Know a guy.
Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, consider this sofa moved.
Oh shit. Oh no.
Im that guy who fixes small engines and computers.
Same here. Phones, PCs, and sometimes game consoles. I usually charge a trip to get ice cream from A&W or Coldstone or something.
My condolences
A++ saving to read again today at a low point
It is good when people help each other. It warms a truck when a community sticks by each other.
Shit like this is why I love the punk scene. The punk scene is like the idealized small American town, for you may one day be asked to help someone you barely know and do it without a second thought. Why wouldn’t you help someone who needs it. You know damn well that when the time comes and you too need help, it will be found.
I have pulled on my network of comrades to make sure someone got a phone. This was done for the price of food and fellowship.
Yeah, I was Tony last week. But instead of pizza I was paid in beer. Good deal, would do again
I fix people’s computers in exchange for food.
Printers, I execute for free.
I am not sure what executing a printer means and it seems the other commenter has the answer or is equally confused.
Printers are of the devil and must be purged
I genuinely don’t understand why printers are so shit. Like we have a 3D printer that looks like a pile of bolts put together by a drunk person (which is was) that creates pretty much any object you tell it to with seemingly no trouble at all. And those are a relatively recent invention. Meanwhile, the 2D printer has decades of advanced technology behind it and looks like a sleek white sci-fi cube, it’s only job is to put words on a fixed-size sheet of paper (the thing that the Gutenberg press was doing in the 1400s) and it fucks it up about 60% of the time.
Yeah. You know how I got a guy for everything? Well, they’re all in New York. My suit guy, my shoe guy, my ticket guy, my club guy. And if I don’t have a guy for something, then I have a guy guy to get me a guy. And oddly enough, his name is Guy.
Barney, is that you?
As a Japanese person, my first reaction was, “That sounds exhausting.” I’m genuinely curious, though. Is this something most Americans enjoy, or is it one of those social expectations that not everyone is actually comfortable with?
Definitely not something I’ve heard of. This is either very old school America (50-80s) or something done in very small towns where everyone knows one another.
That said, this is definiely something I know friends would do for each other. Truck or not. You have some boys over to help move some stuff around, you cook or grab food for them an pay the bill. But you gotta be pretty good friends for me to call you up like that (or vice versa).
It’s one of those social expectations not everyone is comfortable with. I think it comes from a good place though. It’s essentially community sourced mutual aid. For lack of, you know, easy access to aid from society as a whole.
If you know a guy with a truck, and you know another guy who needs a guy with a truck, you wouldn’t connect them?
Enjoyment is not in the act itself. Enjoyment comes from the appreciation of your fellow citizen who needed a thing moved that they were unable to move without help… And pizza.
I don’t find it uncomfortable. You’re there to do a job, you do it, you get your pizza and the appreciation of your fellow human, you go home.
You’re there for a purpose. People want you there for that purpose. You might not be good at it, but you’re there and that’s the important part. At the end of the day, the thing is done.
It’s a social contract, and it’s not exclusive to guys.
This is pretty much how it works in Canada too. It can be a bit of a pain (especially if someone is moving in winter) but it’s just one of those camaraderie things you do. If you’re gonna move you let your friend group know, and you can pretty much rely on about 60-75% of them showing up to help, and in return you feed and beer them. Then when someone else is moving you do the same for them.
If you have a good excuse you can sometimes skip one, but if you never show up (especially if other people have already helped you move) that’s very bad. Nobody will say anything, but the group remembers.
If you empathize with having to move a heavy sofa up several flights of stairs with only two people, you help move a stranger’s sofa. There’s no enjoyment. It sucks for everyone. People get hurt and bump around and say, “sorry” and “ow” a lot. That’s what the pizza/beer is for.
Even if you’re moving it at 9:00 am, you crack a beer when you’re done. It’s more volunteer work than civic duty, but it feels more rewarding than a shift at the food bank.
Source: I volunteer for the food bank.
I have friends and family members that are willing to do tasks like this. They accept cash. They also get invited to gatherings.
For me too sometimes, but this is what it takes to build a community.
Your plans may suddenly take a turn, but in exchange, you get helping hands for whatever you need to do - and a sense that whatever happens, you know the folks
It feels like something that has been lost in today’s society, and unfortunately, it seems difficult to regain it at this point. I don’t know where this difference came from.
And how it’s done in Japan if friends don’t help?
We pay professionals to move it. It cost about 50$ - 100$.
This was the norm when I was young. Comfort with the situation varied, of course. But, to refuse would be more uncomfortable.
