Many will recognize the title of this piece. It’s on the side of U Haul trucks everywhere. But, let’s face it, who really wants an adventure in moving? I want boring and mundane. Point to point. Nothing broken. Easy. No adventure.
Why bring this up now? Yesterday, all day, I helped Marika move out of her old rental into a new place plus put stuff in storage. With no boxes and no moving van. I did have a truck. Thank god.
As all know, I just finished the big move. Sold the farm and all. I had professional movers. They pack in boxes. Wrap furniture. Hell, they wrap everything. Use pads and dollys. Well, not my daughter. This was a college move. No boxes. Wait, she bought two. Damn near all of her material belongings were moved loose. We had no tools to make it easy. You know tools? The things that seperate ya from the lower form of animals? We carried the fridge. And furniture. Moved it inside a car and the truck. Used all seats. Took 12 hours for one room and some furniture. Please, don’t be jealous, it was not as much fun as it sounds. And, something else, we had to keep all doors closed because of the cat. So, you pick up a heavy armload and walk to the door and try to open, and close, it without dropping anything. This was a hillbilly move. I half expected to find granny in a rolled up carpet. I didn’t.
Half way through this huge pile of fun, Marika realized she just didn’t have a place for most of her crap. So we went to a local storage facility and rented a small unit. Of course, you need a lock. She did not have one. They sell pricey locks there. I suggested the time savings was worth the $7 more she would pay. She didn’t. So, off to Ace Hardware for a lock. This turned out well. The Whiskey Tip is next door to Ace. It was 430. Cocktails! Just one, I’m working. Nice little bar, none too crowded. A brief respite from a crowded day. Slightly overpriced, whatever. When you have been moving all day, the drink taste that much better.
After our break, back to the old house. Loaded up all the things for the new storage unit, went there, took 45 mins to show horn the crap in, hey, there was a lot and we damn near had to grease the stuff.
Marikas new residence beckoned. We had everything loaded to go. So we’re off to Petaluma, what do you think of that? We’ve never been there before, we don’t even know where it’s at. Kinda rhymes. Marika is moving in with an old family friend, Mary Savage. Don’t be scared, she is gentle and kind. And not charging rent. 😎
She is letting her keep Vlad there as well. Mary is a kind woman. Her Dad, Tom, used to live next door to my in-laws in Bodega Bay. He passed many years ago at the young aide of 99. Mary, his daughter, looks like she is going to pass him. Anyhow, Tom was a nice man and it’s great to have old friends you don’t have to explain yourself to. We always accept each other as is.
We managed to get all unloaded, no small feat. Packed into a very small room in a very large house. One woman in 3000sf. Maybe all the work keeps her young. Took about an hour to get all done.
Back to the old house. There was more to get out and a little more for storage too. As I have said, poorly planned hillbilly move. Oh well. It’s her deal, I am just the free muscle to implement this disaster. We loaded ALL that was left and heading to new house first. Then loaded more for storage, on back of truck. Then off to storage. And, UNload the unit in order to repack the storage unit so all this stuff fits. And it is now very full. We grabbed the cat too. It was quite late at this point, so we went to Cattlemens in Santa Rosa for dinner. We sat at the bar, no cocktails, and had a nice sirloin steak dinner. On special even. You can win. And it was late so the service was very quick. And we still have plans.
After dinner we are going to Shari’s for Key Lime apie shakes. Yay!!
Does everyone remember my experience with Shari’s and Key Lime shakes from last summers epic cross country trip? And the follow up (very negative) throughout the year? Well the famous Sharis lousy service and poor management continues. We got to Shari’s, and placed our order. Two Key Lime shakes to go. About ten minutes later, it takes that long, the asset manager comes out. “We got no ice cream.” No I’m sorry, no coupon offered, nothing polite. She then says,”got a blender?” I hate Sharis lack of service and truly stupid and rude employees. I think this comes from bad management. You know, the stink on a fish starts at the head. Last summer I had such bad experiences here I called the restaurant and complained. Then regional got an email. And phone call. Then corporate too. They sent me a free pie coupon. And apologized. If they had listened and read they may have sent a free shake coupon. It’s my only meal in their restaurant. I re-yelped my restaurant review of Sharis. An update. See below:
Ok. One year later. I have , in the past year, complained about availability of the key lime (yes, first world problem) pie. I started by calling the restaurant. Spoke to manager. No help. Email and call to some regional office. No help. Straight to the top where they really didn’t do much. I did get a free pie, though I want the shake.
And what happened? Key lime is no longer seasonal, it’s every day. You are welcome.
So why update the review now? Because in the past year I have had several poor interactions with Shari’s and finally, last night, they pushed me over the edge. I have dropped them to one star. Why?
Well I stopped in for a key lime shake. The server up front took the order. Comes out ten minutes later. They have no ice cream. Wtf? She said the next delivery was 5 am tomorrow. Ya, I’ll be here then.
This place has the word pie in big letters all over. On its 50 foot sign. Pictures of pie with ice cream. Why oh why can’t they go to a local store and buy enough to cover? The rest of the world does. Of course, Shari’s employees are slow and kind of stupid. They always seem as though they are the ones wal mart rejected. I have spoken to many, hey I do come here for pie shakes. I can see these folks have no initiative or are not allowed initiative to solve guests problems. Just like wal mart. I can only imagine the upper management is awful. This place only gets 2.5 stars, which is awful, really, but I took my rating from a two to a one. You know, I do like to hear an apology at times like this. Something like “ I am sorry we don’t have the menu item you wanted. We misordered”. Would not be difficult. The three people I spoke to really didn’t care. It was obvious. I guess I should keep going and see if it can get worse. Please, no. I just want a pie shake.
Ok. That was the update on my last Sharis review. I will say it again, the key lime pie shake is a 10. ALL else in this place is a zero. Go get a shake. The shake is something to make you happy while you observe the disaster.
After our no dessert trip, Marika went back to old house to clean. Really. Plans on quitting by 2am. I took Vlad and went home, to bed. What a fine day, all good except my not a shake. I will get one, promise.