Company Moves

When I worked in advertising there were a few times (like one or two) that I got to be involved in the production of a television commercial. I recall one time, in an effort to save money, where we tried to cram three shoots into two days. On the first day we shot a commercial at this old farm house and then later that day we were going to shoot at a diner. There were like, 500 people, give or take a hundred, working on this project. I remember the director saying, "We gotta shoot this spot in four hours and then we have a company move to the next location." He said it like it was an usual and challenging thing to do. I thought, "Wow, I guess that is a big deal to have all these people pack up, get to the right place, set up again, etc."

So I have adopted this phrase and I say it in my head all the time in my current line of work. We constantly have company moves. With kids, a company move involves two or more different locations and costume changes, without going home in between. Like last night I was thinking through what we were doing today: Dr.'s appointment then on to a spray ground and picnic. I thought, "Okay, we got a company move so I better get ready."

For today's company move I had to think through: Kids need regular clothes for the doctor's appointment plus swim suits and swim shirts for the spray ground. I need a place to change their clothes--doctor's office (so I bring the giant swim bag in?) or car? Gus also needs swim diapers, wipes and we all need sunblock. Don't forget towels. I need an outfit that is both doctor office and spray ground appropriate. Then there's the lunch. I can pack some stuff the night before but other stuff will have to wait. Gotta write a note so I don't forget. They'll probably want a snack between the doctor and the spray ground so I need to pack that separately. Then they'll need drinks in addition to the drinks that go with their lunches.

Thursday our company move involved playing at a park, feeding the ducks and then going to a jumpy place. Well, you need socks for the jumpy place but not for feeding the ducks so there you got two pairs of shoes per child. And of course the bread for the ducks. But at least their wasn't a full costume change so the company move wasn't quite as complicated. It's usually when a wet activity and a dry activity is combined that things get tricky.

Side note about my Thursday company move: We got to the jumpy place and I thought, "I better change Gus' diaper before we go in." I checked my bag and noticed I had NO diapers! I thought, "Well, as long as he doesn't have a poop it's probably ok." But of course, he DID need a change. The closest place was Sprouts so I ran in with both kids, didn't bother with a cart, and went running around frantically looking for those brown, enviro-friendly diapers (knowing that's all they had which, why would I be against that when I use cloth diapers? I don't know but I just prefer the Elmo ones.) So anyway, finally found them after telling an employee, "It's an emergency!" Bought the expensive not-as-eco-friendly-as-cloth diapers and changed him in the car.

I thought about telling my friend I was meeting at the jumpy place how I had to buy the brown earth-friendly diapers but then I thought, I can't really make fun of them. I mean, I DO like to help out the environment and like I said, Gus usually wears cloth. Plus, what if she loves those brown ones?

Anyway, I tell her that I had to run to Sprouts to get diapers and she looked at Gus and saw his diaper and said, "Oh, and you had to get those weird brown ones." Ha!

So all of this was to say that I could totally put company moves on my resume. And if I had to coordinate one for 500 people shooting two TV commercials in one day I'd say to the director, "Dude, I have orchestrated way more complicated company moves that involve a lot more shit than this in my day. You have no idea."