I Never Met a Mover I Liked...Until Now

I've had some bad luck with movers in teh past. OK, we all know there's no such thing as luck, so let me rephrase and say that I've unfortunately attracted some crappy movers in my life.

Since I lived at home until I got married (true story!) I have only moved a few times, all of which were local moves (same city).

The first time, we got totally scammed. We were quoted a price and told we could pay with a personal check. When the movers arrived (complete with foul attitudes!) they loaded everything on the truck, drove to the destination and then insisted on cash. If we didnt' pay cash, they would leave with all our stuff. We were young and naive, so we went to an ATM, withdrew cash and told them they better finish within a certain amount of time or we were suing the company. They finished barely within time (within minutes of being at the maximum time) and they were completely rude the whole time.

The next time we moved, we didn't take the lowest bid. We thought we were hiring professionals. Only the driver was on time and when one of hte workers showed up, he was either drunk or stoned. The labor force in New Orleans has never been what you would call "desirable." Nowadays, it's just plain sparse post-Katrina. These guys beat up our furniture like you can't even imagine. It was pretty pathetic.

The last time we moved, we borrowed a truck and conned some of our friends into helping in exxchange for beer and pizza. Our freinds were much more careful than the last moving company, but it took forever and was really hard work for all of us. Plus, who wants their friends to see exactly how much crap they have? It can be somewhat embarrassing.

But THIS time, we got the kingpin of all movers.

This guy actually takes pride in his work. he's been in the business for about 30 years, adn he really knows what he's doing. The Allied motto is "the careful movers" and that he certainly was. He brought his wife and 3 of their grown boys (temporarily out of school while the Conroe, TX schools make repairs and clean up after Hurricane Rita) and they all worked well as a team. His wife was bragging on him "he's in the top 20% of all Allied movers, you know!" I thought wow, I'm really glad this is the guy I attracted to move my precious belongings, which I am so grateful to have intact after Hurricane Katrina (or KatRita, as I have taken to calling hte combined efforts of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita on New Orleans).

This guy has had only 2 claims in the past 30 years lodged against him for breaking people's stuff (accidentally). Both times, he learned from his mistakes adn changed his methods to make them even better. Wow, that's impressive. Do you know anyone who has only made 2 mistakes in the past 30 years of their career? You'd be lucky to find a neurosurgeon with that kind of record.

But get this...you might think, well, the guy is just a mover, right? I say, wrong. It doesn't matter WHAT you do for a living, if you are the very best of hte best at it, you are a success in my book. Which this guy certainly is.

Hell, even the garbage men have become valuable, appreciated members of society lately in New Orleans. If you show up to work adn take out my smelly, stinking, food-spoiled-in-my-fridge-because-the-power-was-off-for-10-days garbage and my yard debris from fallen trees, adn my sheetrock adn other stuff removed from my home during repairs post-KatRita, you are a success to me.

This KatRita thing has really taught me to apprecaite people who do their job and refuse to settle for mediocre, good enough or jsut "ok". Anyone who strives for excellence day in and day out, and ESPECIALLY after an adverse situation like Katrita deserves teh title of success story as far as I'm concerned.

My question for you today is this:

Who in your life deserves more appreciation than you're currently giving them, and what tangible step can you take today to show them that you are grateful for their dedication to service?