Drycleaners like Tracy Wong say an urban myth has been created
about their profession: drycleaners are out to ruin people's clothes. While
this myth hasn't had much effect on the number of drycleaning customers, it
has affected their attitude.
"Occasionally, a first-time customer will come in and look at me with fear
and trepidation," says Wong. "It's like I'm sizing them up at the counter,
deciding whether to pull the sizing out of their suit jacket."
Wong says this kind of attitude is quite silly, since drycleaners want
customers, not ruined clothes!
"Customers are the lifeblood of the drycleaning business," she says. "Without
customers, the store I manage would disappear -- taking my job with it. I
want to do everything I can to make my customers happy with the service they're
getting."
Drycleaner Darcy Moen says most of his customers would be shocked if they
saw how hard he works to get their garments clean.
"From the customer's point of view, it's pretty easy," he says. "In their
mind, it only takes four minutes to clean a closet of clothes: two minutes
to drop them off and two minutes to pick them up."
Moen says the actual process of drycleaning is pretty easy. It only takes
about half an hour to dryclean 22 pounds of clothes, but it can take hours
to remove the stains by hand and carefully press and wrap the garments.
"Watching what goes on in a drycleaning factory would be a real eyeful
to a lot of people who think we just wave a magic wand and, presto, the clothes
are ready," says Moen.
You might be wondering why they do it -- why drycleaners keep at their
work when they feel so unappreciated. Are they gluttons for punishment? Wong
and Moen say no. They say both the job and the industry are very rewarding
to hardworking people.
"One of the unique things about this business is that the factory is attached
to the retail outlet," says Wong. "So you get to take part in the whole process,
from greeting the customer to spotting the clothes. It's very satisfying to
take a crumpled, messy, stained garment, make it fresh and clean again and
be able to hand it back to a happy customer."
New Jersey drycleaner Arthur Weiss agrees. "It's true that we do get put
down a lot in this job," he says. "But it's not all bad. Sometimes it's great
to help people who are in a bind."
Weiss says he deals with the bad parts of his job by concentrating on the
good things. "If you just go around thinking, 'Everyone thinks I'm incompetent,'
then you'll get nowhere," he says. "You have to take pride in your work and
believe that every good job you do will help erase some of the negative publicity
this industry has."
Weiss says he's often cheered up by regular customers who make his day.
"I've been in this business for 30 years," he says. "In that time, I've cleaned
shirts for many people. Now I find myself cleaning clothes for the children
and grandchildren of those customers. It's a great feeling to have such customer
loyalty."
The chance to deal with both product and customer is an important part
of the job for Moen as well. He says this offers anyone the opportunity to
advance within the industry, which is something he thinks is uncommon these
days.
"Very few industries allow you to work your way up anymore," he says. "But
the drycleaning industry still offers that chance to people who are willing
to take it. In this field, with some good basic skills and a lot of initiative,
you can go somewhere. I don't know too many other industries you can say the
same thing about."