Friday, September 08, 2006

Maybe it's not so much like Cheers...or is it?

After yesterday's feel-good deli post, this morning I was annoyed when the cashier correctly charged me $2.93, but then seemed to think I wouldn't want to bother with the 7 cents change. I'm sorry, but that is for me to decide, not you. If I am standing there waiting, I probably want it!

Last night I went over to my old apartment. I saw the lady who used to do my laundry-- I'd never had a chance to say goodbye, and it was nice to know that she'd missed me and still wanted to see photos of my niece and nephew. Then I went to drop off a set of keys to my old landlord. We ended up sitting on the stoop together chatting for a while, and I was pleased to discover that he had been saving all the mail that had been coming for me, that I thought had disappeared into a black hole despite my forwarding order. Like many New Yorkers, I often feel very anonymous among my neighbors-- if you work full time, if you don't have a dog to walk, and if you don't have a co-op or condo board you participate in, it can be hard to get to know many of the people who live around you. So sometimes the people you end up bonding with, in some small way, are those you spend money with on a regular basis-- the laundry, the newspaper guy, the deli. But if you move a couple of blocks away, it all changes and you have a whole new group of people to get to know.
I don't think I'll be getting too friendly with the place I've been doing my laundry lately-- not only because I'm in the neighborhood only temporarily, but because I realized today, when I was already halfway to work, that the pants I was wearing had a huge bleach splash on them. In some lights it's barely visible, but I was still annoyed. With only two suitcases of clothes to wear, I don't need anything to be narrowing my sartorial options!

4 comments:

Kira said...

Makes you wonder.. if the deli person gets a few cents off each person, and they process a lot of people in a day, that might add up. ;)

Single Ma said...

The nerve of that deli worker!

And you have someone do your laundry? How does that work? Is that a NY thing? Do you drop it off or does she come get it?

I have a washer/dryer in my house and STILL hate doing laundry. I'd pay someone to do EVERYTHING housework related if I could afford it. My mom didn't teach me how to be domesticated. I'm seriously lacking in that area (lol). I just wanna work, invest, write a book, spend time with my BabyGirl and sip a few martinis with my girlfriends every now and then. Ahhh, the perfect life...

Madame X said...

hi singlema... most laundry places in NYC either let you do your wash yourself, or leave it with them to wash, dry and fold for you. Some of the places will do pick up and drop off too, especially to doorman buildings. They charge by the pound-- the place I used to go was 50 cents per pound, though others I've tried charge 60 cents and up. In my old place I didn't have laundry in the building, so it was great not to have to sit in a laundromat for hours! But I think I'll have to go back to doing it myself after I move... :(

SMB said...

You hit on one of my pet peeves. I get annoyed simply because they're deciding what to do with MY money, no matter what change I have coming back!