The people of Harpenden are cut from a different cloth to Londoners.
I was in the dry cleaners, in line waiting to give them a suit to clean, but the woman in front of me was making a bit of a fuss. She had a green silk dress to clean, but she wasn't happy with the advice she was receiving from the professionals behind the counter. I am not clear on all the details of her worry, but I think some oil had been spilled on the dress. The well spoken lady in her fifties was somewhat deferential and treating the people who worked there as if this problem was their fault. She was saying that she had been on to the internet where she had received the information that the best way to get the stain out was to put talcum powder on the stain. She'd done this, but was disappointed to see that the green colour of the dress had slightly faded around the mark. The woman behind the counter said that this was the problem with silk, that it didn't really hold its colour and that it could even be a problem when using the professional chemicals, but the customer was having none of it. "I looked it up on the internet" she said, with a rising voice, as if blaming the people in the shop. It's important to remember that this was a woman handing in an item of clothing that she had stained and attempted to clean herself, not a customer receiving back a dress that had been damaged by the cleaners. Had it been me, I would have accepted the word of the people who worked in the cleaning industry and acknowledge that I had fucked up and leave, allowing the bloke behind me to get to the counter and get on with his day. But this woman was refusing to accept the analysis and whining, with a sense of entitlement that said everything must go my way, even if I am at fault. Why couldn't these people fix her mistake and change the laws of physics and make the dress OK again?
The staff dealt with her with politeness, but the woman more or less demanded a second opinion and another man working at the shop told her exactly the same thing. Of course this woman was disappointed that her dress was slightly spoiled (to be honest I couldn't see much wrong with it), but she is an adult and should be aware that sometimes not everything can go the way you want. I guess when life has gone your way and you pretty much have everything that you want that you get cross when something gets screwed up. I just like the fact that she seemed to be implicitly blaming them for this stain and the botched cleaning job, when both were her responsibility.
Finally I got to give my suit in. They offered me an executive service, which I didn't want. I just wanted my suit to be clean. The member of staff who I quite admired by now for her polite and measured response to the unreasonably disgruntled customer then asked if I wanted the crease kept in my trousers. I didn't really care, but said OK. It was only later when I got home and checked the receipt that I realised that I was being charged another £3 for that service. Bloody Hell. What a rip off. No wonder the people of Harpenden are so stuck up and angry. I can't wait to get back to Shepherd's Bush where
my dry-cleaners love me and their customers just accept that life is shit and unfair and nothing is going to go their way.