This phenomenon is the same here in Canada so I will pitch in. It is not enjoyed. It is not hated. It merely is. When a neighbour needs help, you help them. Even if its the neighbour with the yappy dog. There is no emotion tied up in it one way or another. Its just the right thing to do.
I think that Kevin and Tony probably don’t even think about this, they lived their entire live that way. They don’t know any better.
Here in Germany, if you want to move a sofa, you have three options:
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Rent a transporter (no one here has a truck), park it illegally in front of the house while onloading the sofa, transport the sofa, park the car again illegally while unloading it. If the police catches you or a neighbor files a complain, you may have to pay a fee.
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File a form so that someone puts up traffic signs for that day that no one except you may park in front of the two houses. Costs around 90 € and takes 3 weeks. Rent car, proceed as usual. Someone will see that you park in a “no parking” zone and does not know that you requested that zone, so he will file a report. Therefore, later, fill some more forms to battle that claim.
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Do 1) at night where no one sees you or cares.
(This is of course highly exaggerated. Parking is not such a problem in every city.)
TBH: In most cases you simply park in plain daylight somewhere near your flat, chuck the sofa in the transporter and drive away. There is no risk of some parking officer catching you and even if, the fines are low.
That’s interesting. I always thought Europe was more relaxed about things like that. In Japan, at least, you’re generally allowed to stop temporarily while loading or unloading furniture, so this surprised me.
Yes, no-parking areas allow temporary un/loading. Some mainly foot traffic streets may restrict it to early morning hours.
That’s probably because japanese residental streets are often very narrow. At least that’s how it is in the animes.
That’s true. Japanese residential streets really are that narrow, if not narrower. You could argue that’s why parking enforcement is necessary, but if the police ticketed every car that stopped briefly to load or unload furniture, nothing would get done. Long-term parking is another matter, but a temporary stop like that usually isn’t something people worry about getting fined for in Japan.
Parent comment was about Germany, so no not really. The Germans (including the whole DACH area) are as much fun as the Japanese. Although when it comes to car it’s more or less free for all
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As an another Japanese person, i just felt this story is really wholesome and how humanity in general should be like.
Reading the comments made me realize a couple of things.
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When I said it sounded “exhausting,” I wasn’t really talking about the physical work of moving the sofa. I meant the effort of maintaining the relationships behind it. In many cases, the pizza isn’t really the reward. From a Japanese perspective, sharing a meal with someone can actually feel like the more demanding part unless you’re very close. Sometimes, even with close friends, it can feel like a bit of an obligation.
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I think we have a different idea of what “neighbors” and “friends” mean. For many people in Japan today, neighbors are essentially strangers. There are probably still rural communities where neighbors help each other, but that’s much less common in cities. As for friends, we generally don’t rely on them for everyday necessities. Of course we’re happy to help our friends when they need it, but friendship itself isn’t expected to function as part of the infrastructure of daily life. We don’t stay friends because we need each other. We stay friends because we enjoy each other’s company.
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Yeah, this is really normal. It’s one of the rare things that I absolutely, genuinely like about my country. If someone says they need help, even a total stranger, you help them.
The good Americans are pretty free with their labor when it comes to their neighbors, and the definition of ‘neighbor’ is pretty loose. If I met you five minutes ago, you need help with something, and we live in the same city, you’re my neighbor.
On the total stranger thing: last time I moved we got everything in except for a mattress. There were three of us and we couldn’t get it up the stairs. Some random man was walking by and saw us, offered to help and then just hauled the mattress up the stairs by himself and was like “have a good one” and carried on with his day lol.
100% this, if anyone needs my help and I don’t have a conflict. I’ll help.
It’s so refreshing to see goodvibe things from the US :D
Been aware of this unwritten rule for a number of years. The people who ask me for help do not. They insult the tradition by trying to give me money…stunch refusal gets me strange looks but invites to weekend bbqs.
pretty smart move in retrospect - “eternal and obligatory friendship is the only currency I trade in”
My friend is a ring leader for these types of guys. He knows like 15 guys with a truck and at least another 30 with arms. He’s able to get a lot of projects done around the neighborhood.
That is very wholesome. Also all of the quotes have a very funny American accent in my head.
I live in the other part of America where you just hire someone.
When I talk about hiring someone, many people in other America nearly gasp.
What an oddly unexpected and wholesome American story.
As a reward, here is another: https://youtu.be/xOp4PO0Ek9A
I’ve heard all that at family parties. I think a majority of people in this country shouldn’t raise a family but what the fuck do I know.
