In this maiden article for 2010, I wish to write for people who have mounds of laundry that have gone higher than Mt. Pinatubo’s peak.
If your labanderas went on a forced Christmas vacation leave (read: a vacation forced by the labanderas upon their amos) , take heart because I have the perfect solution for you. Get ready for (beating of the drum and timpani to heighten the suspense)… Tararan! The laundry shop!
Okay, I know that required very minimal mental effort. But you see, just like you, my wife and I saw all these laundry shops popping left and right, but we never really thought of bringing our clothes there because of cost considerations. Until we had an experience of seeing our one-week supply of detergent and fabric softener do a disappearing act in just 2 days. If you think that’s startling, wait till you hear about our laundry woman who asked for an advance payment and then did a disappearing act faster than our detergent and fabric softener. But that’s another story.
It may surprise you that the laundry shop charges only P25.00 for a kilo of clothes. When we had our usual mountain of clothes weighed, the cost nearly approximated the daily wage we pay the labandera. And, get this: we were also spared from the extremely complicated exercise of choosing the best detergent and fabric softener.
Incidentally, have you noticed that getting detergent from the grocery shelf is not that easy anymore? Gone were the days when Perla took only one form. You just grab a bar of it, and then head straight to the cashier to pay. Now, you have to choose from plain white, white with blue granules, baby pink, and papaya-orange. (Corollary warning: If Nivea milk is not edible, neither is Perla Papaya.)
As if their colors are not confusing enough, detergent bars also come in different scents nowadays. Think of your favorite perfume. If you are lucky enough, your cologne might just be the whiff of your detergent bar of choice.
But wait. The absolute confusion with the colors and scents of detergent bars doesn’t end there. Once you reach the cashier to pay the detergent bar, the bagger asks you this question that would make you want to pull your hair: “Sir, puputulin po ba o hindi?”
Have we talked about detergent powders yet? In case it has escaped your notice, your familiar Tide has mutated. There’s now Tide Pang Tubig-Poso, Tide with Bleach, Tide Nature Fresh, Tide Lemon Scent, and Tide Bula Plus. I won’t be alarmed if pretty soon I’ll come across Tide with Glutathione 500mg.
But, here’s the real clincher why we chose the laundry shop over our labandera. When we picked up our stuff from the shop, all our clothes were neatly folded, color-categorized, vacuum-packed in a clear plastic bag, and bursting with aromatic scent. With the way the clothes were smoothly pressed with their folding, my plantsadora looked headed for retrenchment.
A few days back, the lady owner of the laundry shop told me: “Brod, may butas yung isang shirt mo sa kilikili, tinahi ko na.” Wow! This is customer service plus! How could you not stick it out with the laundry shop? But a thought got me worried. Admittedly, I have certain shirts with butas and all — you know, the presko type you’d like to wear during summer. But those are not for public consumption, and certainly not for the laundry shop owner to discover.
Luckily, I found a new “laundry guy” to whom I can lay bare my innermost secrets. In my book, He’s tops. With Him, clothes are always radiantly white, more than any laundry in the world could bleach them (Mark 9:2). I don’t have to hide anything from Him because He knows my weaknesses, butas and all, and He sews the appropriate cloth to cover every one of them (Mark 2: 21). He is not content in cleaning my clothing alone. He even makes my person whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7).
In case you wish to contact Him, He’s available in all networks.
Smart. He really is.
Globe. It’s His, even everything beyond it.
Sun. He created it.
Talk & Text. Talk to Him in text language and He understands every bit of it.
Touch Mobile. Yes, He can touch every person, mobile or otherwise.
You can also text Him toll free. Just press the following numbers on your mobile phones:
5 once, 3 twice, 7 four times, 8 twice, 7 four times.
Then press space.
Continue with the following numbers:
2 thrice, 4 twice, 7 thrice, 4 thrice, 7 four times, 8 once.
Best of all, He’s open 24/7.
(Excerpted from BIGGER Hearts, © 2008 His Pen Publishing, available at National Bookstore)
Quote for the week:
We should all do what, in the long run,
gives us joy even if it is only picking grapes
or sorting the laundry.
