Jerry ZurekI thought summer time was supposed to be a relaxing period of stress-free activity. This typical assumption, however, did not turn out to be the true in my case.
For a brief period, I worked for a moving company based out of Philadelphia. We performed multiple jobs moving people’s furniture from old home to new home on a daily basis. Some people moved within 10 minutes of their old house while others moved 10 hours to their new residences.
One morning, I received a call from my boss asking me if I wanted to go on a trip. Right away, I knew this type of phone call meant it was a serious move. I agreed to it before he even told me the location of the assign-ment because I really needed the money.
From South Carolina back up to Pennsylvania was the task at hand. I was fine with the whole deal at first, but then I was told there was a funny twist to the mission. Once we loaded the customer’s furniture into the truck, I was to follow the truck back to Pennsylvania driving one of the customer’s cars. There was no one else to do so and the customer was paying big bucks for the unique request to be handled.
Although it wasn’t that big of a deal, I still had a hint of anxiety due to the fact that I was driving a stranger’s car. I honestly was just hoping that it was a nice car for me to drive.
When we arrived in South Carolina, my co-workers and I were exhausted from the long journey. It was necessary, however, that we started the back-breaking work.
The two days we were mov-ing the furniture felt like absolute torture. I was accustomed to working long hours for this company, but the hot South Carolina weather was really starting to wear me down. Every piece of furniture felt heavier than the next. So much for my relaxing summer! We finally managed to load all the furniture and were ready to head back to Pennsylvania.
Right before our departure, the customer opened up his garage and handed me the keys to a beautiful new Nissan Maxima. All of the sudden, the trip I despised took a turn for the better. I tried to hold back from smiling at the new car, but I could not resist. The customer told me to be careful, so I gave a reassuring nod in response.
Once everything was packed up, we hit the open road. At first, I drove conservatively behind the truck all the way through North Carolina. Once we approached Virginia, I got somewhat anxious. I wanted to see what the car could do! Going against my boss’s wishes, I went ahead of the moving truck. The driver of the truck and I both knew how to get back to Pennsylvania, so I did not hesitate.
Headed North on I-95 and going just as fast, I was really enjoying the ride. I made multiple phone calls to friends telling them about how hooked-up the car was. Things were going smoothly until all the sudden; my cell phone call was rudely interrupted by the Virginia State Police.
I was pulled over for going 87 miles per hour in a 65 zone. I didn’t think that 87 was too bad, do you? I tried talking my way out of it but the officer wouldn’t budge. The whole “college student paying their way through school” excuse didn’t gain me any ground either. I really thought the ride was going to be a nice ending to a terrible two days. I didn’t get in trouble for being pulled over, but I am still waiting to see how much my fine will be.
