What are some of your worst "moving" experiences?

We've all gotten that notice... the "smith" family is moving in/out of our ward and they need all hands on deck Saturday morning... oh, and they have 4 pianos, 2 hide-a-beds, 2 deep freezers and 50 years of food storage... plus a complete wood shop...

You go.. knowing that it's going to be a grueling all day affair... only to find out..

The elder who you are moving IS NOT HOME... he's out of town...

NOTHING is packed up ready to go... AND no packing supplies present... (relief society shows up last second with scotch tape and mix-matched boxes)

... and the 5 strapping teenage boys are not helping at all, in fact, they are playing video games in the living room while you are stepping around them trying to pack stuff in boxes.

That was my last move... NEVER AGAIN.

Any stories out there like this?

I would have said "who wants a soda?" and bolted.

Yes, very very rude to leave like that, almost as rude as they are with being ready :-)

I served as EQP 3 times in multiple wards. Once was in a Phoenix ward that had many young couples who would move in/out every year or two.

I had to organize 100 moving trips over 2 years. If I couldn't get people to sign up that week in church, I'd turn to the phones the week of the move. Nobody would EVER call me back when I phoned them about helping with a move...so I would often be the only male showing up. One year I handled 46 moves, the next year I began learning to say 'no' and only handled 32.

It was hell. often over 100. People were generally frazzled from the stress of moving/packing and often at their worst. Others were never ready. I'd show up (hopefully with others from the ward but often enough by myself) and have the wife say, "Ok, did you bring boxes?"

<palm to forehead>

So glad I'm out.

The proper response to, "Did you bring boxes?" is always, "I'll put you in a pine box."

Copied and pasted from this blog: http://elderwestonbonny.blogspot.ca/ (at least they're doing more service here rather than proselytizing).

Friday was Canada Day, and boy was it an adventure. We started out the day with weekly planning, which is about the least adventurous thing about being a missionary, then went and got some donair poutine and shakes with some Elders in our district for lunch to celebrate Canada Day. Not long after that they texted us and asked us to help someone move with them, so of course we said yes. Little did any of us or the 7 other missionaries who ended up helping know that the move would take the whole rest of the day! It was brutal! We loaded and unloaded two 45 foot truck loads to the very top full of stuff for a non-member lady. I don't understand how one person can have so much stuff haha.... It was definitely the most crazy, hard move any of us had ever done. My forearms and hands were sore, bruised, scratched and mangled the next day. We even had to end up staying out helping way past our curfew because they only had the truck for the night.... It was just not the best situation ever, and we had a hard time helping the mission president understand the late night, but it was definitely an adventure for sure, and the lady was very appreciative of our help.

A story of missionaries being conned and exploited by a couple of non-members. Kind of how the church routinely cons and exploit its missionaries. Seriously though, how they got roped into doing something like that is ridiculous. If that woman had paid for that kind of Labor, she would have been out hundreds and hundreds of dollars, if not more.

I read a blog where it was a just a routine move, just a normal apartment, at the request of a lady who heard from a friend that mormon missionaries LOVED to help people. While the elders were helping her load up her rental truck, they asked her where she was moving to. This was in San Diego. When she said the move was to Las Vegas, they eagerly told her that there were missionaries in Las Vegas!

So naturally she asked if the Vegas elders would help her unload. They said of course and called the Vegas mission, once they got her address in Vegas and provided her name and phone number. The elder whose blog reported this hoped the lady's heart was touched.

Sweet, huh? Free moving service for anybody who knows about it!

here is one from the other side- I was pregnant, with two little kids, no family in the area. Been in the ward for almost 4 years, had the missionaries(sisters) over for dinner all the time and we needed help loading up our truck(husband is a nevermo). I asked the missionaries to get the elders, asked the Relief society president and the bishop- all said "okay, we will make sure someone is there) I know moving people is a crappy job, and we would have hired movers but we really had no money what so ever. We were moving because of a job and they did not help with the expenses at all. So, I made cookies and lemonade and we started moving things in the truck.
no one else ever showed up.
My husband had to leave that day because of work and I had to stay for a week with no car and two kids(ages 2&3) for some reason(don't recall now) and no one came to see if we were okay or called to see if we needed anything or if we got moved okay- nothing. Another time I asked the bishops wife,(bishop wasn't home) if I could get help unloading our moving truck because my husband was going out of town for a week and we needed to get it done before he left. again, no family anywhere near, new to the area so no friends. She told me that because she is a christian , they don't work on sundays then hung up on me. So we unloaded the truck with a 4 yr old, 3 yr old and a 3 month old. When I went to that church, everyone told me how nice the bishops wife is and how wonderful and what a great example she is. blah!we have helped several people move but it was always crickets when we needed the help.

