Small Calamities

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Washed Away
May 4, 2007 | permalink

UPDATE: My clothes have been found. They turned up yesterday at the laundromat, having been given out to the wrong patron. Which is a big relief. Why it took them so long to bring them back and correct the error, however, is a mystery to me.

The laundromat lost my clothes.

I'm not talking about a couple of items here; I mean the whole bag, three weeks worth of clothes and assorted sundries like towels and handkerchiefs and pajamas. The bag was thirty five pounds of laundry, give or take, and I'm sure you won't be surprised when I tell you that it represented the vast majority of my wardrobe. Not to mention that of course all of the clothes that I like best were in there- the things I am least fond of I left to wear last.

I was at the Laundromat for close to two hours last night, helping them look. They are very nice people over there, and I have been going to them with my washing for years. We had several theories about what the problem could be. It's possible that my bag ripped, and so was replaced with one of a different color, and if that was the case my laundry was just hiding in plain sight. (No such luck.) Or, it could be that it mistakenly was loaded in the delivery van, and would show up when the delivery guy, who was due soon, showed up. (The van was empty.) Maybe it fell behind something? (Nope.)

By the time I left, the owner, her sons and I pawed, examined, and opened every single bag in the place. None of them were filled with my clothes. The only plausible alternatives tot he clothes still being in the laundromat somewhere that still eludes us all are that either a) someone was mistakenly given (or mistakenly took) my bag instead of their own, or b) someone purposely gave away (or took) my bag in addition to their own. In the first case, I can't imagine why they wouldn't return with my clothes to exchange them for their own clothes, and in the second, well, I just don't get it. I am not, Gentle Readers, that snappy of a dresser that someone would covet my clothing.

I left without any real resolution. They were going to continue to look today, and go through the claim tickets of the bags that have been picked up to see if there were any clues as to my laundry's whereabouts. I took the initiative and made as accurate a list as I could of what was in the bag, and what it would cost to replace it all ($568.50, as I figure it) so that tonight when I go in and they still haven't found it, I can have a conversation with them about reimbursing me for my clothes.

What really sucks is that by the time I go to sleep on Sunday, I need to be packed for a two week trip to Santa Monica, where I am being dispatched to look after The Boss' interests in a fashion show we are providing the design for. So by Sunday afternoon at the latest I need to be buying more clothes. I have less than a weeks worth of stuff right now, and like I said, most of it is not clothes that I am particularly fond of. If I weren't going out of town, I would try to stretch it out a while, doing laundry often and wearing the same things for a couple of weeks, but I don't think that I can show up in Santa Monica, representing The Boss, looking like a schlub in the same three outfits.

I expect that the Laundromat will not want to give up on finding my clothes so quickly, and I am going to have to rebuild a significant portion of my wardrobe out of my own pocket. My fear it that I will lay out a few hundred dollars this weekend, and then they will find my bag while I am gone, so I'll be left high and dry.

Grrr....

Posted in Around New York & Bad Luck & Random
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