“Help me move!” Your friend pleads. It’s hard to resist wanting to help your friend moving sometimes. Helping your friend with moving sounds like a nice gesture, but it can end friendships. It’s very hard to turn down a close friend asking for a favor, especially a big favor like moving.
Should you help them move and hope for a return favor when you might be moving?
The answer is almost always no!
Here’s some reasons why:
- You could get injured. There is a reason people hire professional movers that go through training before they start moving. You could hurt your back, legs, or worse while moving if you don’t lift properly.
- If something gets broken, your friend might want you to pay for it. Chances are if your friend did not hire movers, they did not get moving insurance. If you break or drop up any of their fragile items, furniture, or boxes, they might want reimbursement.
- Friendships can be ruined. Your friend is under a great deal of stress from moving. They might hold you responsible for any mistakes and accidents during the moving process which can cause a lot of tension between the two of you.
What’s more valuable? Having a friend owe you a big favor at the risk of losing their friendship or not helping your friend with moving?
Moving is hard. Nobody can blame you for not wanting to help.
Sometimes though, out of obligation or manners it hard not to help your friends moving day. That’s where these moving day excuses come in! Now, there is no excuse for bailing on a friend in a time of need, but on moving day there are other ways to help! Sometimes not helping your friends move is a greater help. Be a real friend and don’t help your friends move. Here’s some excuses to help get you out of helping your friend moving.(Note: avoid lying to your friend outright, but try to schedule these excuses for their moving day if possible)
- Injury: sprained ankle, thrown back, neck injury, broken arm. With any type of injury, you’ll just get in the way of the move, thus exempting you from helping.
- Professionalism: There is a job interview or meeting that you cannot miss on the opposite side of town that just happens to coincide.
- Sentimentality: It’s too painful to say goodbye! This excuse only works if you really are close to the person moving.
- Previous Appointment: Whether it’s your parents visiting or a doctor’s appointment, there are some things that are more important than helping a friend move, and you just happen to have such an appointment.
- Make Them Laugh: When all else fails, try a ridiculous, hilarious excuse. This is a last resort only though! If it’s crazy enough, your friend might just realize how opposed you are to helping with moving and let you off the hook. “I have an acute fear of moving boxes!” “I am the worst butter fingers! (Bonus: if you really are a clutz or if you happen to have something in hand and drop it on cue!)” “You’re taking away a mover’s job by not hiring someone to help with moving.”
Let’s be honest, moving is hard. With all the heavy lifting of boxes and furniture, helping your friend moving is definitely not worth the free pizza and drinks your friend is probably offering. So choose not to help your friend moving and use one of these excuses or some reasoning to get out of helping your friend moving. A true friend won’t be mad if you choose not to help them with moving. I’d love to hear your stories about moving with friends or maybe some clever excuses as to why you couldn’t help with moving! I’m all ears!