have help and free beer... all good things. Anyway, two boring hours later they arrive and we get to moving the heavy stuff. When we get to the fridge, we have to do it by hand since the dolley will not fit into the entryway (we tried everything). So it was tipped over a bit and we muscled it up two stairs at a time. When we were done we saw the devastation. The old compressor leaked oil all over the - brand new - carpet leading up the stairs.
This and more carpet destruction - here and in Long Beach to come!
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Post by Polrena on Mar 19, 2007 15:35:04 GMT -5
Jeez Fech. Even the church? What did you do to piss the Big Guy off, anyhow?
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Post by Val on Mar 19, 2007 15:45:31 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I've actually had nearly the exact same incident with a church parking lot. "Not in a Uhaul, but a really big Van."
Rather than talking to him, I figured that since Church has never been a private institution, that this guy is a turd sammich. I just kinda did my buisness, (buisness being that I needed to check a flat) and ignored the guy until he went inside.
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Post by Gudran on Mar 19, 2007 17:40:51 GMT -5
Jeez... if you ever move up to San Jose, I'll be glad to ease your pain and help ya out. Oh yeah, damn pigeons...
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Post by Fechak on Mar 21, 2007 14:31:53 GMT -5
Ok so where was I? Oh yeah... carpet destruction...
Fortunately, my mom is one of those super moms that can fix anything really, so she runs off to the store and gets some beer and cleaning supplies. I requested them in that order of course. As we wrapped up the minor stuff after the fridge, mom came back and magically got the oil up off the carpet.
We share a few beers, but we cut it short so that I can go to my sisters place and pick up the check - also get into an alternate state of mind so to speak. It was needed and damnit, quite deserved. I figure for now, anyway, my problems were over... I mean what else could possibly go wrong? My money issues will get solved here eventually, nothing immediate... whew...
You know how history tells us that when a civilization gets comfortable and there is a time of peace they tend to get their asses handed to them by some unknown threat? Well...
It was 1am as I left my sisters. I was... well I was relaxed, very much so. I was beyond exhausted, I couldn't believe all this happened in one day. Well I guess technically it was the next day, but you get my meaning. We were going to stay at her mom's place since there was no internet at the new place yet, so on our way up from the Irvine area into the Long Beach area, we get the 2nd frantic call from a mother in the same day (yeah not technically I know, but I was still awake).
My girlfriend's house is flooding.
It was right around here that I just wanted to pull over and curl up into a fetal position... maybe cry myself to sleep.
Apparently, a pipe burst underneath the sink IN the wall. Yes in the wall, and had been going for some time before her mother noticed it (she was sleeping in the back of the house). There was literally water flooding out the front door and garage when we pulled up. A neighbor had a shopvac and was trying to suck it all up. Her mom lost all sense of logic leaving the doors open for the inside-only cats. They were out in the yard exploring the wet grass when we got there. That was fun to chase them around. I guess no one thought to turn off the main (no one knew where it was) so I went ahead and did that. For my troubles I got to help move... furniture... again... out of the way of the water.
3:30 comes around... the adrenaline is gone... I'm done. But there is still work that needs to be done. I'm pulling up carpet at first to let the padding air out, but it's sopping wet so I give up, so I then just sit on the couches in the corner and watch the women go insane.
Next thing I knew, I wake up on the couch and it was light out... it smells like old wet carpet and I'm sore. It's Sunday now and I have to work tomorrow, I check my cell and see a missed call from my new boss... my voicemail says I don't have to come in Monday... there is a God... at least that's what I thought.
His big plan for me Monday was to wait for the Verizon guy (they said he'd be out between 8 and 5... yeah... that's what I said). The Verizon guy showed up at 6:40 and proceeded to tell me it'll take him about 4 hours.
Well... good news, it only took him 3h25m.
When I was up and running at around 11 it was the end of The Weekend. After an... entire... day of waiting with - nothing - to do (no TV, no movies, no nothing) I was just about done with everything. I crash around midnight and get ready for my first day of work the next day.
I'm happy to report that all the weekends since that one, have been fucking amazing in comparison.
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Post by Fechak on Mar 21, 2007 15:21:11 GMT -5
Aftermath...
I got my 2k back and was refunded relatively promptly.
The hotel money was just put into my account today... not quite a month.
Girlfriend's mom is happy, her insurance is going to get her a new living room and kitchen.
Work is good, woman is great, living situation fantastic. So far, so good.
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Post by Gudran on Mar 21, 2007 16:35:47 GMT -5
Now it's time to go to church every weekend, and you'll be set! Crazy story Fech. Hope life stays better after this fiasco of a weekend. Crazy...
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Post by Kanammer on Mar 22, 2007 7:39:30 GMT -5
An even better thing to add to your story Fech... Today, you are now one year closer to retirement ( Happy Birthday hehe ) Edit: Huked on fowniks wurked fer me
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Post by Annalira Delshannon on Mar 22, 2007 9:24:19 GMT -5
Happy Birthday Fech!
And... well... there's a saying in performance that if the dress rehearsal goes to hell in a handbasket, then the actual show will be wonderful.
Hopefully that's true for you too - you got your taste of chaos, and now things will be clear sailing.
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Post by Fechak on Mar 22, 2007 10:42:07 GMT -5
Thanks for the wishes ya'll! Probably won't see you much this weekend, but anyhow I'll see ya soon.
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Post by Robbyn Jonathan on Mar 22, 2007 17:50:01 GMT -5
*sniff* I love a happy ending...
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