Movers From Around The World Share The Weirdest Things They Have Ever Seen On The Job
Every human is unique and, in turn, so are their living quarters. Over the years, people tend to accumulate some weird possessions and belongings (though some a bit stranger than others). Just ask these movers, who recently shared the weirdest things they have ever seen on the job.
45. Box Store Phenomenon
Worked for a couple of summers as a mover. In general, the amount of cheap box store furniture people had surprised me. Not in any one case, there was no "this entire house is from a box store." But EVERYONE had some stuff, and at one point for a month straight I moved the same end table everyday.
44. Musical Experiments
My company was working with a guy who was trying to develop a modern player piano before Sony basically mastered the technology. His house was full of antique music playing machines.
One of them was a player violin. I can't remember exactly how it worked, but it had solenoids for finger positions and some complex mechanism for manipulating the bow. All kinds of interesting stuff at that house.
43. Bulletproof Prank
I worked moving one summer. We were pulling a guy's entire life out of a giant mansion and one of the items was the glass top to a dining room table that must have been 15' long. It got crated up and moved outside and leaned up against the truck. Somehow it got knocked over and we were all sure we were totally screwed and it would be shattered when we opened it up. The guy pretended to be SUPER angry at us until we finally unloaded it at the destination and yelled at us to open it up before we moved it inside.
As soon as we cracked the crate he started laughing his butt off. This dude's dining room table was custom-built around the pane of bulletproof glass from a bank's drive-thru window, which he'd purchased when the branch closed. It was completely fine! But certainly, a 15' by 4' piece of bulletproof glass was very peculiar.
42. Hail The Queen
I once saw a bedroom which was a shrine to Jennifer Aniston. There was a wall of framed photos of her in various poses. Candles (like cheap store-bought candles, not religious ones) and a kneeler like a Catholic Church. So weird.
41. Family Zoo
Moved this family out of their house. The entire house was covered in cat and dog urine. The daughter had a room that had rats, hamsters, mice, and who knows what else roaming free, destroying everything... She didn't care. She had a couch in there that they named "the rat couch." I have to clarify: this was in her bedroom, and she was totally cool with it.
40. Casual Cash
I found $30,000 in cash under a mattress. Also, your everyday rancid fridge/freezer that pops open when you are right there.
Institute for Money, Technology, and Financial Inclusion/Flickr
39. Unsanitary Bird Sanctuary
I moved a couple in their 60s who had 3 cats and 2 large African Grey parrots. All of these animals roamed freely in the house, and every surface in the house was coated in a thick layer of dust, bird poop, and cat hair. I would estimate that the house hadn't been cleaned at all in about 5 years or more. The bedposts were caked in about half an inch of bird poop which ran from top to bottom. I assume the birds perched on top of the bedposts at night and pooped all down along them. The smell was freaking atrocious and the air felt thick and heavy inside the house.
While packing up the master bedroom, I found thousands of mood pills. Like WAY more than a person would ever be prescribed by a doctor. The house also stank of illegal substances, like they had been doing them indoors for years and never cracked a window. The husband was disabled and wore an adult diaper, and there was a very strong smell of poop coming from him as he showed us around the house.
Overall, a freaking bizarre and disgusting situation.
38. Toy Story
I spent one of my high school summers working for a guy who bought up a bunch of foreclosed McMansions in my area after the 2008 recession. Dude paid me great money under the table to clear them out.
It was clear in most of them that the families literally up and left (plates on the kitchen table, closets torn apart).
One got me particularly hard. It had a fully-furnished basement playroom that was the stuff of dreams for a 6- to 12-year-old kid. Huge TV, a bunch of gaming systems, a toy dart gun arsenal, super intricate toy car tracks, etc.
All of the toy cabinets had been dumped out and torn through and there were a couple of bags of packed-up toys left behind.
I know a lot of these people made fast money through ethically questionable means, and spent it even faster. But the thought of an 8-year-old kid, no matter how privileged, having to pick the toys he could carry out of the insane dream playroom he will never see again kinda screwed me up.
