A.k.a. community

The crazy part is it doesn't matter who you voted for, everyone on both sides would generally love to help their neighbor and would offer a hand. It's just when people get involved in the macro sense that they get filled with hate and anger. Makes me sad. Let's just all move couches.

We do socialism all the time.

Neighbors bring each other gifts. Friends feed one another. Someone is struggling and we give them what they need, no questions asked.

I am also the guy with the truck. But I do not drive 5-speed manual very well. So the truck lives at the house of my friend who is good at driving manual. He's kind of my Tony, I guess. The truck is indeed a community resource of anyone we are decent friends with.

I may not know a guy, but I know a guy who knows a guy

I say "I know a guy" and if said guy were american he'd be in prison lmao

Societies that run on favors are corrupt societies.

Not just American. It's poor people's economy everywhere. American working class has more in common with working class in every other nation than American wealth class. The real division in the world is class division, everything else is distraction.

This is a wild concept for other cultures. Like, in Germany people will help you move. Your friends that is. Maybe a coworker or neighbour - if you even know any neighbour at all. That is all but a given here as well. But some random guy? Nah...

Oh and you absolutely have to rent a truck. I don't know a single truck person. There is no such thing as having a truck, unless you need it for business. Long story short: I just paid a company >2k to move just one town over

Also strongly depends on the community and your perceived level of acceptance within the community.

Anyone who's ever been viewed as an outsider knows that it is not this simple unless you happen to fit in.

That was the ancient economy, before money even existed. You gave stuff to people. Bread, pots, meat, build a cabin. They gave stuff back that you needed, roughtly about the same value, but never exactly the value. Everybody has to be a little in debt to anyone else. If you gave back exactly what it's worth, it means you don't want to deal with that person anymore.

Most of us are just regular, friendly people who are glad to help out if needed. There are pockets of shit people who thrive on hate, but that's true for any country.

Americans are a very friendly people, all things considered. The whole smiling at everyone you see, helping out strangers for fun thing is not universal. Thus, this post.

That ending was damn near wholesome. Also I think my favorite part of the whole thing was "the pizza is not negotiable."

it's hard to remember that the average person is a human just like yourself

As a Canadian who owns a truck, I think this may just be a North American thing. I am the guy that is referred to when one says "I know a guy".

Ignore religion, politics, and hard drugs and this is just normal.

As an american, I think it's toxic positivity because it ignores all the invisible social rejects who live on the margins of society and don't have the type of community support that makes this possible.

The OOP happened to luck out and knew some nice people and also happened to be accepted by those people as someone who's worth helping.

The same Kevin might be a completely different person when he drives through a city and sees a homeless person struggling to move a tent with all his possessions...

Reads like Burkowski

It has a deep seeded rhythm indeed

You just took care of a guy and when the time came, he took care of you.

I mean, thats just how it still is in my village. It does not seem to be a particularly endangered way of living and rather the norm in rural areas.

This is the way

Absolutely

Except women also have those connections.

The price may be different, like a baby blanket for their neice.

I love positive masculinity.

Clay pigeon signal hits the night sky

If you are moving ALL your stuff, hire movers.

In my experience, that's what Dad is for.

It starts with Dad moving you to and from dorm rooms. Then apartments.

When my wife and I moved to our house I hired movers. It was a lot easier and not terribly expensive.

When my wife moved her business to a new building, my mom told me my dad insisted on helping us move, so I didn't hire movers as I had planned. When we were moving the tons of furniture, cabinets, and massive boxes stuffed full of files, my dad mentioned that my mom told him I had asked him to help me move. I have never been able to determine why my mom manipulated us into nearly killing ourselves.

Now I'm the dad. I've moved kids to and from dorm rooms and apartments. I've rented trucks for huge moves. My daughter and I are moving a couch, a dresser, an end table and all her cooking utensils on Saturday.

Not only do I have a truck, I also have straps, furniture dollies, moving blankets, mattress bags, etc.

