1:51

to

2:00

get me a cup of coffee. And it was a

2:02

mother with her daughter in Dunkin Donuts,

2:05

true story. And the little girl was crying

2:07

because she wanted the strawberry

2:11

sprinkled donut and her mother was just going

2:13

in to get a coffee. I said,

2:15

ma'am, I'm going to pay for your coffee. I'm going to pay for

2:17

her donut. And that's just the way I am. I see

2:20

people are sad or not.

2:24

But I do have one rule. I don't

2:26

take care of the

2:28

homeless in other states. Like I

2:30

travel too much. But if somebody comes

2:32

up to me in a window in Texas

2:35

or Tennessee, I don't give any money. I know

2:37

it's sad, but I just can't take care of the

2:39

world. But in New York City, if

2:41

you come up to my window, I'll give you $2,

2:43

$5. And that's every day, all

2:46

day, anybody.

2:47

Adonis is often in other states

2:50

because a lot of his moves are long distance,

2:52

but they mostly start in New City.

3:00

On a Saturday afternoon a few months ago,

3:03

Adonis was moving the belongings of Ms.

3:05

Dixon. She had just retired from

3:07

her job as a home health aide and was leaving

3:09

the Bronx after many years.

3:11

Producer Zoe Azulay met

3:13

them at a storage unit where they were packing up her

3:15

stuff. What's

3:18

the moving plan today? Where are we going?

3:21

We're going down south, North Carolina.

3:23

What's there? Family. Mm-hmm.

3:26

And what are you going to miss about New York?

3:29

Not much. You

3:34

miss in the middle? Yes. Okay.

3:37

From the storage unit, they drove in Adonis' truck. Ms.

3:39

Dixon riding shotgun, Zoe squeezed

3:41

in the middle to pick up the rest of Ms. Dixon's

3:44

things at her apartment.

3:46

1322, gotcha.

3:48

Adonis has lived in New York City his

3:50

whole life. He knows each neighborhood

3:53

and how to maneuver through

3:54

them in a big truck. Ms. Dixon, have you

3:57

ate that Spanish restaurant right there? Yes,

3:59

you want it.

3:59

No? I guess you never ate here. How

4:02

do you seem to feel a while back?

4:04

When they got to the apartment, there was not much

4:06

left to pack up. I have seven

4:09

boxes. Only seven boxes over there? Yes.

4:11

A fan and a TV. Oh! They

4:14

already packed up anyway. Okay.

4:18

You'll see about taking your money with such a small

4:21

job or... I may

4:23

have to give you some money. I'll have to pay you for the exercise

4:25

today. I'll have to give you

4:27

some money.

4:30

Over his 20 years in the moving business,

4:33

Adonis has seen people

4:35

in all sorts of transitional

4:37

moments. Retiring, getting married,

4:40

being pulled out. Sometimes

4:42

a person is ready with their stuff in boxes,

4:44

eager. Other times,

4:46

Adonis and his team help a person pack.

4:50

It's a mover's job to make this moment

4:52

manageable, to compartmentalize,

4:55

and help a person move on. This

4:57

is not a service Adonis had growing

4:59

up. Well,

5:00

I remember moving

5:03

as a child between Harlem

5:05

and Nebraska. And we

5:08

never hired movers. I didn't even know...

5:10

I would just come from school and we'd be in a new

5:12

place. My dad took care of everything. And we just did

5:14

it with pickup trucks,

5:17

cars, whatever relatives could come

5:19

by. We never, ever

5:22

hired a moving truck.

5:24

I talked to Adonis after he'd gotten

5:26

Ms. Dixon's things to North Carolina. He

5:28

came into our New York studio the morning

5:31

before another move. It was still summer,

5:33

Adonis' peak season, when

5:35

he does about a move a day. He

5:37

used to pack in three moves a day. That's

5:40

a lot of flights of stairs,

5:41

tight corners, and long

5:43

drives.

5:45

I just did back-to-back

5:48

Florida,

5:49

Texas,

5:51

Tennessee,

5:53

Massachusetts, and now

5:55

I have Vermont coming up next week.