37. Packing Up A Marriage
I once helped a neighbor I barely knew move because she was separating from her husband.
They were both present and they hadn’t really worked out who was getting what in the split. He was staying in the house and she was leaving. Worst moving experience of my life. It’s bad enough that they weren’t packed, and we had to put things into boxes as we went, but she would tell us to put something in a box and then he would come and grab it from us and tell us it was his. So awkward!
36. Watching From Afar
When my mom died, I went through her things. She and my sisters weren't on speaking terms, but I found photos of them and their children taken by private investigators in the different states they lived as well as info the investigators dug up like where they lived, where they worked, and who they associated with. I was just shocked at the steps she took to know about their lives because she had that "they're dead to me" attitude. I was also really sad that all of them let things get to that point.
35. Movie Fanatic
Once helped a hoarder move. He had 117 DVD players, 86 VHS players, and 18 of the exact same Audiovox portable VHS players (I counted).
34. Permanently Devoted
One lady had the word "Jesus" written on everything with what looked like a permanent marker. I mean everything. The walls, the furniture, all the decor had the word "Jesus" on it. Couldn’t get out of that house fast enough.
33. Luxury Sneakers
My sisters were house movers, and one day they were moving this big expensive house out in the country.
They go into the garage and the owner is essentially using a bright orange sports car as a shoe rack.
32. Uncovering Underwear
I had people help my family move once when I was a kid. My dad used to use his old underwear to clean the car, and he would keep them in the garage. When we had people helping us move, I remember seeing one of the guys pick up one of my dad's pairs of old underwear and freak out when he realized what it was. I'm not sure if that was the weirdest thing he ever saw when helping somebody move, but that was probably up there.
31. Senior Secrets
I was a mover for about 4 years. Seniors have the weirdest stuff. Moved one who had over $10,000 in 100-dollar bills between his mattress and box spring. Gave me a $100 tip, funny enough. Also moved some seniors who had a giant real-life taxidermied giraffe from Africa in their home. I didn't actually see it because it was all crated up, but it was neat. Lots of male performance pills under beds. Adult toys. Most people were good about it and packed that stuff themselves but not always.
30. Mobile Phone
Not a mover, but I definitely saw my neighbors carry out a full-sized red English phone booth when they moved out over the weekend.
29. Time Keeper
My worst experience was clearing out the apartment that belonged to my mentally-unstable grandmother after she died. Calendars on every wall, including closets and bathrooms. Most rooms had more than four calendars, one on each wall, then more where there wasn't a clock. Multiple clocks in every room, the loud ticking kind. Her bedroom didn't have a bed in it either, only a chair. I only remember what day she died because every calendar was crossed off to the same day.
28. A Military Mess
Moved furniture with my dad for about 6 years. Military houses are the worst. I had one where the baby room had piles of diapers in the corner or on the desk. I've had some where the bathroom/kitchen would have roaches scurrying around sometimes. There were others, but over the course of 6 years, the military homes were the worst. I am ex-military, so I do not hate the military. I just try to keep my stuff as spotless as possible.
Most issues were with E1 through E6 (or respective ranks depending on branch). Once you hit E7 or higher and brass, they would be immaculate (whether they had personal cleaners or whatever, who knows).
27. Cheating And Charging By The Hour
One time we got sent to do a move on very short notice, like a "how fast can you get here?" type of move. No explanation, just do whatever she says. So we head out, and surprise! Her husband cheated on her. She was crying and calling her mom the whole time which is understandable.
Every so often, we'd have to ask her if some object or furniture needed to be loaded on the truck because we were only taking her belongings. It doesn't stop there, though. The ex-husband-to-be showed up and tried taking her stuff out of the truck all while apologizing to her.
I had to tell the guy that our company charges by the hour so the more he kept trying to take back her stuff the higher the bill would be and it was all on his dime. It was so awkward and I felt so bad for the lady.
26. Pictures And Pianos
The owner said, "The drawers are ready to go, but full. Just pull them out and stack them in the truck." Okay, no problem. I pull a drawer out, look down, and there's a picture of his wife naked.
