U-Haul
July 30, 1996
Score one for Connecticut! There is something nice about summer barely reaching us here in the American Arctic after all: it doesn't get too hot inside when the power goes out for eight hours.
About nine o'clock this morning I was busily packing and listening to the radio when I suddenly realized that I wasn't listening to the radio anymore. As it turned out I wasn't going to be doing anything requiring electricity until 5:03pm GSST (G-Shock Standard Time) when I finally heard my refrigerator kick back on.
Don't worry, whoever cut off the power made up for it by turning off the hot water too.
Hey, I found a new way to get rid solicitors. A kid selling subscriptions to the Hartford Courant (the newspaper here) knocked on my door today and asked if I'd like to try a subscription to the paper. "Nope," I said. "I'm moving tomorrow."
It worked like a charm.
Of course, I could have used the old standby, "No thanks, I'm still on parole for killing the last kid who tried to sell me a newspaper subscription," but I've noticed that takes some time to sink in before they understand what I'm saying. Besides, I'm really trying to control my violent tendencies.
I almost wanted to kill a U-Haul employee yesterday. We'll call him "Rex," since that's his name. He called me at 7:14am which I noticed because I wondered what moron could be calling at that ungodly hour of the day (at least to those of us who like to stay awake until we see color bars on at least half the TV channels).
I soon found out. "This is Rex," he said. "From U-Haul?" he said like he worried I had never heard of him or of U-Haul even though he had taken my reservation just a few days before. "We can't get the truck you wanted for Wednesday. We don't have any 10 foot vans available," said Rex. "But I didn't want a 10 foot van," I said. "I wanted the 14 foot truck, you idiot!" O.K. so I didn't say the last two words out loud but I would have just been stating fact if I had. I had talked to this guy for a good ten to fifteen minutes making the reservation, getting the prices, asking questions he had to put me on hold to find answers to and he had still screwed it up.
"Oh, you want the 14 foot truck? Well that should be no problem. You're all set then. I was worried because the 10 foot truck doesn't have the tow ball on its rear bumper."
He's worried? Now I'm worried because this guy with the intelligence of an inbred Neanderthal is in charge of arranging my truck rental and he can't seem to keep straight which truck I want.
I can't wait to see what awaits me when I show up at the U-Haul place tomorrow.
While I'm on the subject of people who don't seem to have their act together, I called Williams Rental today. They still haven't heard from the tenants. I said, "they are actually moving out, aren't they?" "Oh, yes," the woman on the phone assured me. She just doesn't know when.
Ready or not, here I come.
Take care,
John
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©1997-2000 John McQuiston