5:58

I've been to every state. except for Seattle,

6:00

Washington

6:02

and Oregon.

6:03

And when you are driving these

6:05

long haul moves, do you

6:07

go by yourself?

6:08

Sometimes

6:11

I do. Or sometimes

6:13

I pick up my dad. Yeah, my dad.

6:17

He comes and he does the driving. You know,

6:19

he's 70 years old. He's still a hell of a

6:21

driver and still moves furniture

6:23

and picks up boxes and stuff. He loves to go.

6:25

And are they still living in New York City? No,

6:27

no, no. My parents, eight

6:30

years ago, moved

6:32

to North Carolina and I moved

6:34

them and they said it's because I gave them the cheapest

6:36

price. Not

6:40

because they wanted to patronize you. You were the

6:42

best, right? I said, you moved them for free. You

6:44

won the bid, uh-huh, for free. Okay,

6:47

got it. Yeah, I moved my parents. I said,

6:49

North Carolina. And I visit

6:51

them. Anytime I do a move going, like I said, I'm going

6:54

to New York to Florida, New York to Georgia or New

6:56

York to South Carolina. I always stop it

6:58

and use my parents' places at

7:00

the hotel. But, yeah, my dad

7:02

still goes when I go up 95. He's

7:05

always happy to put on his fatigues

7:08

because that's where he goes. He

7:10

likes the fact that when he is wearing

7:12

his Vietnam hat and his fatigues,

7:15

a lot of people will say thank you for your

7:17

service. You know what I mean? Yeah.

7:20

And it's nice you get to watch those interactions.

7:22

That's cool. You get to see that.

7:25

I imagine when you enter

7:26

into a

7:28

home where someone is moving out,

7:32

you know, it means something in their life is

7:34

changing. Can you

7:36

tell the difference between a happy move

7:38

and a sad move?

7:39

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

7:41

As a matter of fact, now I get the email, Adonis,

7:45

you moved me and let's say this

7:48

username Josh into the apartment,

7:50

you know, five years ago. We're now getting divorced.

7:54

And I just want to know if you are able to help me move so

7:56

they'll know the kind of atmosphere

7:59

I'm entering. Like I won't be like hey, how's

8:01

everything going? You know, and it's a sad Occasion

8:04

for them because they're getting a divorce, you know what I mean?

8:07

And and so I you know, I go

8:09

in there like Neutral not

8:12

taking any sides

8:14

Uh-huh and do you

8:16

find like how often do you find

8:19

that you need to sort of?

8:21

Don't offer some some reassurance

8:23

or some comfort

8:24

for somebody who's having a sad move

8:27

Usually every time every time

8:29

you do The move

8:32

there is some you know They want to talk

8:34

to you about it You become the bartender

8:36

or the taxi driver that they need to you

8:38

know vent to it or at least

8:40

tell their side Cuz you know

8:43

everybody feels they oh, I'm not the bad person You

8:45

get some I get some people guys

8:48

both guys and girls and say Adonis.

8:50

I really messed up I cheated on him and got busted

8:54

Do you ever find yourself sharing

8:57

any of your you know

8:59

ups and downs with someone who's having a hard

9:01

time?

9:01

Absolutely. You can't you you

9:03

you can't go in and just You

9:06

know hear about their life and not have

9:08

to share part of your life, you know with them

9:10

and that happens all the time You know, I'll

9:12

tell them about my mistakes because at 54.

9:15

I'm always older than the person

9:17

that I'm moving You

9:27

When you come into someone's home and

9:30

they are

9:30

Packing up all of their

9:32

possessions. I imagine

9:35

you see a lot of Private

9:38

items, you know, you see the way people actually

9:41

live instead of how they present on

9:42

the street What's

9:47

like does anything surprise you now

9:49

having done this for 20 years what you come across

9:51

when you're packing up a

9:53

bedroom for example

9:56

No, now I have on my questionnaire when

9:58

I when I send them a list of tips of,

10:01

you know, moving tips, but please check under

10:03

the beds for anything personal.

10:05

So that because a lot of times the apartments

10:08

are so small, the rooms

10:10

are so small that the bed takes up most of

10:12

them and you can't move the bed left or right or

10:14

nothing. It's just up against the wall.

