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| - For our imminent move, I purchased most of our 182 boxes from a certain national truck rental company. (Free delivery of big boxes of boxes right to the door is a tempting thing when you're just a wuss with a hatchback.)
Inevitably, though, I hit the Weird Zone, the place you stare down after all the normal-sized stuff is boxed and small/medium/extra large no longer cuts it. In previous moves I'd just thrown such items into the trunk, but that pinko hippie boxless lifestyle doesn't work when you're moving overseas, unless you're a steel tycoon circa 1903 with knickerbocker-wearing flunkies to load your irregulars into the hold of an ocean liner. "All must be boxed!" said the shipping company, and so off I trotted to Box Brothers.
I was a little dismayed when I saw that BB was a little store inside of a strip mall. It made me think of all those postal centers, which made me think, "Oh great, another place where it's ten bucks to get something longer than 12" on one side." Mutter mutter, cynicism, mutter.
As soon as I opened the door, my skepticism started to evaporate. So many choices! I kept swinging my head from side to side, not even sure where to start looking.
Luckily the guy at the counter was very sharp and friendly and could tell me what sizes he had without even breaking eye contact. Within a minute I had all five "weird" sizes picked out within an inch of my specifications. Zip-zip, and I was ready to carry the lot to the car.
Which totally didn't happen, because the guy insisted on carrying the larger boxes to my car with me, patiently waiting while I climbed into the backseat and reconfigured it to lie down (which also meant he was holding up my hatchback door the entire time since its hydraulics are shot), then using math and large-scale origami smarts to fold the boxes in a manner that would fit gracefully.
I sincerely hope with all of my heart that, after a lifetime of moving, I never ever need to buy boxes again, but if I do, I'll be looking for this level of professionalism, courtesy, and selection. Five stars and a high-five.
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