Dry Cleaner's Kid

Last Thursday, I had an almost altercation with my garbage man. To make a long story short: got a notice to place our garbage at a different location, called my town home association, they told me to ignore the garbage man, ignored the notice from the garbage man, garbage man did not pick up our garbage on Thursday, called the association (again) and they told me to call the garbage disposal company, didn't want to deal with it, my husband went to the association office to take care of the matter because they had told me not to listen to the garbage man (other people there complaining about the same issue), angry garbage man came to pick up the garbage (very angry with arms waving), I went outside to talk to him, situation taken care of. Why you ask? Because I am a dry cleaner's kid!

My parents owned a dry cleaners when I was growing up. I will be honest. It was like H-E-double hockey sticks sometimes! People can be really crazy. No one can get a 5 year old pen stain the size of Alaska out of cream colored silk pants! If it is the same brand, same size, and has your name on it, it is yours! I cannot begin to tell you the crazy things that I had to deal with when I was only in high school/college. My parents couldn't speak English that well, so I had to do a lot of translating and talking when conflicts arose. I learned that I needed to stay calm and explain things logically and rationally. No tricking, just the facts of dry cleaning science.

Through the difficulties, God helped me to learn. No, not cheat people tricks (we returned a diamond ring once - always check your pockets before going to the dry cleaners!). I learned to talk calmly and use reason. Thus, the diffusion of the garbage man issue. He came out with his arms waving ready to pounce on this petite, Asian woman. He probably thought that he could scare me with his yelling. He did, a little, but I went directly to him and explained the situation. I wasn't about to get fined by my town house association. I was following what they had told me to do. The association had failed to take care of this situation in a timely manner. Once we talked it out, things were resolved and he asked me to explain things to my neighbor (whose garbage had also not been picked up). I gladly agreed and did pass on the information to my neighbor. Resolution. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been a dry cleaner's kid.

Some of you might have been dry cleaner's kids, beauty supply kids, or some other business kids. Even though you might not have wanted to help at your parent's business, there are still things that you might have learned along the way. Things to be thankful for. Who would have thought?