10:16

And so I asked them to check under the

10:18

bed because usually whatever falls on

10:21

the side of the bed or under the bed, they can't get it

10:23

until the movers come and move the bed. So

10:26

I moved an Indian couple that

10:28

had moved before and was

10:31

familiar with them and everything. And

10:35

but this time, they

10:38

were having a baby and they needed a bigger space.

10:41

So when we moved

10:43

the bed, and a lot of

10:46

the Indians and Asians,

10:48

parents come on both sides when they're doing

10:50

the move. You know, yes,

10:52

they both come like it's an event, whatever they, they

10:54

come help do the packing and maybe

10:57

the mind, the baby, you know, the small

10:59

children so the parents can do whatever they have to do.

11:02

So you know, I got ready to take apart the bed,

11:04

took the mattress off, lifted it up. And

11:08

they're all talking to me, you know, and

11:11

I moved the bed. And

11:14

some used condoms were on the

11:17

side of the bed. And

11:20

yeah, you used used used and the girl

11:23

was pregnant, which was the reason they were moving.

11:26

And so the husband had no reason

11:28

to use condoms. And

11:31

so everybody's standing in the room

11:33

looking at each other except me, I just put the bed on

11:35

this side and take it out. But

11:37

there was a big argument in their language. And

11:41

it didn't end well, you know, she

11:44

ended up staying at the place and he

11:46

ended up leaving and it was a big argument.

11:48

I said, Oh, man. Oh, wow.

11:51

Yeah.

11:51

Oh, my goodness. And

11:55

I wonder if

11:57

I'm imagining for your for your

11:59

clients, you know. who find you and reach out.

12:02

You also have this very up close

12:05

view of how New

12:07

York City neighborhoods are changing

12:11

because you're noticing who's coming in and

12:13

who's coming out.

12:16

What are you noticing right now

12:18

in New York? Is there anything different or is it

12:21

the same kind of march of

12:25

expensive neighborhoods getting bigger

12:28

and

12:29

affordable neighborhoods getting smaller and

12:31

the racial makeup of neighborhoods changing as

12:33

that flips? What I'm noticing

12:36

is nobody, and I mean

12:38

nobody in New York City can live alone. It's

12:41

very rare for me to move or place, let's

12:44

see, even if it's a one bedroom where

12:46

there's just one person living there just

12:49

paying the rent. Everybody

12:51

has to have help. Yeah,

12:55

the rent is so expensive and I don't care what kind of job.

12:57

I've moved lawyers and doctors and

13:00

people in advertisement. I once

13:02

moved a group of girls on Wall

13:05

Street in a very, very expensive building

13:09

and it was seven of them. They had so many walls

13:11

put up, split in this place, so it's like going through a maze

13:13

to get the stuff out. Oh, wow. Yeah,

13:15

they were going through the rent. Yeah, and we

13:18

had gotten there early and so

13:20

there was still a few

13:23

of the people sleeping. There was actually

13:25

a girl who slept by the door.

13:27

The little hallway that leads to the door was a

13:29

bedroom, so she had to like fold up her bed and

13:32

move it so we could start

13:35

coming in and out. I was like, yeah, that's real, really

13:38

trying to pay the rent with the seven girls in

13:40

here.

13:43

Does it ever get you down,

13:45

like seeing how hard

13:47

it is for people to

13:50

find a comfortable place to live and to

13:52

be able to afford to stay there?

13:54

No, it never gets

13:56

me down or nothing like

13:58

that, but it makes me... realized

14:01

that I'm not the

14:03

only one in that boat because growing

14:06

up we were very very very

14:08

very very and if I could throw two more very's

14:10

on there very poor yeah very

14:12

poor we always thought

14:14

white people lived better than us you know

14:16

I mean we lived in the projects and

14:19

you know they lived in the Tribeca

14:21

and Gramercy Park

14:24

and you know all those places but now

14:26

that I move people you used to say

14:28

to yourself wow they're really people

14:30

in New York City really really suffer in their own way

14:33

you know what I mean they just

14:35

coming

14:48

up how Adonis got into the moving

14:50

business and why the first five

14:52

years he didn't charge for it the

14:56

frequency of the phone calls where I was

14:58

trying to do Friday

15:00

Saturdays and Sundays people

15:03

that are being abused can't wait for the weekend

15:06

so that I found myself trying

15:08

to take care of it in the morning before I went to work

15:20

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16:17

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16:18

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16:21

Introducing Tiny Huge Decisions

16:23

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16:26

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16:28

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16:33

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16:47

This is Death, Sex, and Money from WNYC.

