Dry Cleaners

Is it just me or do Dry Cleaners take too much advantage of the "Not Responsible for Items Left in Clothing" policy they all seem to share? I wonder if this policy is actually a fringe benefit for the lower wage employees of the store.

Dry Cleaner: You should come and work for us, the payand working conditions suck, but you can keep anything you find in the garments you handle.

Scrub: Sweet!

Yesterday, I took some items into my normal Dry Cleaner, the DryClean Direct in Silver Spring. They do a fair to below average job with the items I bring in, although I have noticed that if there is a stain on any garment, it will remain there unless I explicitly point it out. I had put the headphones from my iPod in my suit jacket pocket the day before and had meant to take them out prior to dropping the clothes off at the store. I, of course, forgot and realized this mistake less than 30 minutes after I had originally gone into the store. I went back and while they found my asthma inhaler (which has no value to most people in the world), they did not "find" the premium headphones in my jacket.

In the grand scheme of things losing a $35 item is not that big of a deal. It is just irritating that I believe they found it and just don't give enough of a crap to have their employees do the right thing and save items for their paying customers. If I thought that any other dry cleaner was different I would switch, but experience has taught me otherwise. My previous dry cleaner couldn't find a new sweater I brought in for my wife and suggested that perhaps I lost it. So, since the current one is cheap and convenient to where I work, I will stay with them until a better priced competitor opens or a more conveniently located one appears.