Yesterday in the middle of June I wore Corduroy pants to work. (Yes, this is a Dry cleaning story so you have been warned). So I go to the dry cleaners yesterday morning with my ticket and also one of the Field's dresses. As an aside we have know for about four months that we are going to a wedding Saturday night, but the Field waits until Thursday morning to get the dress she needs dry cleaned. As a second aside the Field and I have two separate dry cleaners. Her's is close to our apartment and they always have cute little dogs in the store, I have used it on occasion, including with some stuff at the end of last week. I have one that is on my way to work that I use and has a nice guy who always has gum and gave me a planner for Christmas. So I go to hers. I ask them if it is possible to get this dress cleaned by Saturday morning.
She follows by asking me as if I am stupid, "Have you heard about the flood at the Dry Cleaning Factory? We are backed up on all Dry Cleaning, and can take nothing until at least next week and all deliveries are backed up until at least Saturday." Her tone implied I was stupid for not having heard of the flood. Now, I am sure in the Dry Cleaning community of northern New Jersey this is their Katrina, but with global warming, the space shuttle being unable to land, and me at 7:25 in the morning realizing I may have no clothes to wear to work (small big deal), and the Lake may not have a dress to wear for a wedding on Saturday (Huge, End of the World, Big Deal), a flood at a Dry Cleaning factory has not exactly set off the CODE RED. So I say thanks. Then I go to my dry cleaner with fear that he uses the same factory. I get there. He says hello and then the last four digits of my phone number. (It's a great relationship when the proprietor knows you by your code in his computer system). So I ask him, I say "I heard about the factory flood." He then looks at me, like I looked at the proprietor of the other cleaners a mere eight minutes earlier. He then says do you need this by Saturday or Monday. I say Saturday morning. He says see you soon. End of Transaction. I go home and put together a stellar outfit of a shirt that has a small hole in one of the armpits and corduroy pants. Later I Googled Dry Cleaning Factory Floods and am came up blank. So I hope my clothes are there today or I may start to get really worried. Last night I put a pair of pants that doesn't need to be in the dry cleaner into the laundry with a shirt and Ironed them both. So Thank God it's Friday.