Since it was for a non-member, they surely used it also as a proselytizing opportunity!

A single, inactive sister, mid-50s, is getting evicted from her low-rent apartment. A bunch of us show up to help out. Same schtick: nothing packed, no boxes, etc. Here's the best part: her 30-yr old son, unemployed and not interested in looking, living with her, is in the home and has made absolutely no effort to assist in any of the moving process. In fact, the bishop decided to bring his 8-yr old son to the project, and the boy followed me into the bedroom of the 30-yr old son just in time to see him gathering up his rather substantial porn collection...all on DVDs, neatly stacked in a milk crate. The bishop's son seemed fascinated by the photographs on the covers of the DVDs while his dad was nowhere to be found (he was in the living room talking to the older sister about her eviction). There was absolutely no "vetting" of this sister's home or situation...the bishop knew her and that she had an adult son living with her, but he didn't let anybody else in on that little nugget of wisdom.

My participation in this "project" came to a screeching halt as I was helping somebody carry the adult son's mattress and box springs to the dumpster...the evidence of bedbug infestation was abundantly clear. I kept the bedding as far away from my body as possible. Upon returning to the apartment, I spoke briefly to the sister, wishing her luck in her move, and saying, in the kindest way I could think of, that I could NOT risk bringing bedbugs back to my home and because of that I would have to leave. As the bishop and other guys stood watching, I calmly got in my truck and drove away. That was my last experience with moving anybody in TSCC. I still have the bumper sticker saying: "Yes, this is my truck. No, I will not help you move."

I had to dispose of my clothing after that little project.

My wife and I took advantage of the elders quorum for moving a little after we were married. But we made sure that everything was packed when they got there. All we needed them for the muscle to put the boxes and furniture into the uhaul. And the Tetris skills to get it all to fit.

There's no way I would want them going through my stuff packing it up. But I've been to several moves where we show up and nothing is done. They even expected us to empty and pack their drawers and closets for them. I could never understand how they could could be so comfortable letting someone they barely know from church go through their underwear and personal stuff.

the last move I did, nothing was ready, the apartment was trashed, all the furniture was cardboard. I'm not sure why since she was a professional making like $60,000. Some people live like pigs even though they have good jobs?

Horrible experience #1: I'm a missionary and a member wants help moving a bunch of stuff--well, like most everything in her house--into storage. We get some people together and it's an all-day event. Most is CRAP like bags of old magazines. A week later we find out that her husband was out of town and she was leaving him...so we cleaned out the house for her.

(A couple months later she came up to my companion and me at church to say she needed help moving stuff out of storage. My companion simply said, "No" and walked away. I slowly followed him.)

Horrible experience #2: Wasn't _that_ bad, but a new member showed up with a semi-truck (his) filled with all their stuff and what seemed like hundreds of boxes of food storage. And a lot of metal beams and real heavy stuff. The only good thing was that, for some unusual reason, there were about 30 people who showed up to help. Often it's about five. So the sheer amount of stuff was just crazy to see, yet made a bit easier by enough dumb people showing up.

I wonder how this custom started among Mormons? Nevermos either move themselves, hire movers, or enlist the aid of family or close friends.

This is the policy I would suggest for EQPs: "We will only help move (as a church activity) those members who are elderly, disabled, or who do not own any sort of vehicle. All boxes must be packed and ready to go unless you are physically unable to do so and have made previous arrangements with the EQP."

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Some people seem to feel they are earning points in heaven when they let others take advantage of them. I use to be one of those people. Then, when I came to realize that this was heaven, I started making boundaries and sticking to them. I get called selfish at times when I say "No".

Yeah, let someone walk all over me while they are the one's taking advantage of others and demanding THEIR needs/wants be met.

Free loaders, do not look in my direction anymore, you just might get a horse laugh and a neigh.

Sister Crazy's husband was in the presidency. She demanded so much of the ward that people in the ward were openly talking about her. They decided to move and naturally, the EQ was going to do the heavy lifting.

