A Concerned Scientist @BE@qoto.org

@grumpasaurus

Not really. Contemplating Tampa/Orlando freecycle even though they're both hours away and just putting it in the driveway after we move to see what gets picked up.

@SteveThompson

I have tried every one within two hours of us. There's one that I've been donating their max of 15 boxes per pickup to about once a month since last year. They won't take any furniture. I've spent countless hours trying to find a way to get rid of it. We're pretty rural in Florida, and I can't find anyone.

@invadersil

I recognize that I don't have a whole lot of bandwidth during a move and all, but this whole thing really blew my mind today. What a place to end up.

Oh, geez, I left out from the above that his wife still is a science believer and he now lives in a modified shed in the backyard of his house while his wife and two kids live inside...no wonder he needs furniture

This really turned into a real life cautionary tale of the rabbit hole for me. All I knew was that I hired this guy in 2016-ish and that he quit in 2021-ish. By 2021 I'd given up day to day office details and I guess I had no idea what happened.

Turns out this is a whole descent into madness brought about by the pandemic. He resented "lockdowns"(yes, I know there was not really any such thing) and started railing about teachers being "lazy" when his kids went virtual. He hated the fact that I, and others in charge, had implemented a COVID policy at work that at the time he quit that probably involved no work related travel and masking(people who have to work in a lab can't be fully virtual). This is all quite the opposite of other people that I know quit around that time because they didn't want to get COVID and wouldn't come into a lab.

Now I guess he has an MBA and attends school board meetings with Moms for Liberty and rails on about how there needs to be bibles in schools and whatnot. I never would have thought it for a minute, but, I guess that's the path from science to insanity.

Apparently I started something, because I haven't even told anyone else this yet and I just got a text from someone else:

"He drives a cybertruck now and quotes Elon Musk all day. Sorry, could have warned you "

What a world.

@Bette

I'm sure you're right, but I was terrified to dig into it any further

@donkeyherder

I've looked at my phone at least 5 times thinking "Did that really just happen?" I hired him and worked in science with him for 5 or 6 years. Just mind blowing.

I just had the most mind-blowing conversation with a former colleague. Long story short, we're downsizing on our move and I'm trying not to send a whole bunch of perfectly good used furniture to the dump. I've contacted everywhere that I could theoretically donate it, and they're not taking any furniture. I've contacted every used furniture store, and they all say they're overstocked. One told us, "I'm going to sit here and take this exact phone call all day today." So I reached out to my contact list on my phone to see if anyone needed anything for free.

One person, whom I guess I haven't talked to much lately, ends up saying they could use something and I tell him we'll leave it in the driveway for him next week. The conversation ends up with me saying that we're avoiding as much indoor, face to face meetings as we can during this move.

He says, and I quote from the text, "You don't really believe in COVID, do you?"

I reply, "Yeah, the science is pretty straightforward."

He says, "Scientists are just conspiracy theorists."

I say, "You're a scientist. I know this because I hired you and you have a degree in biochemistry."

He says, "That was before I got my MBA and realized how the world really works. Science isn't real."

@mfennvt

I might try calling U-Haul. I did their online thing and no matter what local zip codes I put in and what dates it told me cargo vans were unavailable.

@Jennifer

The Enterprise person told me they quit renting them out "without a valid reason in the last few years." I guess people were tearing them up off-road. From what I gathered unless it was likely to be icy somewhere that I was driving it they weren't willing to rent it out.

Pretty sure at this point we'll just bite the bullet and let a mover handle the dozen or so things we can't fit. So far they've been pretty unphased by the idea of driving up our half mile dirt "driveway."

@mfennvt

I thought about hosing it down so there was no dust, but in the end neither Enterprise or Penske(who were the two convenient locations) were willing rent it since it wasn't winter time.

It was really like "You want a 4WD? I'm now going to interrogate you about why!"

@lhgmk2

Yeah, we're in the US. Moving up the east coast out of Governor DeSantis' "freedom state"

Moving up into the hills and nature. I'll have to get some photography tips from you in the future to up my game.