– E.B. White
If your labanderas went on a forced Christmas vacation leave (read: a vacation forced by the labanderas upon their amos) , take heart because I have the perfect solution for you. Get ready for (beating of the drum and timpani to heighten the suspense)… Tararan! The laundry shop!
Okay, I know that required very minimal mental effort. But you see, just like you, my wife and I saw all these laundry shops popping left and right, but we never really thought of bringing our clothes there because of cost considerations. Until we had an experience of seeing our one-week supply of detergent and fabric softener do a disappearing act in just 2 days. If you think that’s startling, wait till you hear about our laundry woman who asked for an advance payment and then did a disappearing act faster than our detergent and fabric softener. But that’s another story.
It may surprise you that the laundry shop charges only P25.00 for a kilo of clothes. When we had our usual mountain of clothes weighed, the cost nearly approximated the daily wage we pay the labandera. And, get this: we were also spared from the extremely complicated exercise of choosing the best detergent and fabric softener.
Incidentally, have you noticed that getting detergent from the grocery shelf is not that easy anymore? Gone were the days when Perla took only one form. You just grab a bar of it, and then head straight to the cashier to pay. Now, you have to choose from plain white, white with blue granules, baby pink, and papaya-orange. (Corollary warning: If Nivea milk is not edible, neither is Perla Papaya.)
As if their colors are not confusing enough, detergent bars also come in different scents nowadays. Think of your favorite perfume. If you are lucky enough, your cologne might just be the whiff of your detergent bar of choice.
But wait. The absolute confusion with the colors and scents of detergent bars doesn’t end there. Once you reach the cashier to pay the detergent bar, the bagger asks you this question that would make you want to pull your hair: “Sir, puputulin po ba o hindi?”
Have we talked about detergent powders yet? In case it has escaped your notice, your familiar Tide has mutated. There’s now Tide Pang Tubig-Poso, Tide with Bleach, Tide Nature Fresh, Tide Lemon Scent, and Tide Bula Plus. I won’t be alarmed if pretty soon I’ll come across Tide with Glutathione 500mg.
But, here’s the real clincher why we chose the laundry shop over our labandera. When we picked up our stuff from the shop, all our clothes were neatly folded, color-categorized, vacuum-packed in a clear plastic bag, and bursting with aromatic scent. With the way the clothes were smoothly pressed with their folding, my plantsadora looked headed for retrenchment.
A few days back, the lady owner of the laundry shop told me: “Brod, may butas yung isang shirt mo sa kilikili, tinahi ko na.” Wow! This is customer service plus! How could you not stick it out with the laundry shop? But a thought got me worried. Admittedly, I have certain shirts with butas and all — you know, the presko type you’d like to wear during summer. But those are not for public consumption, and certainly not for the laundry shop owner to discover.
Luckily, I found a new “laundry guy” to whom I can lay bare my innermost secrets. In my book, He’s tops. With Him, clothes are always radiantly white, more than any laundry in the world could bleach them (Mark 9:2). I don’t have to hide anything from Him because He knows my weaknesses, butas and all, and He sews the appropriate cloth to cover every one of them (Mark 2: 21). He is not content in cleaning my clothing alone. He even makes my person whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7).
In case you wish to contact Him, He’s available in all networks.
Smart. He really is.
Globe. It’s His, even everything beyond it.
Sun. He created it.
Talk & Text. Talk to Him in text language and He understands every bit of it.
Touch Mobile. Yes, He can touch every person, mobile or otherwise.
You can also text Him toll free. Just press the following numbers on your mobile phones:
5 once, 3 twice, 7 four times, 8 twice, 7 four times.
Then press space.
Continue with the following numbers:
2 thrice, 4 twice, 7 thrice, 4 thrice, 7 four times, 8 once.
Best of all, He’s open 24/7.
(Excerpted from BIGGER Hearts, © 2008 His Pen Publishing, available at National Bookstore)
Quote for the week:
We should all do what, in the long run,
gives us joy even if it is only picking grapes
or sorting the laundry.
– E.B. White