My most recent purchase was a shoulder dolly. If you haven't seen one, picture two harnesses with a wide strap running between them. Two people squat on either end of the item being moved with the wide strap running under it. You take up the slack in the strap, and just stand up to lift it off the ground. It's a game changer.

I've become my own moving company.

There's a point in your life where "all your stuff" is maybe two non-IKEA pieces of furniture that your parents forced on you when you moved out. And then there's the point at which "all your stuff" fills a 1600 sqft ranch house and half of it is made out of granite for some reason.

Just, baseline, ignore the meme. If you have to move a refrigerator down a flight of stairs, this is no longer a "buy me a pizza" tier work.

This reminded of the time my family used me as the mover in my teens. We moved to an old apartment and I had to move almost all the furniture 5 stories without an elevator. If I try that today I'll most likely give my last breath on the first stairs.

There is more?! Thank you for linking this!

I fix people's computers in exchange for food.

Printers, I execute for free.

My neighbor is the guy with the truck. He feels the same way you do, says he just can't imagine not being available to help folks out. He's helped me out. I help him out (not with a truck, of course). He has a truck because he is big, it's comfortable, and because he can help people move shit or get mulch or whatever. He lives for it.

I am the guy with a ute (Australian for truck) but I dont come with. You can borrow it for as long as you need, it comes with a full tank and it comes back with one.

Its a bit of a heap but it starts every time and runs all day. I cant justify the yearly expense to keep it around for the dozen or so times a year I need it. But my friends and neighbours get great value out of it so I do.

I read this yesterday and said that normally a 6 pack is attached.

I think it really depends on the truck This is all IMHO: Something like a Colorado or Ranger is both reasonable enough and more truck than most people need. You can move a sofa with those. Stock Silverados or F-150s are also fine but do you really need something that big? Lifting or squatting those or getting anything that is bigger than those but isn't but a legit work truck is stupid.

Some of the anti-immigrant sentiments smell strongly of a CHUD larping as a Japanese man.

It reads that way, but it's a cute story 🤷

It's been a blast to see the death of the internet as fraudsters pollute the world with books they hope to make a quick buck on and which they did not write themselves. Real fun. /s

Also extremely racist.

Yeah, your right.

pretty smart move in retrospect - "eternal and obligatory friendship is the only currency I trade in"

"would be", "was" — am I to take this to mean that your brother is no longer with us? If so, I am sorry for your loss.

If I have intuited this correctly, then I hope that some day, you can be the "truck guy" for other people. The truck is optional honestly — just as long you carry with you the spirit of helpfulness and trust in reciprocal community support.

Happy birthday to your brother. Truck guys are never forgotten - they become legends.

"I knew this one guy who showed up in a beater of truck smelling of pine and diesel. He helped me move my bed once. He refused my money, but gladly took the beer I offered. After the move, we leaned on the bed of his truck with our elbows raised along its rim. We talked for an hour about sports, music, and television. After awhile he stopped leaning on the truck and said, 'Welp...' and dusted off his pants. Without knowing the meaning, I knew exactly his purpose. We shook hands and he drove off into the sunset to help the next poor, truck-less soul."

This is the way.

This phenomenon is the same here in Canada so I will pitch in. It is not enjoyed. It is not hated. It merely is. When a neighbour needs help, you help them. Even if its the neighbour with the yappy dog. There is no emotion tied up in it one way or another. Its just the right thing to do.

I think that Kevin and Tony probably don't even think about this, they lived their entire live that way. They don't know any better.

Here in Germany, if you want to move a sofa, you have three options:

1. Rent a transporter (no one here has a truck), park it illegally in front of the house while onloading the sofa, transport the sofa, park the car again illegally while unloading it. If the police catches you or a neighbor files a complain, you may have to pay a fee.

2. File a form so that someone puts up traffic signs for that day that no one except you may park in front of the two houses. Costs around 90 € and takes 3 weeks. Rent car, proceed as usual. Someone will see that you park in a "no parking" zone and does not know that you requested that zone, so he will file a report. Therefore, later, fill some more forms to battle that claim.

