The State of Arizona: A Review

 I have lived in many places. Six states and about a million cities/towns. I decided I'd like to write a 'review' for each state that I have lived in. Maybe it will help others decide where to go, or just entertain those who want to know more. My life, in terms of moving, has been quite an adventure. I have much to say about the 6 states I have lived in; their differences, their similarities, and everything in between. So I will go from first to last. So, next we have Arizona.

Camelback Mountain, Phoenix, AZ

When we felt we were over Utah, we moved to Arizona. We ended up staying for 5 years. We had both been to Arizona before when younger, and really liked it so we thought it would be a great place to end up. We first rented a truly shitty, small, cockroach ridden apartment in Mesa, because it was cheap, and you know moving drains your wallet for a while. Later on we moved into a rental house that was pretty decent, in Tempe where the AZ State Sun Devils are.

We worked for a pharmaceutical company and then later on, for the company that handles most state and some federal run medical plans. 

We enjoyed going to Phoenix Suns basketball games (by way of light rail) and we went to several Inningsfest and Tour de Fat festivals which were a lot of fun. Right there in Tempe, at the beach (of the Salt River) There was even an arts fest, although much smaller than the one in Utah. We even saw Dave Matthews Band there at Inningsfest, in 2020 about a week before the panic broke out over COVID.

Inningsfestival, Tempe AZ

Tour de Fat, by New Belgium brewery, Tempe, AZ

Phoenix Suns @ Talking Stick Resort Arena

When the pandemic hit in Arizona it really didn't, like, hit. Not hard anyway. I don't mean that COVID19 wasn't a big deal in Arizona in the amount of cases; I mean it wasn't a big deal to the politicians and half the people that live in Arizona. We barely had a true quarantine. It was about 2 weeks long. Golf courses remained open, the Gov stating they were "essential."

Since me and my mate enjoy staying home and chillin' anyway, we discovered the expansion of delivery from Doordash, Uber, Instacart and Grubhub as well as many amazing pizza places were a welcome addition. We stayed at home for an entire year. We sat out in the yard and drank Epic stouts while listening to our fave comedian, Kathleen Madigan on her pubcast whilst eating buffalo and onion & mustard flavored Schneider's pretzel pieces. We picked oranges and made orange juice from the orange tree in the yard. It was a peaceful, comfortable time in our lives. Most people complain of being miserable during this time but not us. 

Epic Brewing's 'Big Bad Baptist' Stout beer

The governor of Arizona was a douche bag with a highly punchable face. His name was Doug Douchey Ducey, a Republican (ugh of course) who treated the pandemic like anyone who made a fuss about it was crazy. He was besties with Trump (another total piece of garbage human), and they wanted to defund education in the state, and then they wanted to build a wall at the Mexican border (like that was a be-all-end-all solution to illegal immigration? Ugh). He was the one who was insane, and we yelled at the TV every time we saw him on the news. 

Repukelican Gov Doug Ducey circa 2020

 

The state did legalize cannabis which was great. But... in January of 2022 our landlord informed us that he was raising our rent by 25% (yikes!) and we couldn't afford to live there any longer. We felt like Arizona wasn't going to be our "forever place", and it had become too expensive to live there, so we had to decide what to do and quickly. We chose Missouri next because we, at the time, were working remotely but had to be near a work location. Headquarters was in St Louis, so we weighed all the options for work centers, and that was the only one that was neutral to us. 3 weeks before we were to move, I walked into the cannabis store (yes wearing a cloth mask) and promptly contracted Omicron, and was sick for 11 days, with the 2 weeks afterward consisting of me experiencing extreme cognitive impairment. 

Tempe, AZ

The people of Arizona, in general, I found to be cold and offputting. Wait staff at resaurants were the worst. We never had good service, except the one time we were visiting before moving there. I don't miss the people. Or the weather. "But it's a dry heat." It's a dry heat that's 120ºF for F's sakes, people. It isn't pleasant, unless it's 50 in January maybe. In summer, you can only go outside for fun or gardening between 5am - 9am or else prepare to be scorched to death. 

Arizona License Plate

Of course, two months after moving to Missouri, our company changed the rules and allowed us to work anywhere. On next, to Missouri!

2022 Blew Butt.

So the year will be over in a few short months... and I can't be any happier about that. This year has been the shittiest in quite a while.

