Shit, I need a new dry cleaner

Dearest Readers,

This has been a decidedly awkward morning for me.  It started with waking up at 6 AM in a panic for no apparent reason.  Certainly not awesome.  After the litany of my usual Saturday morning activities, as I am nothing if not a creature of habit, I began my weekly errands.  One of these scheduled stops includes the drop off of work clothes at the dry cleaners.

Now to be quite clear here, I have used this particular cleaners since I moved into this current palatial imitation apartment.  The facility is owned and operated by a very nice Asian woman and she is helped out by other random family members.  She always remembers my name and never bats an eye if I make a special request.  They do a great job and charge a very reasonable fee.

Here's where things get strange.  We have had several attempts at conversation in what could only very generously be described as "broken English" if English had been thrown on the floor, shattered and then repeatedly hit with a hammer.  The other thing about this particular location is that she is obviously an alcoholic and regularly smells of some variety of spirit or another.  Far be it from me to judge how someone gets through the day, and I have no place judging another person's use of alcohol.  Just don't fuck up my clothes and we're good.

So I dropped off my clothes and she is filling out the claim tag I will need when I come back to pick up my clothes and when she hands it to me she has written her phone number at the bottom, smiles at me and asks me to call her in her best drunken, broken English.

Dearest readers, understand that I am first not used to being found attractive by the fairer sex.  It just rarely happens that a woman approaches me.  Secondly, while not unattractive, I don't find her particularly aesthetically pleasing (this is even beyond the obvious alcohol issue).  The fact that she has an alcohol issue likely explains why she gave me her number, but it's still an awkward situation for me. However, when one finds a kick ass dry cleaner, one clings tightly and doesn't let go because a good cleaner is a rare breed indeed, friends.

I have no intention of calling this woman and now I am in a quandary.  First off, she has 8 of my dress shirts and really don't want to sacrifice them.  Perhaps I can give my neighbor some money to pick them up for me? Secondly, I really don't want to hunt for another cleaners and go through the trial and error of finding a reliable one.

The upside is that she does have obvious issues with the grape and grain, so perhaps she won't remember that this took place today.  Seems wishful thinking on my part though.  I suppose I need to go upstairs and think about my future with this cleaner.  Why could she not simply keep this as a service for currency relationship? This really sucks, dearest readers, but know that I will persevere.

As always,
Your humblest of servants,
BKoM