He's looking me right in the eye when I look up. He starts to blush. I say, "Better grab that, it might blow away." Uncomfortable afternoon commences.
The most annoying was: "We've got this grand piano going to the 4th floor of this 100-year-old building. The stairway is too narrow, so it'll have to be vertical all the way up, and the landings are too narrow, so it'll have to be angled up and lifted around the corners. Oh, and there's a 95-year-old lady asleep on the 5th floor, so no noise."
25. A Scary Situation
I used to work for a moving company to get some extra money while studying. There is one gig that really stuck with me. For reference, I can look quite scary, especially because this was before beards and tattoos were as common as they are now.
I came to work and I was supposed to go to another gig entirely, but my boss pulled me aside and we had a quick conversation.
Boss: "You look intimidating. If need be, can you fight?"
Me: "What? Why? I guess?"
Boss: "Great. Take (equally scary and intimidating coworker) with you and head to this address. Pack everything the client asks you to pack and leave before 2 PM. If you haven't packed everything by then, leave anyway."
So we head out ASAP and finish our discussion with our boss by phone. Turns out it's a domestic abuse case; the husband is at work, and we need to evacuate the client while he is gone and be prepared in case the husband comes back early.
We get to the location and find the client. There's a woman in her 30s, her face black and blue. I remember that she was surprisingly calm, and just pointed us the stuff we should pack first. It made me think that this had been going on for a long time. We started working, and luckily we managed to finish in time and got her out of there before her husband came back. We took her and all of her stuff to her friend's place.
I didn't hear any news afterwards, so unfortunately I can't update on how she ended up. I really hope everything turned out great for her.
24. Exotic And Expensive Experience
Worked for my dad buying antiques and used furniture for years and saw all sorts of stuff. One of the craziest things we saw was when we went to a house to give an estimate for the furniture. I don’t remember the exact sequence of events, but it turned out this guy had a wild exotic cat as a pet locked in a room off the main foyer. I want to say it was a jaguar, but maybe a cougar. Needless to say, we got out of there pretty quick.
23. Slimming Snack
Homeowner asked if I was hungry (buying or providing lunch was a pretty regular occurrence). I said "yes" and was given a loaf of wheat bread and a can of one of those warm chocolate diet drinks. That was strange. Yes, I tried it. Yes, it was gross.
22. Creepy Chameleon
Mummified pet chameleon. My friend's chameleon died a few years back before the move, so he put the body in a box but forgot to bury it and put it away.
That explains why his room smelled terrible one time I visited him in summer. So that's what death smells like.
21. Mummified Cats And Meningitis
My brother contracted spinal meningitis from a moving job about 5 years ago and nearly died. Out of all the rough and crappy houses he had to move, this one had piles of mummified cats. His boss forced him to throw them in the dumpster because they were in a time crunch. He went to the hospital that weekend.
20. Angry Dogs
A nice, single lady had to put the dogs outside because, and I quote, "They don't like men." The smell that hit me when I walked in was repulsive. Dog urine was everywhere. The carpet reeked of it, and you could just feel it whenever you touched the carpet.
19. The Man Cave
I am a mover, and have been working springs and summers when I am not in a college.
Kinda weird, but cool at the same time. A rather nice house out in a rural area had a huge “man cave.” The guy owned a logging company and spent half the year in South Africa hunting big game. Had a 1,200-pound gun safe and a mounted head of pretty much every safari animal you could imagine.
18. Lost And Found
I found a dead cat under a hoarder's couch. My boss exclaimed, "We found your cat" when we moved the couch and the guy didn't even seem to care. How does that even happen?
17. Massive Magazine Collection
I was hired for a day to work with my brother to help a man move some of his stuff around the land he owned (kind of like a ranch). In his closet, there were a lot of men's magazines. An entire moving-sized bucket of them. I was astonished the shelf on top didn’t collapse from them. My brother and I are fairly strong, he was in wrestling and swim at the time and I worked out daily, a 170-pound person and a 220-pound one, and it took us both to pick it up. We kind of struggled to do so.