16:50

I'm Anna Sale. By the time

16:52

Adonis Williams was 30, he'd gone through

16:55

lots of jobs. Supermarket clerk,

16:57

security guard, summer youth

16:58

counselor, and dental assistant.

17:01

But money was tight.

17:02

He had two sons, one who lived with him.

17:05

That's

17:05

why he bought his first van in 2000. He

17:08

needed a car, and a Dodge Caravan

17:10

from the mid-90s was what he could afford.

17:13

I had that van because

17:15

that's the only thing that they would give me

17:18

on my credit. I

17:20

see.

17:20

So it's like I'm picturing like a minivan,

17:22

which is what like you know when you've got a couple of

17:24

kids in the back,

17:25

but for you it was the car loan you could get. Yeah,

17:27

that's what I could do. I

17:29

started off in the front with the Dodge Charger,

17:32

and then I you know I sold the Dodge Pickups,

17:35

and I started thinking of myself. I had my son with me at

17:37

the time, but they walked me way,

17:39

way, way past all that stuff to the back of the yard

17:41

with this van with the leaves

17:46

on it. Opened it up and he said, this is

17:48

what we got for you. I

17:51

took it. I took it.

17:53

Then September 11th happened.

17:56

The government was looking

17:58

for people to look at the... x-rays

18:00

and stuff. And so I was able

18:03

to identify a lot of small stuff

18:05

and they were impressed with that. And the government hired me

18:08

to train people at the TSA

18:10

to read x-rays.

18:11

He worked long hours at LaGuardia.

18:14

One night after work, he was taking the subway

18:16

home and noticed the woman with her two kids

18:19

carrying trash bags with their belongings.

18:22

She told him she'd been staying in a shelter

18:23

because her partner was abusive, but

18:25

she'd had to leave the shelter. And that

18:27

night she had nowhere to go.

18:29

And so I came back with the van and

18:32

I got her and the two kids and

18:34

I got them pizza and Hawaiian punch.

18:37

Huh. Yeah. And took

18:40

them to my house and I

18:43

gave them the bedroom and I used my living

18:45

room, sofa bed. And

18:47

that's when I realized that, you know,

18:49

in the shelter system they don't really

18:51

help you get in or out.

18:54

The next morning he moved her and her kids

18:56

and their things back into the shelter system

18:59

after they'd reapplied for a slot. And

19:01

Adonis decided he wanted to help more victims

19:03

of domestic violence move out of unsafe

19:05

situations, a service he still

19:07

provides today. He placed an

19:10

ad on Craigslist and put the word out.

19:12

I got some cards and

19:15

then I went around and put them to the shelters.

19:17

Now the shelters aren't easy to find, they're meant

19:20

that way so the abusers don't find the shelters.

19:22

And for the first five years I didn't make

19:25

any money. I didn't get any money and

19:27

I didn't accept any money for the first

19:29

five years of moving.

19:31

Oh, so it wasn't like a job.

19:33

No, no, no. It was

19:35

a service that you did. I also

19:37

have a Facebook page, still call that a Facebook

19:39

page.

19:41

How much were you helping people move?

19:42

I was only doing the job

19:45

on the weekends, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

19:47

at the Department of Homeland Security. I

19:50

had 10 hours shift so I finished

19:53

my 40 hours and four

19:55

days. So I had Friday, Saturdays and Sundays

19:57

off. I

20:00

had the ad if I got the phone call, I would just

20:03

move people. Now, the

20:05

type of move I was doing was a

20:08

person with bags of clothes, they even

20:10

put dishes and forks and spoons and bags

20:12

of clothes, I mean, in garbage bags.