3. Do 1) at night where no one sees you or cares.

(This is of course highly exaggerated. Parking is not such a problem in every city.)

Yeah, this is really normal. It's one of the rare things that I absolutely, genuinely like about my country. If someone says they need help, even a total stranger, you help them.

The good Americans are pretty free with their labor when it comes to their neighbors, and the definition of 'neighbor' is pretty loose. If I met you five minutes ago, you need help with something, and we live in the same city, you're my neighbor.

Definitely not something I've heard of. This is either very old school America (50-80s) or something done in very small towns where everyone knows one another.

That said, this is definiely something I know friends would do for each other. Truck or not. You have some boys over to help move some stuff around, you cook or grab food for them an pay the bill. But you gotta be pretty good friends for me to call you up like that (or vice versa).

For me too sometimes, but this is what it takes to build a community.

Your plans may suddenly take a turn, but in exchange, you get helping hands for whatever you need to do - and a sense that whatever happens, you know the folks

This is pretty much how it works in Canada too. It can be a bit of a pain (especially if someone is moving in winter) but it's just one of those camaraderie things you do. If you're gonna move you let your friend group know, and you can pretty much rely on about 60-75% of them showing up to help, and in return you feed and beer them. Then when someone else is moving you do the same for them.

If you have a good excuse you can sometimes skip one, but if you never show up (especially if other people have already helped you move) that's very bad. Nobody will say anything, but the group remembers.

Enjoyment is not in the act itself. Enjoyment comes from the appreciation of your fellow citizen who needed a thing moved that they were unable to move without help.... And pizza.

I don't find it uncomfortable. You're there to do a job, you do it, you get your pizza and the appreciation of your fellow human, you go home.

You're there for a purpose. People want you there for that purpose. You might not be good at it, but you're there and that's the important part. At the end of the day, the thing is done.

It's a social contract, and it's not exclusive to guys.

It's one of those social expectations not everyone is comfortable with. I think it comes from a good place though. It's essentially community sourced mutual aid. For lack of, you know, easy access to aid from society as a whole.

If you empathize with having to move a heavy sofa up several flights of stairs with only two people, you help move a stranger's sofa. There's no enjoyment. It sucks for everyone. People get hurt and bump around and say, "sorry" and "ow" a lot. That's what the pizza/beer is for.

Even if you're moving it at 9:00 am, you crack a beer when you're done. It's more volunteer work than civic duty, but it feels more rewarding than a shift at the food bank.

Source: I volunteer for the food bank.

This was the norm when I was young. Comfort with the situation varied, of course. But, to refuse would be more uncomfortable.

And how it's done in Japan if friends don't help?

If you know a guy with a truck, and you know another guy who needs a guy with a truck, you wouldn't connect them?

Reading the comments made me realize a couple of things.

1. When I said it sounded "exhausting," I wasn't really talking about the physical work of moving the sofa. I meant the effort of maintaining the relationships behind it. In many cases, the pizza isn't really the reward. From a Japanese perspective, sharing a meal with someone can actually feel like the more demanding part unless you're very close. Sometimes, even with close friends, it can feel like a bit of an obligation.

2. I think we have a different idea of what "neighbors" and "friends" mean. For many people in Japan today, neighbors are essentially strangers. There are probably still rural communities where neighbors help each other, but that's much less common in cities. As for friends, we generally don't rely on them for everyday necessities. Of course we're happy to help our friends when they need it, but friendship itself isn't expected to function as part of the infrastructure of daily life. We don't stay friends because we need each other. We stay friends because we enjoy each other's company.

I have friends and family members that are willing to do tasks like this. They accept cash. They also get invited to gatherings.

As an another Japanese person, i just felt this story is really wholesome and how humanity in general should be like.

Maybe a vestige from the colonial days?

This sure did sound homely. And a life in a bygone era.

In my house we have two trucks and a utility trailer. My wife used her truck to help her friend move a sofa just this Sunday. It's not difficult to get things moved in America.