It all started when our landlord in Arizona raised our rent way more than we could afford. 25%! And our job certainly wasn't interested in providing a cost of living wage. So we scurried around to move somewhere else. And then a few days after we started scurrying, I came down with a case of the COVID19 and just ended up sleeping for almost 2 weeks. 

Then it was hard finding a place to live in St. Louis (couldn't find one in Arizona because all the landlords had risen rent to California prices). We finally found a place, and began searching for movers. I was kind of desperate, as we were on a short time table, and I wound up being talked into "a good deal" by a smooth talking sales guy. 

This moving company, I will say their name because I'd like to drag them through the mud, 500 Move, was absolutely horrifyingly awful. They up-charged us because the first sales guy (turned out to be a broker) only put down that we had 27 boxes. 27 boxes?! We were coming from a 2 bed, 2 bath house with a yard! They broke a lot of our stuff, they stored our stuff for 2 weeks instead of taking it right on over, stuff was missing. The staff were incredibly rude. It was a nightmare.

And then the shooting occurred July 30th. Startled us out of bed, and had to dial 911 to report a group of people shooting at each other under my apartment window or thereabouts. And then, in early September, someone broke into our car, busting a window to do so. This is in a gated parking lot, too, by the way. It still isn't fixed because it happens so frequently here that Safelite is backed up. Then, to put a straw on it to break the camel's back, there was a rape/assault in the building. Now we have to go everywhere in two's. 

Just... seriously, fuck this year. Let's hurry and get it over with - hopefully safely - and start a new fresh year 2023. 

 

 

FREEZE: Don't Move!

 

In January of 2022, our landlord increased the rent to the point where we could no longer afford to live there - or anywhere in the state of Arizona. So we decided to move to St Louis, MO. I immediately began looking for a moving quote, and most places wanted us to pay $4500 or so for the move. But Home Safe Transit quoted me $2800 after going room by room and describing everything we owned. I told him it was a 2 room house and we had a lot of items. Kenneth was a real smooth talker, and we settled on the deal with him. When the movers came on March 11, we discovered it was a different company, 500 Move. Home Safe Transit was just a broker, apparently. The 500 Move guy said the broker put down “27 boxes” and since we had more like 300, it was going to be “thousands and thousands and thousands more”. We were between a rock and a hard place. Our lease expired at that house the next day, and utilities were being shut off. If we weren’t in St. Louis in person on the 14^th of March, our lease would lapse and we’d lose the deposit. If we haggled or tried to negotiate, this foreman seemed like he was going to just take his crew and leave. So we forked over almost $10,000 to move our things.

We told them we’d like them to be there on the 16^th with our items. Kenneth at Home Safe Transit had said this could be done, and just keep in communication with the driver to arrange a date of delivery. That was not the case. We kept calling to get a status on when the truck would be here and got the run-around from Lisa, the lady who answers the phone no matter what option you press on the phone tree.

We were told our items were being stored in a warehouse, on their property, until the truck was available. Did they not own their own truck? Did they only have ONE truck??? So they finally arrived with our things on the 27^th of March. From the 14^th - 27^th we had basically nothing.

When the truck arrived, it was 2 old men with COPD obviously out of shape, in an 18 wheeler with several other people’s items, as well.

My Significant Other did the majority of the moving of boxes and rubbermaid bins. It took 6 hours to unload the truck. As items came in, I was doing inventory check. We are missing several items including the most important ones: Her specially made quilts from her scrubs (she used to be a Veterinary Assistant) and a quilt made frm her cheerleading and graduation gown clothing items. We are also missing her pants. There’s probably about 60-80 pairs of pants and now she has no pants to wear. As you can believe, that is quite a problem.

When my Significant Other was helping unload the truck, she saw her quilts in the box on the sidewalk. She tried to take them but the box was way too heavy. She assumed one of the men had put it on a dolly and brought it up. It didn’t make it up to the apartment, so we assume somehow it was put back on the truck.

The company does not seem interested in finding the items. They keep telling us to just file a claim, but we actually want our items back. They declined to give us any contact information for the people who delivered before and after us. They stated they looked for the items and called the other customers and no one could find anything.

We’ve contacted the BBB, FTC, Move Rescue, the Glendale AZ police, the St Louis Police, the FCMSA, the Attorneys General of Missouri and Arizona, and abc15’s Let Joe Know. We really don’t want anyone else to have to go through this.

This has been the most stressful, horrible experience.