Couch Doctor

Once the ordeal of packing is done, the wait for the movers kicks in...once they finally arrive and load up the truck you realize the dust that has accumulated under everything you owned must now be cleaned up so the person who will occupy the space that was yours will have a fresh start...meaning you clean for a stranger but lived in dusty squalor. Ironic?

After the truck has been unloaded into your new home, you understand that it isn't nearly as big as you imagined it to be in the drunken moments of euphoria that enveloped you when you jumped up and down hugging the broker for taking 15% of your annual rent. Next you note that while packing was a fucker--at some point you stopped being tidy and just started throwing shit willy nilly into boxes and taping them shut--unpacking is going to be a motherfucker. So you distract yourself by compiling long lists of things you need from Wal-Mart, Ikea, Target, and Home Depot...giving little thought to the fact that everything on the list costs MONEY.

Finally, you start breaking down boxes by unburdening their contents onto rickety white shelves in an organzied fashion; fervently hoping your glassware doesn't meet a shattering fall while you sleep on a mattress on the ground a few feet away.

Amidst these glaring realities the movers discovered that the couch doesn't in fact fit through the narrow doorway of your new abode. Thankfully, the smidgen of outdoor space includes an arch above the doorway--the perfect enclosure to stand the beloved couch sideways--as it awaits the couch doctor.

Yes, there is such a thing. What he does is disassemble, move in, then reassemble the couch seamlessly for a small fee of $275 plus tax. Yes, you could buy a cheap couch for that price but the Ethan Allen couch mother gave me--the only remnants from her single parent house ownership period that I claimed--easily costs 15-20 times the couch doctor charges for a house visit. So atop the $420 I forked over to the movers with tip, I'm out another $300.

Damn, moving is expensive.