This morning I went to the dry cleaner to get my dress. He said, "It doesn't smell!" I sniffed it and said, "Yes, it does." He said, "I'll try again." Meanwhile, he also removed and discarded all the tags, so I own the damn thing now, regardless.
I then spent several hours on the phone with various Macy's stores around the country. Wow, it has been a long time since I've experienced worse customer service. I kept getting put on hold or connected to an endlessly ringing phone or connected to a busy signal and then had to start all over again. At one store, I was told that the computer inventory said they had 2 of these dresses in stock, but the woman I spoke to said she couldn't locate any on the floor. I finally spoke to Laura, a lovely woman at the Herald Square store in New York, who actually called me back twice to report on her findings. Which, unfortunately, was all bad news, but at least she called.
So, I'm stuck with a smelly dress, unless the dry cleaner can think of something else to do to it this time. I was talking to the mom of Steph's partner (it's a double Bat Mitzvah), and she said her dress came back from the tailor stinking of cigarettes. I'm thinking of sending my dress to her tailor for "alterations."
But! On the other hand! I, not the craftiest human around, was crafty this weekend. It's customary at a Bat Mitzvah party to have some kind of poster that all the kids sign. Some people do a big photo of the kid (which I don't love, because then people are scribbling all over your kid's face in Sharpie). Someone gave me the name of a woman who does this sort of thing, and she quoted me a price of $350. EEK! So off to A.C. Moore I went, where I spent a whopping $12 and made a very nice sign-in board. First I printed out a giant letter "S" on the computer (with some help from my Twitter pal @dmargulis, who showed me how to do it). I taped that to a piece of neon pink poster board and cut it out with my trusty X-Acto knife. Then I sprayed adhesive all over the back of the pink poster board and stuck it to a piece of foam poster board. Then, in the cut-out where the "S" had been, I spread regular glue and dumped blue glitter all over. Voila!
Which leaves plenty of room for the kids to write messages—and didn't cost me an arm and a leg.
Nice job on the board!
Posted by: James Burke | January 25, 2010 at 10:10 PM
Found this on the internets.
"Soaked underarms of garment in undiluted 3% antibacterial hydrogen peroxide for 5 hours, then washed out. Success! -- I think - I'll have to wait until garment is completely dry and heat (from iron) is applied to problem areas before I'll know if the smell is really completely gone. "
I suppose you should test a hidden part of fabric first.
Posted by: Susan | January 25, 2010 at 10:21 PM
Love the board! maybe something like Febreeze would work on the dress? At least it might work for the day so you aren't smelly :)
Posted by: Kathy | January 26, 2010 at 08:00 AM
1. Nice job on the board!!!!! I did not know this had become standard. Good to know.
2. Customer Service - Now Nordstroms knows how to train their employees. . . . wish everyone did.
Posted by: Stephanie | January 26, 2010 at 08:32 AM
We get hand me downs from friends who keep their baby clothes in their basement, so the clothes come to us with a delicious aroma of mildew. We get it out by soaking the clothes in regular white vinegar and then washing with an enzyme soap. Sometimes it takes two tries but it always works.
Posted by: Katy | January 26, 2010 at 09:48 AM
Nice board! Do you have a special room in your house for "glitter" projects, or are you like me and have resigned yourself to the fact that individual specks of glitter will continue to appear for the next several years?
I've had glitter appear on my eyebrow weeks after a project. Go figure.
Posted by: steve | January 26, 2010 at 10:32 AM