6. The Family That Rocks Together
I did this for a summer a number of years ago, and there was house one in particular that will always stand out.
Family of four. Normal-looking people. Two-story single-family home, no basement. Thought to myself “thank God, an easy gig today.” Oh no. No no, I was very wrong. We walk in and lots of stuff is already in boxes (thanks!) and were told to head to the kid’s rooms first.
12-year-old kid who likes rocks. REALLY likes rocks. Like, is obsessed with rocks. There are rocks EVERYWHERE in his room. Big ones, small ones, gravel, sandstone, bits of clay, sea shells, bits of concrete, asphalt, and a pile of what looked like bone fragments. “He’s a rock collector,” Mom says.
No f*cking kidding, there were so many rocks in the room that you couldn’t only see narrow paths between the door, the bed, and the closet (which, indeed, was full of rocks).
His sister’s room was fine and mostly packed beside the furniture and the boxes full of belongings. The parent’s room was similar, everything was normal and somewhat neatly packed.
We shovelled the rocks into wagons to clear the room. Dad was upset that the shovels were going to “stretch the carpet.” Ok, dude. We loaded several hundred pounds of rocks into our truck that day.
Business as usual after that, felt odd that the family didn’t seem to be bothered by it. They gave us each an extra hundred in cash for our troubles.