Tough Times, a day at the ministorage
Today, I had a bit of a realization of how tough the times are.
I was helping my brother move the inventory of his patio furniture business into a mini-storage facility off Lake Street today. Four of us and two professional mover guys spent the majority of the day moving hundreds of boxes by hand from the old warehouse in NE Minneapolis to the third floor of the mini-storage in Uptown. I spent all my time at the mini storage and got a good look at the people who normally use the mini storage.
There was a latino fella who spent a few hours sitting outside of a 4′x6′ locker rooting through his belongings. I saw duffle bags, clothes, perhaps boxes of memories. I noticed a can of water proofing you might spray on your shoes. He was probably in his early 30s and reminded me of the type of guy who has a night job in a factory and goes to the Y during the day to work out. Maybe he couldn’t afford his apartment and had to move everything he had into mini storage and is now camped out on a friend’s sofa until he gets back on his feet.
There was a older white fellow with what looked to be his young son. They looked middle class, or perhaps were trying to look middle class. They burst through the doors of the loading dock with a cart containing a Christmas tree stand, a small tv, and some other assorted things. They had a smile on their face, perhaps inspired by the “warm” weather today, but a sense of desperation was the foundation to their appearance. Maybe that company downtown downsized a few months ago and the house went into forclosure. Maybe the TV was going to the pawn shop to raise a few extra dollars for Christmas dinner.
The was the lone older black man sifting through his locker near the space we were moving in to. He appeared to be sifting through his fishing gear – some ragged looking poles, a ragged looking tacklebox. Maybe he was getting ready to drive with his kid down somewhere south warm where the fish are still biting. Maybe a friend up north invited him up to try out ice fishing for the first time. But, based on the look on his face as I passed by, he was probably selling his fishing gear he had had as a kid in order to make this months rent.
There was the young black family with a bunch of kids. It was the sort of family that college sociology students might claim they are going to the field to help yet when they see on the street – mock for spending money on gawdy clothes and for eating unhealthy fast food. They made numerous trips with cart loads of grocery bags filled with who knows what. I could only imagine it was perhaps everything they had in their home that their dad just couldn’t afford any more. I’m just picturing some skeezy mortgage broker explaining to the parents three years ago : “ARMs are great! I’m confidend the mortgage rates will always be this low!”. I would have been more sypathetic if they wouldn’t have tied up both freight elevators for 40 minutes straight…
Finally, there was us… a bunch of guys annoyed at the fact we had to move the inventory of a failed business started when the economy was good. Now with the economy being bad, my brother wanted to move to a cheaper facility. At this point, he might as well just have rocks he is keeping for sentimental value. When he had the idea for the business, it was a great idea – target the high end patio market. Perhaps, get hooked up with some of those snazzy pre-furnished condos going up all over and get them to buy his patio sets. It sounded great. However, the majority of the condos remain empty. No one has money for expensive patio furniture – perhaps not even cheap patio furniture.
The moral of the story is: the economy sucks right now. Things are hard for everyone. The least (and perhaps best) thing any of us can do is be nice to eachother to help eachother through these times. This financial stink happens now and then and I everyone knows we will get through it. But, until then, we have some dark days, so brighten someone’s if you can.
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About Me
Blaine Garrett is a Minneapolis-based web designer, fine artists, and general jack of all trades. When he is not designing next-generation web applications or feverishly painting away, he dabbles in other creative endeavors as well as enjoying the fruits of the luscious Twin Cities.
Yup! No one wants to get their teeth whitened either at moa. Looks like I might be out of a job soon, and living at the mini*storage with the fisherman. Such a shame…those patio rocks were gorgeous.