16. Lottery Winners On The Lake
I wasn't a mover for long, I just did it as a side job with a buddy to make some money. Our oddest story one was a family that moved from a really nice house on a huge lake in a ritzy part of town into a triple-wide out in the boonies at the end of a dirt road. They had won some money in the lottery, not hundreds of millions or anything, but several million, and this was what they considered an upgrade. This was in Florida, by the way. The trailer was very nice inside, but their house was beautiful. Still scratching my head over that one.
15. Rocking Out
This lady had boxes of rocks that she wanted us to move for her. Not any kind of special rocks, or a particular kind. Just random stupid rocks filling old banana boxes.
They were kept in the closet where no one could see them in the old house. No idea where she planned on putting them at the new house.
14. Blue To Brown
We get to this house and the person isn't there, so we call them and they say they left a key under the mat and we can get started (we aren't supposed to, but they insisted and wanted us to be quick so whatever). It's really obvious right off the bat that this was a very elderly person's home; old antique furniture, appliances from the '70s, brown shag carpet, wood panel walls, colorful light fixtures, terrible smell.
We get to work. Generally, you want to clear out the rooms from the closest to the door to farthest so that there are fewer obstacles as you go, so we pad and wrap the living room and lift this china cabinet. The carpet underneath was baby blue.
That's when we realize this person has probably been smoking inside the house for decades, so much that the once-blue carpet became brown, except for underneath the furniture that hadn't been moved in just as long of a time. Every piece of furniture in every room left a surreal light blue box of un-tainted carpet, and everything reeked of tobacco.
Once the customer arrived, they finally explained this was their dad's house and he had recently died, so he was taking all his stuff to storage to sell the house. The customer was as surprised as we were at the discovery of the blue carpet. They had to be around 30, and it had been that color as long as he could remember.
13. Man With The Mannequins
I helped a friend of a friend’s relative move for some extra cash because I was a poor college student at the time. The semi carrying all of this dude’s crap arrives and we open it up. Half the truck was filled with mannequins... dozens of mannequins. It felt like some Twilight Zone stuff since he was a single middle-aged man with all those mannequins.
12. Snotty Office
I've moved a lot of furniture from offices. You wouldn't believe the number of nose pickers who put their snot balls on the underside of their desks. A lot of these people are lawyers or accountants as well.
11. Hummingbird Hoarders
Had to pack a home and move it the next day. Bottom floor had 3 very large curio cabinets filled with just hummingbird statues. Hummingbirds everywhere. From life-sized to the penny-sized. And the upstairs was filled with dollhouses and dollhouse parts. Literally filled.
10. Organic Worms
My stepmother is a vegan health nut type. I'm helping her move in and the box I'm carrying starts moving. Like, I can feel movement in the box.
I ask her what's in the box and she says, "My worms."
Apparently, she had worms for her compost that had been raised on all-organic compost and she kept them separate from those "other" worms that had been "exposed" to whatever.
So she had a tub full of worms waiting to be put back in the organic compost.
9. A Heavy Job
The weirdest, heaviest job was an incoming delivery of lead tables and lead plates in a container. Precision anti-vibration gear for laser physics. So heavy! We were watched like a hawk by the super-anal physicist customer. He didn't want that stuff damaged! The guys in the UK had put one beautifully-wrapped 100-kilogram tabletop flat on the floor as a joke. It was very, very difficult to get fingers under it to even try and lift it.
8. City Artists
in my youth, I was a mover. Growing up in New York, we got lots of weird art and stuff. I remember a guy who painted himself dying from hundreds of different diseases, and another guy who had 5 stuffed armadillos. That was sort of strange. He had a 9-banded one and told me, "this is the type that carries plague."
7. Toilet Ashtray
When I was a kid, my nana and papa were landlords in an apartment building. Lots of people would just up and leave, and usually left behind destroyed and disgusting apartments.