Everyone showed up at the appointed time and place. Sister Crazy had not bothered to pack anything in boxes. So the EQ started moving the washer, dryer, etc. finally, it came down to the fridge. Sister Crazy freaked out and started yelling at everybody that she wasn't going to pack the food in the fridge, period. (It was full of a couple dozen eggs and food packed in everywhere.)

Sister started screaming at the EQ President as he tried to explain that things could get broken during the move. Finally, he had a WTF moment and said, "Just move it as is!" It was placed in the back of a pickup. Sister started screaming at the driver to speed things up. The driver took a corner too fast, and the fridge (decorated on the outside with pictures of the family held on by magnets) flipped over the side of the truck and landed in the middle of the street. Sister shrieked at everyone to leave the fridge and get on with the move. The fridge remained on its side in the middle of the street.

The next week, Sister Crazy proudly proclaimed to everyone that the bishop bought her a new fridge because the EQ ruined her old one. There were many pissed elders after hearing the news. The bishop continued to try to placate the Crazies until they moved to a new Ward.

That was the last time I ever helped someone move, or lay sod.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2016 06:46PM by BYU Boner.

Worst moving experience was with my non-Mormon brother-in-law. He was on the phone the entire time trying to sell a couch. Then he asked us for money after we moved him saying he did not have enough for rent, meanwhile he had plenty of money for cigarettes and pot.

So this is not exclusive to Mormons.

I was in the Relief Society and "volunteered" to help a young couple with 3 children move. They moved still within the ward boundaries. They gave me keys to their house and I packed all kinds of boxes until I was exhausted and finally woke up and thought, what the hell am I doing? These people were on vacation in Utah and thought nothing of asking others to pack for them. I just cannot believe how stupid I was to do this. When it came time for the move, the EQ came with a few men and they were disgusted that they were not all packed and ready to go. There was complaining and frustrated looks circulating. I had never asked the church for anything. The gall or the desperation it takes....And these were young healthy individuals....OMG

We live in a large home, with an "in-law apartment" built on one wing. It's a very nice 2-bed apartment, totally self contained, with a separate entrance. My husbands TBM widowed mother left to serve a mission on the East coast, and of course, our vacant apartment apparently was immediately the subject of much discussion in the ward welfare meetings as to it's possible use for the needy - so we heard anyway. Much to my surprise we get a call from the neighboring bishop, "Hello brother and sister so and so, we have a dear sister in ward X, who is being evicted. We need a place for her and her two children to move immediately. Would you be so kind as to let her move there for a month, while we find her more permanent lodging?" My husband, a wavering TBM at the time, reluctantly said yes.

To make a long story short, the next day about 10 so called brethren from the adjacent ward showed up w/ a large moving truck. They had her moved in with a few hours. Come to find out that she had a restraining order against her x-husband who had been in prison for armed assault. He was looking for her, and it had nothing to do w/ eviction. She was hiding out in our house. It was the craziest thing we had ever experienced. They jeopardized our safety. The woman was there for over 6 months. That was the last straw for us - that and finding out that Joe Smith was a pedophile. After 100 years of being faithful latter day saints between us - we left and never looked back.

Yeah, but at least one or the other of the two involved bishops paid you her rent, right? Right? ....right???

LOL...AND THAT WAS ANOTHER THING...not one red cent, nadda, el-zippo. We don't mind helping people in need, but they should have disclosed the true circumstances surrounding the situation.

There was this completely inactive crazy old lady who had to move out of a little house in the country. I never saw her at church either before or after the move. She only called the church for help moving because she was a member and didn't have anybody else to turn to. To paint a mental image, she looked like the actress from "Throw Momma From The Train." We got to her house, and discovered that she was a serious hoarder. Her house was packed floor-to-ceiling with old newspapers, bric-a-brac, junky old dolls, etc. She set up at flea markets on weekends and sold the crap that she kept in her house. She also had a lot of old home-canned goods, some of which were bad and smelly, that we had to throw out.

I had a big old Ford F-250 Supercab truck at the time, so I got the privilege of loading most of the junk. After being there just a few minutes, we told her that we had to make the decision to throw out a lot of useless or ruined stuff. She fretted and complained, but we had no choice. She was moving into an apartment, and she couldn't fit all that crap in there. It took us most of a Saturday to finish. A hot, stinking, nauseating mess.