20:15

And they would sit like taking a mattress and maybe

20:17

a TV, you know, maybe a TV. But

20:20

those are desperate people trying to get out of a situation

20:22

where either the abuser was

20:25

locked up, you know, or

20:27

at work, you know, something like that. I

20:30

rushed in just me and my son. At the time, my son

20:32

was only nine years old. So

20:34

it was just me and him.

20:37

I want to make sure I'm understanding

20:40

the families

20:41

who are trying to get away from violence in

20:43

the home. Is it primarily, do

20:47

you encounter them when they're trying

20:49

to get to a shelter or moving between

20:52

shelters or sometimes are you

20:55

coming in when the abuser

20:57

is away, sneaking in, trying to get them out safely?

21:00

Yeah, it varies.

21:03

And now, even sometimes the abuser

21:05

is still there. But now, you know, we're

21:07

talking, you know, 20 years later,

21:10

and I have a crew now, not just me and my

21:12

nine-year-old son. So now when they see like

21:15

four or five big guys come through the door, the

21:17

guy is sitting there quiet, and

21:19

he doesn't see anything. We

21:21

don't give them the mean face or nothing like that.

21:25

Is there anyone in your life, Adonis, that

21:27

like before you were moving survivors

21:30

of domestic violence, did you know anyone? Was

21:32

anyone in your life somebody who'd been through a

21:36

dangerous relationship?

21:37

Well, my parents,

21:40

my mom and my dad, you know, used to go

21:42

through that, you know. And you know what the weird thing

21:44

is when my mom and dad

21:47

were fighting and my mom would be

21:49

bruised up, it

21:52

was no name for it. We got a beating

21:54

from my dad. My mom got a beating from that. You know

21:56

what I mean? It was just the way

21:58

it was. And when the police came, they were like, nobody

22:00

got arrested. They would say take a walk around the block,

22:04

you know, or you got to cool off. They were

22:06

veterans also and they understood what he was going

22:08

through so they give him a break. But

22:12

once we got older, I would see between 17

22:21

and 20 and me and my

22:23

older brother could challenge my father. And

22:27

because by that time we lived in Harlem and

22:29

the Bronx and we were kind of street hardened, you

22:31

know, even though I sound like a

22:34

easy-going mellow guy, I have

22:36

never lost the fight on the streets of Harlem

22:39

or the Bronx and I dare anybody to say so

22:42

because I come see them, you know. But

22:44

yes, when I put up my dukes, there

22:47

was no walking away from that. The person always ended

22:49

up on the ground and people had to pull me off from

22:52

him, you know. So

22:54

when me and my brother, you know, my dad,

22:57

you know, he went in after my mom and then

22:59

we, me and my brother

23:01

got my mom out of there and closed the door.

23:03

When we came back out that day in 1992,

23:07

dad never did it again. And he gave

23:09

up the drinking and smoking and stuff like

23:11

that over the years. He's a great guy now. But

23:14

yeah, yeah, he was military

23:16

trained. It wasn't an easy fight. I tell you that. The

23:18

military, I learned that day, trained

23:20

them soldiers very, very well. But

23:24

we had youth and stamina on our side and we

23:26

prevailed.

23:28

92, so you were in your early

23:30

20s? Yeah,

23:32

I'm 1 to 69. So 89, it's like 22.

23:34

It's

23:40

interesting you remember the year. You remember when

23:42

that happened? Yeah, you remember the day you had to go up against

23:44

the most powerful man on the planet. Because

23:46

there's no kid who doesn't think his dad is not

23:48

the most powerful person on the planet. There's not one

23:51

kid out here. I seen my pop

23:53

beat up grown men in the street. Just beat

23:55

them up. And you know, because you

23:58

know, that's the way it was in Harlem in the Bronx. You

24:00

had a problem with some money and you step out of the

24:02

bar and you know, I see them take

24:04

on two and three guys like, where am I

24:06

going? I'm 10 years old. My pop told me to do something.

24:09

I did it. I saw what the other guys got. You

24:11

know what I mean?

