Batten Down the Hatches
I estimated the replacement value for this historic scenery collection at approximately 1.5 million dollars, excluding all of the other accessories that we had brought back from Fort Scott. The Ready Labor crew was treating the rolls like cardboard tubes and not artworks. I couldn’t help but think, “This might be one of the reasons that museums don’t hire Ready Labor to handle historic artifacts.”
As the three Ready Labor hires and the general director shoved the tubes into the storage unit, they repeatedly smashed the ends against the central supports. The crew was not being careful nor observant. Although, I had repeatedly explained the unloading and loading process, no one seemed to remember it. I supervised this exact same task the previous year when the Winona Scottish Rite scenery was placed into a similar storage unit and hadn’t had any problems.
The tubes needed to be slowly and gently inserted into each slot, carefully being lifted and guided over each central support as to not scrape the fabric. This meant that as the tube was inserted, the lead individual at the front of the tube had to get into the unit and gently guide each tube over the numerous horizontal supports. I could clearly see that this was not happening and no amount of verbal direction from me would alter their actions, especially while I was working in the truck.
Ty, the owner of BellaTex, LLC, immediately identified my dilemma and jumped into help. He understood that no one was listening to me and started to give direction from within the storage unit. Unfortunately, his presence only helped a little bit. At one point, Ty’s hand was badly smashed when he tried to guide the tube over the supports and the crew did not listen – they just kept shoving forward. Bruised and bleeding, Ty continued to guide each tube through the slots while trying to minimize the overall damage. He was the only person attempting to gently handle these historic artworks and it was painful to watch. I heaved a sigh of relief as we completed the scenery rolls.
We next focused on unloading the wooden battens. Removing 13,000 linear feet of pine boards is an intimidating task, especially when one is running behind schedule. In Fort Scott, I had carefully labeled each batten bundle, separating the tops from the bottoms to facilitate the installation of each scene. As I had already injured my back that morning and Ty had also injured his hand, I decided that we would identify and distribute the battens to the crew from inside the trailer. We would quickly spot each batten label and direct the handlers to the appropriate storage unit (they were several yards apart). Eventually, Ty told Amanda to supervise the far unit as it became obvious that battens were being randomly placed.
After watching this circus for about ten minutes, my husband stepped in to supervise the second unit and also carry some bundles. He knew that this would be a big mess to unpack if the battens were paired with the wrong tubes. In the trailer I whispered to him, ”You were told not to help.” He responded, “This is ridiculous and you will never finish if I don’t help.”
However, even with Andrew’s help, this portion of the project was a going extremely slow. The Ready Labor men were getting tired and their pace rapidly diminished. They now slowly ambled back to get each bundle.
It was at this same time that Ty pointed to the general manager, now covered in dirt and sweating a little as he carried a bundle of battens to the far storage unit. Ty grinned and slowly drawled,” Right about now, I bet he’s regrettin’ not havin’ called Ready Labor earlier.” This made me burst out laughing and I agreed. Ty’s timing was perfect as I desperately needed to smile about something.
To be continued…
