Hello or shoud I say Hola, Bonjour, Hallo, Gutan tag, Shalom or just the plain old G’Day mate….

Well it doesnt matter where you originate or where you may reside, what matters is that we are all under the one roof..  “Gods” and as we all know our Gods come in all different shapes & forms..

Now hold up a second – I am not going to preach on as I aint no Christian choir boy.. no not even close.. I am just as regular as nextdoor’s Johnny two shoes or Sally Butter bread.

Thats right everyone, I am going to talk about who I am and where I came from… No.. No not the birth of my large ridgid frame (I wish) It is the story of my business begginings…

It all started on a cold winters morning, actually I dont remember the exact day but it began around 15 years ago.

Growing up I raced motorcyles and at the time my first removal experience started I was working at my sponsors workshop on the bikes. One of the other mechanics asked me what I was doing on the weekend, and asked if I could do a days work with a mate of his… I asked “what sort of work are we talking about?” he replied – ” you ever lifted furniture before?” No I said… what do I have to do? and that was the start of that!

So I accepted the offer and woke up on the Saturday morning ready to roll… I turned up as requested at this creepy back street to a depot that housed heavily tattoed gum-chewers most whom reeked of last nights alcohol festivities… Great.. I thought… what a bunch of slack jaw yokels!

Only one of them said hello out of the ten or so half alive slouching troglodytes on the nearby seating arrangments. mmm tough crowd.. Then the office bloke strolled out – Oh my God! Six foot five – a man mountain, black as the ace of spades with his shiny gold necklaces strung about his neck…. damn this guy looked like an American NBA player…or some wannabe Gangster operating out of the back blocks of the city.

“You Darren” he said – “yes mate I am, Peter sent me down to help out”  “Yeah mate right o, you can go with Snatch and Robbo”

Snatch… Robbo what the…. Nice names.. I felt like I was going with two cons out on detention for the weekend… fully sleeved in tattoos, unshaven, and I swear they hadnt had a shower for a while..

I remained quiet as we got into the truck not wanting to upset the blokes…I didnt want them to think that I was a push over either as I am fairly up front but this was going to be one of those days when I would be the fish amongst the two inmates…

First thing was first… They lit up their cigarettes both feeding of the one lighter supplied by the cabins many assortments… Fantastic I just love the taste of a cancer stick!! Next they began to talk about last nights party rather than where we had to go..

Well we made it to the South side of the city without a word even spoken to me the whole way… I guess they were scared! you think?

The driver “Snatch” talks for the first time to me… “hey mate I want you to listen to me carefully and do as I say, you got that?” Yes mate no problem” (gulp) The other fellow Robbo seemed to know what he was doing.. by the time I knew it he had the truck backdoors opened up the trollies out and he was ready to go! ( I was impressed)

We introduced ourselves to the customer and proceeded to walk through the house looking at what furniture had to go etc.. Well I didnt really know what was going on I just followed the two guys like a lost sheep.

So the move began, Snatch ( can you believe that name – what a drongo) was calling out his orders for Robbo and I to collect furniture and bring out to him to wrap up and stack into the truck. The furniture was going on a Backload to Melbourne apparently, and had to be precisley stacked in so it all fit in the space we allocated; so as Robbo kept telling me.. There were times where I thought I was going to die.. These guys were unreal! I was so tired and they did not stop the whole time and the packing of the truck I must say I was blown away it was so particularly packed you could not see one eye of space!!.

Now I was stumped.. These two guys looked like a bag of turds an hour ago but here they are wrapping up everything like it was gold! there was nothing that went into the truck without been wrapped and looked after..Pity they couldnt look after themselves the same way they were looking after the furniture.. Weird?

This was the first Backloading experience I had ever encounted… I was quick to write these guys off based on the way they spoke, dressed, appeared and the lay back attitude they showed first at the depot.. but on the job at the end of the day they were outstanding and thinking of that today I have learnt a valuable lesson… “To judge someone else doesnt define who they are it only defines who you are”

On the way back to the depot, Snatch was in a good mood telling us he wasnt sure it was all going to fit on the Backload to Melbourne but after getting it all in as he roughly said – he was stoked! he actually showed some interest in me and later told the Boss for my first day I did “bloody well” and I was a keeper ( being young I didnt know what that meant – I do now)…

And thats how it all started, from helping a mate out on Saturday move for another company I quickly rose to the ranks, fell in love with the physical side and precision that leaves you satisfied once done… I got my truck licence.. was promoted after 2 years to storeman then assistant Manager to Manager and after 4 years appointed State manager of the three branches.

I left the company after around 7 years of work to start my own business which leaves me here today writing this blog to you….. I am proud of where I started, not realising it would be the career I would follow, I have made the right decision and I am proud of what our company has acheived to date, the staff we employ and the trucks we drive.

So as you can see it doesnt take much to jump in and have a go at something…. You never know where you may end up….

All the best everyone -Safe Moving

DGF