24:13

Yeah.

24:14

Have you and your dad talked about that?

24:16

No. I've never

24:19

talked to my dad about that, but during

24:21

a drive once, my dad

24:23

had asked me about why

24:29

I never cursed. He asked me those. He

24:31

wants to know why I never cursed and

24:34

he wants to know why I never use drugs

24:36

or smoke or anything. And we

24:38

had a conversation about that and I explained to him and

24:41

he wanted to know what did I do

24:43

when my mom kicked me out? Because when

24:46

I was 24, 25, my mom

24:48

made me leave. And

24:57

what did you do? I

25:00

lived sometimes.

25:05

I lived sometimes in

25:09

the same building where she put me out,

25:11

but on the roof area. And

25:13

I still went to work from there until

25:15

a friend of mine had

25:19

a studio apartment and he was getting married

25:21

and he gave me the studio apartment. That was my first

25:23

apartment in Harlem.

25:26

And why did your mom ask you to leave?

25:29

She found that I had a kid that I didn't tell her

25:31

about. Yeah,

25:34

my first son. She

25:37

was upset. She put me out.

25:40

And what did you say when your

25:42

dad asked you about why you don't curse

25:44

and why you didn't do drugs?

25:45

Well, I told my

25:47

dad I didn't

25:50

do drugs because I saw what it did to him.

25:53

You know what I mean? You know, the

25:55

cigarette smoking,

25:57

the drinking, how I meet him. And I was afraid

25:59

to be. become that person. And

26:02

I don't spank, to this day, I do

26:04

not hit women, I do not hit

26:07

children, and I do not hit animals.

26:11

Yeah.

26:12

I never, I never once gave my kids a spanking,

26:15

and I never had an argument with a girl and a

26:17

relationship, and I never hit her, and I

26:20

don't hit animals. They can't defend themselves.

26:25

That makes me understand Adonis when

26:27

you describe, you know, being

26:29

on the subway and seeing

26:30

a mom

26:32

with her kids struggling. It makes me understand

26:35

maybe

26:37

a little bit about like the depth

26:40

of feeling you might have to want to

26:43

help look out and help a

26:46

mom who needed help.

26:52

A few years then Adonis realized

26:55

he could make more money moving than

26:56

working airport security, and he

26:59

started his business. In New York

27:01

City, it's $950 to $1200 just

27:05

for the one move, you know. And

27:07

so that money started to look way better than, you

27:09

know, waiting two weeks for a $1200

27:12

check when I can get that in one day. So the

27:14

math was pretty easy for me. Uh-huh,

27:16

uh-huh. You

27:18

mentioned your son who's now

27:21

an adult. Are you a single man now,

27:23

Adonis? Yeah,

27:24

I have two boys,

27:27

you know, and one is 29

27:29

and one is 33, and

27:32

I'm not married, but

27:34

I'm not single. Yeah,

27:37

I got a little girlfriend, you know. You're in a

27:39

relationship. Yeah, I'm in a relationship, yeah, yeah, I'm

27:43

in a relationship, yeah, yeah.

27:43

Uh-huh. Where did you meet

27:45

your current partner? I

27:47

was doing a move, and

27:50

she just walked up to me on the street looking

27:53

for a job and I'm talking to the

27:55

rap furniture. She was terrible at the job, but a pretty

27:57

girl, and I was like, hey, you don't have to work anymore, but.

28:00

So that's the

28:02

way that happens. I don't think I was, I

28:05

think technically even though we've

28:07

been together like five years, I think technically I could still

28:09

get out of it because I had never officially said I'm your boyfriend.

28:12

It's just, she just has to be around me when I'm

28:14

going to the movies and dinner. She

28:16

just happens to be there. So

28:21

you don't live together? No, no, no, I don't live

28:23

together. I don't want to live with anybody anymore.

28:26

I have two separate moms, so

28:28

I've been through that before and it's not

28:30

a good, it's not good. The breakup

28:32

isn't good. They know too much about you when it's time

28:35

to win.

