Skip to main content

mover quote

"They could train baboons to do this job."

Actually, I first heard this quote while working in a large distribution center, loading trailers. One of the guys that worked there used to say that at least once a day. His name was Dave Barney. He usually said it in a way that let you know he was mocking the whole lot of us, but there was always a hint of anger around the edges, just to make sure that you knew that he meant it.

A few years later I hear this same quote again at a moving company. One of the drivers that I used to work with sporadically would say this every once in awhile. (He had several other statements that would flow out of his mouth, but I won't get into that right now.) The quote would normally show itself shortly after a discussion on the right way to pick up a sleeper-sofa. If you didn't pick it up right away, sure enough you would hear it. Even though he wanted you to know that his years of experience had taught him the right way to move things, he also wanted to let you know that it wasn't rocket science.

Movers are for the most part a proud group. They are proud of what they do and they feel that you could probably learn a trick or two from them. Whenever I work with a mover, I will always probe their mind for ideas when I am trying to move something into a place that seems formidable. Most of the time I will pick up a new trick.

The new ideas that I have learned are usually followed by this thought, "...Baboons probably could have figured that out. I mean really, roosters can learn to press buttons, and Pavlov's dog will salivate with the ringing of a bell. Surely even a baboon could have figured this out given enough time and bananas." When I venture to speak my feelings on the baboon's abilities as a mover, it is usually greeted with a hearty round of agreement from all of the other movers present.

Every once in awhile I get a little bit of a reminder as to how true this really is. Here is a little example that I thought all of my readers might enjoy.

This box was packed in Kentucky, by a Kentuckian. (For a moment I thought it was French...)

Comments

  1. Maybe they had packed books inside that were in the West Germanic language "Frisian". Frisial maybe is the English spelling of the language.
    http://www.ned.univie.ac.at/publicaties/taalgeschiedenis/en/fries.htm

    Hey, stranger things have happened.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And THAT, my friend, is why I have always loved you G-knee! You crack me up!

    Miss you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey lay off us Tuckians we's all's ainting so stupide.

    Least we can play usen's some baskatbull.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "very fragile"?????? ....cloooose...... lol hey! you left a comment a while ago lamenting that i am bad at trig. yes, it's true uncle matt, but definitely not because of you- functions are as easy to understand as cheese factories! i've been working hard at it, and hopefully i can ace the next exam- 7 days from now EEPS!
    hope everything is going SPLENDIDLY for everyone!!! *life is peachy here :D*

    ReplyDelete
  5. You alright over there?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Leave a thought of your own.

Popular posts from this blog

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.) Introduction Corn Fields in Illinois I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

This too shall pass...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome!  According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written.  If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events?   Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...

The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.