We've got a drop-off laundry service, and what it lacks in gentleness it makes up for in speed and convenience.
As part of my inprocessing, I was issued two mesh laundry bags. Each one has a colored tag with a number (I'm Green 801 and Green 806). When the bag is 3/4 full, you just bring it over to the drop-off point and show your number to the guy. He writes your name, initials and tag color/number on a triplicate form. One you keep, the other copies go into the bag with the clothes.
The next day, you show up with your form and they look through the shelves for your bag, which is now full of clean & folded clothing, along with the other copies of the form. They bring Green 801 to the window and check to make sure the initials on the form in the bag match my initials.
Apparently fabric softener hasn't been invented in Afghanistan yet, because my clothes come back super-charged with static and everything's a bit on the crunchy side. Plus, white fabrics are quickly turning grey. So yeah, I miss home laundry.
Sheets and blankets are exchanged one-for-one (clean for dirty). And contrary to what I expected, the sheets are not standardized, industrial sheets. They are a bizarre collection of different styles & colors.For example, check out the photo of the pillow case I was issued a few weeks ago (I've since traded it in). Yes, it's black, and it has a weird print of a photo of some old fashioned dude in a suit and hat, along with some ladies in dresses. Seriously, who buys that (and then donates it to ISAF)?
And twice now, I've been issued a duvet cover instead of a top-sheet. That's a drag, because a) it's not quite big enough to really use as a top-sheet, b) I didn't get a duvet to go with it, c) it's got two layers and that's more than I really need, sheet-wise and d) that means I have to go back to the laundry and explain that what I really wanted was a top sheet.
So... now you know all about laundry & sheets over here. I know you were wondering.
1 comment:
The bedding part is kinda AWESOME! I mean really....in a battle zone your getting a veritable slice of Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter surprise. That sounds like a fantastic story.
And BTW, the captcha I was given just now is "clurgibl"...sounds like it could almost be a real word....like a cross between crucible and clergy. The maybe even being "of clergy". That guy sort acts clurgibl. Funny
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