And Oh How Prepared I Was For A Fight

My heart was practically jumping out of my chest as I rounded the corner. In my head I practiced my potential responses, and then whispered "May I please speak with your manager? Please let me speak with your manager. Is your manager here? I would like to speak to him/her. I want to speak with your manager right now. Or else. This dress is ruined and you are responsible. I am very upset. I am livid. I am very, very, very upset." Etc.

I hoped that the dress would be fine. I prepared myself for it to be destroyed.

When I walked in, in combat pose, I was relieved to see that it was a different girl behind the counter. She looked nice.

I presented my ticket to her.

It took her a while to find the dress. I practiced the new speech, which went something like "First you destroy my dress and then you lose it. I demand the cost of the dress, right now! Or else!"

She found the dress and handed it to me. I removed the wrapper and explained "I just need to investigate this because this is the second time I'm having it cleaned because it was ruined the first time."

And.... drum roll.... the dress was fine (well, not completely fine - there are still ashy marks but less so and unnoticeable to the casual observer).

Now. My predicted response was one of relief and thrill. My dress back! Money saved! No drama with the laundromat! Yes!

But no. I was pissed.

I was ready for a fight, and had so much residual anger from the first time that now had no outlet.

I became even more upset with the original girl, because how dare she insist that the dress was damaged when I originally left it when all they had to do was finish cleaning it? It was totally their fault, and not even an accident. They just didn't finish (so it seems), and she blamed me! Rage, folks.

And how dare they? They just ruin or fail to finish cleaning clothes and expect people to just pay for them? What a scam!

I calmly took the dress and wanted to tell the woman behind the counter about the saga, and have her say "I can't believe I work at a place that would do such a thing."

I left and skipped home, thrilled about not having to spend another $100 but upset at not having had the opportunity to shove the now-clean dress in the original girl's face.

But it's over, and I have a mostly clean dress for only $6 instead of another $100. My new dress is sewn, the memory cards are cleared, the batteries are charged, the clothes are in piles, the laundry is not done, the suitcases are not packed, but who cares? London soon! Woo!