28:36

And

28:39

I wonder Adonis, when you come home

28:41

to

28:42

your place

28:43

and you look around at things that you

28:46

have, when

28:48

your work is to see all the

28:50

stuff that people have and

28:53

do you find that

28:57

the objects

28:59

that you keep in your house,

29:02

are there a few things that you really treasure or

29:04

do you find that you're less attached to stuff?

29:06

Yeah I am very less attached

29:08

to stuff. I don't think I have anything in my house that

29:11

I pay for, not even my own bed. I

29:14

got a nice comfy bed that costs a lot of money that

29:16

I didn't pay for. I got a big screen

29:18

TV, one of those nice curved

29:20

TVs. I don't know what they cost, maybe $2,500 these days. I

29:24

got it for free. How

29:25

did you get that nice TV for

29:27

free? One of the clients, they

29:29

were upgraded. They're consulting,

29:31

they got married in a relationship and they're moving and they

29:33

don't need

29:36

two beds, they don't need two TVs. So

29:39

I get a lot of stuff all the time.

29:41

That makes sense because for people who are

29:43

just trying to be done with moving

29:45

stuff,

29:46

you taking it off their hands. Yeah.

29:50

I used to try and sell it but

29:53

it's just too much hassle to sell

29:55

it. So I donate all the furniture to

29:57

Victor. of

30:00

domestic violence. I still have

30:02

my ad up. I will take a picture

30:04

of it and if it can move

30:07

out, I'll deliver it for free. Mm-hmm.

30:09

When you think about the next

30:12

five, ten years, how long do you think you'll

30:14

be working on moving sites

30:16

and doing the moving

30:18

yourself? I think I could

30:21

go, based on my father,

30:23

at least to 75. So

30:30

another 20 years? Yeah, but

30:33

I'm going to be the person

30:35

to point the finger to lift that up, probably

30:38

in the next five years, if not sooner,

30:41

as opposed to actually doing the work myself.

30:43

I actually jump. If it's a four-flight walk-up,

30:45

I take a flight myself to this day.

30:48

And when those guys complain about what they're lifting

30:50

and how heavy something is, I'll always go,

30:53

come on, I'm double your age and I'm still doing it. I'm not

30:55

even sweating yet. But when I sit, and I

30:57

hope they never hear this podcast, when I sit

31:00

in that truck, I'm going, why

31:02

the hell did

31:03

I do that? Oh my God,

31:05

why am I still doing it? But

31:08

then when I open that truck door, I'm like, let's get back

31:10

to work.

31:19

It's Adonis Williams, a mover

31:22

in New York City,

31:23

who now lives in Queens. Sex

31:33

and Money is a listener-supported production

31:35

of WNYC Studios in New York.

31:37

This episode was produced by Zoe

31:40

Azoulay. The rest of our team is

31:42

Liliana Maria Percy Ruiz, Amy Pearl,

31:44

Lindsay Foster Thomas, and Andrew Dunn.

31:47

Thank you to Jason Isaac for engineering

31:49

help. The Reverend John Delor

31:51

and Steve Lewis wrote our theme music.

31:54

We're at DeathSexMoney on Instagram

31:57

and subscribe to our weekly newsletter

31:59

at

32:00

deathsexmoney.org.

32:03

Thank you to Laurie McCaskill

32:06

in Brooklyn, New York for being a member

32:08

of Deaf Sex and Money and supporting us with

32:10

a monthly

32:10

donation. Join Christine

32:13

and support what we do here by going

32:15

to deathsexmoney.org. When

32:26

Adonis does retire, he plans

32:28

to move out of New York City

32:29

to the country to live off his parents.

32:32

It's nothing like looking at the sky

32:34

and listening to the crickets and having your dog.

32:37

Like, we may have two dogs, but the dogs

32:39

love me. When I come by, they recognize me

32:41

right away. They even jump up and down

32:43

like little kids. You wouldn't believe these two

32:45

dogs. They jump up and down, they get to wagging,

32:48

you know, and they love me. So I get

32:50

me a dog and

32:52

live out my days in a rocking chair, you

32:55

know, like my dad.

33:00

I'm Anna Pale and this is Half

33:02

Sex and Money from WNYC.

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