“Day of the Jackanapes”, The Simpsons (Fox), 18-Feb-2001
% Bob settles in at the Broken Dreams Storage Locker facility.
Raphael: Okay, here’s your storage locker, just the way you left it.
Bob: Thank you, Raphael. Now, this is a ticklish question, but …
Raphael: You want to live in the box? Cost you two bucks a day.
Bob: Oh thank you, kind innkeeper. [hands Raphael some money]
Raphael: You gonna wanna wake-up jab? [makes jabbing motion with a broom handle]
Bob: Please.
Raphael: No problemo.
– It’s the Four Seasons of storage lockers, “Day of the Jackanapes”, CABF10
Episode Summary(different source)
I worked as an assistant manager for a couple of storage companies about 15 years ago. IIRC, the
rental contract clearly stated that the lockers could not be used as living quarters. Persons
attempting to use the spaces as homes would have their leases terminated for violating the
rental agreement. Despite this, there would be homeless-looking renters who would
sometimes hang out in their lockers for hours at a time. When I saw them they would be slowly
rummaging through their possessions, but I had a feeling that when my back was turned they
would be snoozing inside the storage space.
We had one very young couple, about 18 years old, who rented a space from us.
Apparently, they had married against their parent’s wishes and had been kicked
out of their homes. The husband had picked up a job selling used cars and the
wife got a job as an exotic dancer. They would show up in the daytime and
the girl would sleep on the floor while the husband would pretend to go through
the stuff that was stored in the locker. After several warnings the manager threw
them out. I sometimes wonder what happened to them (and some of the other
crazy customers as well).
99.9% of our renters were just normal folk who needed storage spaces. The
persons trying to use their lockers as sleeping space were few.
An indoors storage facility may have a lock-in period running from late evening to morning. I wouldn’t want to be locked inside a storage building.
My younger brother did for a while.
He normally (for the past 10 years, or so) lives out of a car, but there will be periods when he doesn’t have one.
I haven’t talked to him for ages, and I gave up listening to his drama, so I never heard all the details.
Winters in Salt Lake can be a real bitch. Storage lockers at least keep you dry during the night.
He showers at the university sports facilities and eats at homeless shelters.
There have been at least two people on the outskirts of my life I have known to sometimes sleep at their storage facility, but only once in a while, not every single night. I got the impression that they didn’t “live” there for exactly the reasons given above - that it was pretty uncomfortable, and because doing it too often would raise suspicions.