My son, Derek, got an amazing opportunity in Nashville, TN after graduating with his Master’s Degree in Data Science. After several weeks of searching for an apartment, he finally found one in downtown Nashville and we took a few days off to help him set up the place.
It’s amazing how hard it is to move someone to a new apartment, especially in a different state. My husband and I flew down to Nashville and my son met us there with his friend. They drove the car down there so that he would be able to get around.
The move
When my son moved to Orlando, it was relatively easy. We found a consignment shop and bought all the furniture right away. He had a nice-sized apartment in a high-rise building there.
In Nashville, my son wanted to be downtown. He rented an apartment in a 35 story building right in the heart of the Nashville happenings.
On the first day, we all got up early and headed out to three or four consignment shops. We found nothing. After picking up his mattress from Sam’s Club, I asked one of the workers there if she knew of a furniture store in the area.
“Oh yeah, there’s American Freight. I went there and furnished my entire apartment,” she said with a strong southern accent.
At American Freight
We walked around a huge warehouse filled with furniture. We started to take note of what we wanted. After about four or five items, I called over a salesperson.
“Well, you know, with COVID, we don’t have much in stock,” the salesperson said. “I’ll have to check in the back.”
“If you have in stock, can we get same-day delivery as the signs say?” I asked.
“No, we couldn’t get you in until February,” he said and then walked in the back to see if he had the furniture we wanted. I picked up a paper flyer that was on the table. It said a man with a van.
“Nope, we don’t got,” he told us referring to all the items we were interested in.
When we asked if any of the “sister” stores had inventory in stock, he told us that Antioch may have stock. We asked if he could call. He did at first on one item, but when we asked about other items, he got a little upset and told us to “go to the Antioch store and see if you can get everything there.”
We left with nothing.
At Dinner
As we were driving away from the store, I looked at the website and saw that I could order online. So, I did.
I called the man with the van. He said he could make the pickup for us after he had his tire fixed.
The Next Day
Since we had a little time before the man with the van came, we went to Home Depot and a few other places just to pick up some additional items to furnish the apartment.
We went back to American Freight since we were told that the table and chairs would be in the Nashville location. We didn’t want the moving man to have to go to two locations.
When we got to the Nashville location a man in overalls who looked like Joey Ramone but much shorter, tried to help us. He went into the back to look for our order. He couldn’t find it.
He came back, looked on the computer, found it and went in the back. When he came back he had the table.
“Go meet me around the loading dock,” he said.
We did and we waited. We waited and waited and waited and waited.
I went inside…
At this point, I was starting to fume. I went inside and found the guy who looked like Joey Ramone. “What’s happening?” I asked.
“Well, there’s a computer issue and I need to wait for my manager. She just went to lunch and will be back in 35 minutes,” he said. “Sorry about this.”
I didn’t say anything to him but quickly left the store and told my husband and son, “we have to leave.”
I was nervous that we would miss the moving guy.
Waiting for the Moving Man
We went back to Derek’s new apartment and started to put together some of the items for his apartment. Now it was 1:30 pm. The moving man said he would be there at 1 pm at the latest. I called him again. “What’s your ETA?” I asked.
“Well, I was having a little trouble with American Freight. They couldn’t find your order. They finally loaded up the truck. I’m on my way. I’ll be there around 2:30 pm.,” he said.
At 2:35 pm
The man with a van arrived in front of the building. We went downstairs and found out that you needed to schedule an appointment to get to the loading dock. Someone had it for the day. Now I was really fuming. I thought the moving guy was going to leave. The front desk didn’t want to budge.
That’s when I started to lose it a bit and said, “I’m sorry but we didn’t know he needed to book the loading dock. We’re leaving tomorrow to go back to New York and this is the only time we have to get the furniture. Can you please make an exception?”
The woman at the front desk was very nice. She said, “my hands are tied.” That’s when I saw Derek. He went upstairs to talk to the folks who were using the freight elevator.
“They told me they were finished,” he told the woman at the front desk.
Meanwhile, I’m envisioning that this guy with the van would leave. He told me he was leaving that day to visit his mother in South Carolina. My anxiety was high and I wasn’t sure if it would work out.
At the Loading Dock
Derek told me to follow him down to the loading dock. Meanwhile, my knee had been in horrendous pain the entire trip and I was limping at this point. We went down a long driveway to the loading dock and found our guy with the van.
He started to move stuff off the truck.
When the elevators were finally free, we had 30 minutes to get the stuff out of the dock and into the apartment on the 31st floor.
It was a lot of stress but… we got it done!
