Storage Wars and other stuff
@lucysfootball Has never seen Storage Wars.
I am not surprised because she goes to the theatre and writes incredibly long and hilarious blog posts, so where would she find the time to watch this show.
Fortunately for her, I have. And I like to think this blog can be educational. Why just the other day, someone found this blog looking for the following: Do the scooters from the Scooter Store really work? Ok, that is a bad example because I didn’t address that in the posting. I am sure they do though or else they wouldn’t be able to advertise on tv, right?
Anyway,back to the show. This gem of a show has,as most of these shows do, a certain pattern to it.
First, the premise. Have you ever wondered where all the junk in consignment stores comes from? Wonder no more. People who own these stores go to storage locker facilities. When someone hasn’t kept up the payments on their lockers, the storage companies put these lockers up for auction.
The locker is opened. Bidders get five minutes to look in without entering the locker. Then the bidding commences. Highest bidder gets the locker. Then later on, they get to go through the locker and see if there is enough items of value to get their money back.
That, right there, should be enough for a show, but there is more.
The show focuses of a handful of regulars who try to outfox each other. Now we are not confusing this with a Mensa meeting.
We have Barry, the oldest one: Dave, the annoying one with his trademark shout of “YUUUP” when he bids: Darryl, the sleeveless one: and Jarrod and Brandi: the couple.
(By the way, can anyone tell me just when i took the place of y at the end of women’s names? Was this before bellbottoms?)
So, we follow them through the bidding process and as we do, there are cut-ins where they get to trash what the others are doing or pat themselves on the back for being shrewd.
Eventually, they look through the lockers and usually someone finds something of value that needs to be appraised. Which leads us to the end of the show where this weeks winners and losers are revealed.
Is it entertaining? I suppose so. In the way that eating potato chips can be. It doesn’t require a lot of thought, which can be nice.
So, Amy, there it is. The next someone around the office starts talking about the show, drop your voice an octave and say, “Yuuup!” Knowing smiles will abound.
One other thing today, the Super Bowl is happening in my new hometown of Indianapolis. I am not going, nor do I have tickets. But the downtown area is really hopping with activity. My son, who works down there saw an interesting thing last night: A woman with her head in a Louis Vuitton bag, laying on the sidewalk asleep, as her husband stood over her slowly shaking his head. A clear case of Super Bowl fever.
Peace.
Bellbottom Blog 
great show, but as I help both my Grandfather and my father clean out their respective homes, I wonder if the entire idea of “storage” just means we all have too much crap!! Josh – hope you’re rooting for my Giants this weekend!
I could never root for the Patriots.
People do collect a lot of extra things. My storage locker has a lot of books that I am not going to read again.
I think the ‘i’-instead-of-‘y’ thing in womens names must be an American thing? Over here in the UK they tend to drop the last syllable all together instead.
I hope someone can shed some light on that. My guess is the i was used so that a little heart could dot it .
My name ends with an ie. I don’t dot my i with a heart (ICK!), but I like the looks of it better than a Y. Good call on spelling my name mom and dad, good call.
When I first read the title I thought it said “Star Wars” so I was momentarily confused…I thought you were going to liken the Junk Consignment shops to that scene were Luke, Leah and Han end up in the garbage room. “What an incredible smell you’ve discovered!” So, now that I have reread it and on the same page…
I have tried to watch it a few times. But that one guy who “YUUP!s everytime he bids makes my teeth set on edge. And I am always afraid they will find a body in the locker, which stems from the fact that when I first started in the imaging dept at my job the coroner would periodically bring in this garbage can they found in a storage unit. It was filled with cement, and, sadly, a woman’s remains. The daughter had killed her, chopped her up and put her in the can and filled it will cement. So…storage units tend to make my skin crawl. YUUP!
I don’t like the YUUUP guy either. My curiosity gets the better of me and I keep watching. My wife and I like going to consignment shops so that is what pulled me in.
THANK YOU! This was awesome! I didn’t get to read it until tonight but a whole blog post for me! And catching me up on cultural phenomena I’m missing because I’m running around being a crazy person with the theater and the writing and the working and such!
What do they FIND in the storage areas? Seriously, if they don’t ever find a body, I don’t know if I’d want to watch it. That would be the BEST. Do they ever find real treasures? And what happened to the people who just left their stuff? Are they dead? Were they murdered? Who just leaves a whole storage locker full of good stuff? This is raising a lot more questions than it’s answering. I think I’m going to have to find this show and watch it sometime.
ZOMG, @debihen! Did you get to SEE the dead body in cement? That JUST happened on an episode of Criminal Minds I watched. The only exciting thing I ever get to see at work is sometimes there are dead bugs in old file folders. THAT IS NOT REALLY ALL THAT EXCITING. But, sadly, it’s the most exciting thing happening where I am.
Sometimes they find old music boxes, money, other oddities. A lot of it they will sell at their stores for a few dollars an item. But if you have a ten foot by ten foot locker, the junk adds up.
I hope we here at the Bellbottom Blog can fill in the cultural gaps when possible. I am envious of the time you get to spend in the theater.