I think the grossest thing I dealt with was when we found out the people who just moved out used the toilet as an ashtray. It was clogged with butts. I had the wonderful task of putting on kitchen gloves and shoveling the mess out of the toilet. Of course, I was like 8, so it was the best part of my day.
6. Hoarding Hippos
A house filled with hippo statues. Like hundreds of different hippo statues. Also, a hoarder that bought furniture and cleaned literally the size and shape of the item in her pile of junk. Just a very clean rectangle on the floor.
5. Dirty Needles
Our church helps a lot of people move. We had one couple that could not take care of themselves. Head guys went and bought leather gloves because as were trying to help them finish packing, we came across a mountain of used, uncapped insulin needles and dirty underwear. Like crap-still-sitting-in-it underwear. I now always tell people that we only move boxes and furniture. It is not our job to pack your stuff and I have no problem with leaving and coming back once you have finished putting your stuff in boxes.
4. Traumatic Table Leg
Working in college during the summer at a moving company, we were sent to this massive house in rural Ohio. We knocked on the door and an older woman answered. She was visibly upset and told us she had had to put down her horse this morning. This was way off the beaten path and it was like 7 AM, so I’m not sure if she shot it or what, but that’s not the weird part.
When we were moving her bed to the truck, we discovered something that looked like a table leg hidden under the bed. I picked it up and asked her what it was. When she saw it, she shuddered with horror. She told me that her husband used to beat her with this baton/table leg and she didn’t know it was there. I simply asked what she wanted me to do with it and she said I should keep it but promise her never to hit a woman with it. I threw it in the cab of the truck.
When I walked back into the house she said that her husband died a few years ago from being poisoned and she hopes he’s rotting in the underworld. When we left the house I threw the baton out the window and made sure to wipe my fingerprints off of it before I chucked it.
3. You-Know-What Poor Basement
I worked as a mover with friends for a summer job while in college and there is definitely a horror story which sticks out in my mind.
I showed up as relief help to a crew which had already been at a house for 7 hours. As I arrived, I was greeted with wide stares of the "you aren't going to believe this" variety from everyone. The boys told me to check out the basement. I got about 4 steps down the stairs before I was punched in the gut by the most pungent sour smell I'd ever encountered.
I buried my face in my shirt and took a couple more unsure steps down the stairs until I saw a chest-high shelf which ran around the whole room. The shelf was covered with bottles containing varying amounts of liquid. I had to know -- what was in those bottles? I wish I hadn't found out.
Urine. So many bottles of urine. There was an old beat up chair and a TV with a video game console surrounded by more bottles of urine. So much urine.
I immediately left the job site, but that visual and the smell is seared into my memory forever. Jeez, so much urine. They also found a dead cat behind a couch later. So I guess I didn't have it too bad.
2. The Dollhouse Room
I worked as a mover for a few summers in college, and the worst one was this family of 4 that was moving from one unit in a complex to another unit in the same complex. My boss told me it should be a relatively easy move because the stuff wasn't going far and there were no stairs.
When we show up the apartment was a complete mess. The carpet was stained dark brown, the paint was peeling off the walls, there were crayon drawings all over the walls, and it smelt like absolute crap. It looked like no one had cleaned in years. We had to take constant breaks because the air was just heavy with a stench of urine and crap.
We finally got everything out when the dad told us there was one more room we needed to move and we needed to be extra careful. He walked us to a door that had padlocks on it. I was thinking, "Oh my god! How foul is this room that he keeps it padlocked?!" When he opened the door, we were all completely shocked.
It was full of giant, intricately-designed dollhouses. These things were about 6' x 3' x 4' and had every tiny detail perfect. It was also the only room in the apartment that had clean carpet and didn't smell like crap. Kind of a pleasant little surprise.
1. Carved Out Portrait
Was gutting the place after the former owner had left. In the master bedroom, there was a photoshoot picture of his (presumably) grandchildren on a canvas tucked away behind a shelf unit. Not all that weird.
But what was weird was that it had numerous slash marks across each child. Seemed kind of eerie and creepy that he'd have a picture of these kids and then take a knife to it, then keep the picture rather than throwing it out.