Capitalists: "those poor idiots, they could've been getting paid this whole time"

My condolences

Same here. Phones, PCs, and sometimes game consoles. I usually charge a trip to get ice cream from A&W or Coldstone or something.

At today's gas prices you could get professional movers and still buy yourself a pizza afterwards :(

With that beautiful writing style? This prose would be lost on film.

Honestly, I thought this was an excerpt from some modern classic usamerican novel. I was fully expecting to find this comment section full of references and people talking about the book.

Omg yes, i don't even mind being the 3d printer guy. Now I don't feel so bad for not being someone's truck guy

Oh god, you're right..

I wish there was a community for it, like cool bro shit.

Or Maybe wholesome memes?

So what if, as a Canadian, I offered both pizza, and a 12 pack per person? What does that get for help?

Just ask Kevin.

Isn't that the town with the cult?

Well pizza principals at least.

Barney, is that you?

No truck either but a friend needed a hand to move his stuff.

I came, other of his friends came as well.

We moved the furniture, the books and even the gym equipment.

Pizza was offered and shared.

A couple years later, I show up for a job interview. One ofy friend's friend is my interviewer. He asks technical questions, I answer.

He eventually claims I now my stuff so he stops with the questions and we have a relaxed chat.

I got the job and still work there after all these years.

I can drive my truck down

Unfortunately it’s not real. The account is a bot pushing far right, racist crap.

God ! Yes !

Without comment eh?

Oh, only superficially

If you're ever in my neighborhood and need furniture moved, I will cheerfully prove you wrong for the price of a pizza.

Just in case anyone was wondering, here's a video explaining what a Ute is:

https://youtu.be/9i2eZaJsC7g

You didn't stop to help??

I was there too. The guy alternated between vomiting and screaming: "Does anyone have a truck?!"

I was next to you in the passenger seat and said to the vomiting man: "I know a guy." You shifted gears and continued straight for another mile or so.

From the rearview mirror I saw the guy being lifted into another truck. I repeated: "I know a guy."

You took a left and said: "An ambulance is not a truck."

Aww I thought it was fun

First of all this is a shitpost community.

When I moved states, we introduced ourselves to the neighbor and they offered to mow our lawn cause we didn’t have a mower yet. Gave em a bottle of wine, chill neighbors all the way until they moved out.

Most people are decent, even more than the 80/20 rule.

Yeah fuck Americans! I hate all of them tbh, even the supposed “good” ones. Every single one is a pig and deserves to die. They should really learn to be more tolerant and not to hate people based on one characteristic that they think tells me everything they need to know about a person

Thing is, like you say, they're willing to help a friend of a friend, but frankly the bar for a friend is pretty low for a lot of people. As someone who's also neurodivergent and has had approximately three friends on average for most of my life, but recently moved to America and so had a full reset, I've been reminded that the majority of people like to think they're good people, even if they have questionable beliefs or cut you off in traffic or whatever, and thay extends to helping out people that they know.

Given I've been in the country a month, have autism, and live out of the city, I'm probably as in the group you describe as you can get, but I'm still fairly confident if I needed a neighbor to take me to hospital, or someone to help me move a couch, or whatever else, I could find them even through work or the neighborhood pretty quickly, as it just takes one connection to flip a switch in people's brains from "fuck that guy" to "they're in my tribe, I'll help them"

There are two kinds of truck.

The first is an oversized showpiece that's sparkling clean, has brand new tires, and not a single scratch. You need a stepladder to get in to drive, and it has never seen a day of work in its life. The driver is, invariably, a selfish jerk who wants the working-class status of having a truck, but no inclination to use it for its given purpose. They need a little sedan, but they want to take up space and feel important. This is what is known as a 'pavement princess'. This is a bad truck.

The second can be any year, but is usually a little on the old side. The owner has had their hands in every part of the engine, or is on a first-name basis with their mechanic. It is covered in well-earned scars, and the owner is a person like Kevin. This is a good truck.