PARENTING

Parenting should require licensing. As a matter of fact, a background check too while they are getting their parenting license. On Thursday, a mother decided to put her child in the dryer as punishment. The kid was freaking out. I wouldn't be surprised if he grows up with a complex or a fear of clean clothes. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the child grows up and just Febreezes himself due to the fear of doing laundry. Hey, I have customer who does that. As much as I enjoy his citrus smell, I would prefer if he took a shower. I will talk about that customer after this child's nightmare... and mine.

Its okay to put a child in the dryer if the electricity is off and the heat isn't going. I have been in the dryer before. I felt like I was at Six Flags. My boss told me that the ride in the dryer was my vacation. I laughed. Sadly, she wasn't laughing.

Anyways, the kid was crying and the mother was holding the door. I was minding my own business and playing with my new phone (I got the Google phone, G1) until a customer came up to me with a shaky broken English accent telling me "I think you might want to come see this."  I didn't want to see anything. As a matter of fact, I wanted to continue playing with my phone; however, to avoid paperwork and any liability, I did head to the drying area. I wasn't happy. The child was banging on the door, crying, and screaming. I told the mother to remove the child from the dryer because it wasn't safe. She told me "this is my child. Not yours." I felt like saying *you fuckin Mexican, you don't know better!* but I didn't. Instead I remained calm and civilized. I let the parent know that if she doesn't remove the child from the dryer, I would have to call the police. She gave me a look as if I were bluffing. I wasn't bluffing.

Shit, I just got a new on that day (Thursday) and I did NOT mind using it to call the cops. As a matter of fact, my phone has an emergency option thing, so I wouldn't even have to dial. AND WHAT BITCH, BRING IT!
The lady had another child too with her. The kid appeared to be older than his brother, who was in the dryer. He must have been around 11 years old. I asked him to translate for me but he was too busy playing under the folding table. I turned to another customer for help and she did help... in her Spanglish translation. Oh, I forgot to mention... the child was removed from the dryer. Now I asked this customer to translate the following:
"Tell her that what she is doing, is abuse and she is putting her child in a dangerous position."
What did the psycho bitch reply? This: "tell her it's not her son and that I will do to my children what I want. She has no business."

I shook my head and just walked away. She put the kid in her shopping cart with a blanket over it... I guess so the kid won't escape? It's pretty horrifying and the only reason I didn't call the cops on her was because I wanted her to know first that what she is doing, is bad and not healthy.

When she was ready to leave the premises, she stopped at the counter and with her head bowed down she said “sorry”. I looked at the kid and asked how he was doing and I didn’t get a reply. He was quiet. I didn’t reply to the apology. Instead I said “have a good night”. I didn’t know what to say… hell; I think this is the first time a customer ever apologized to me for their actions!

I mentioned that I bought an android phone… which means… LAUNDRY PICTURES! Woooo hooooo! I have pictures from Friday, when I was folding someone’s clothes but since I wasn’t feeling too well, I couldn’t upload anything or update my blog due to having the plague (being sick).

Moving on, the Febreeze dude… he comes into my Laundromat once a month with two big bags of laundry. He is around my height but a bit taller. I would say he is approximately 5’7” weighing in at 230 pounds. I could never tell if his hair is jet black or if the grease on it is making it black… pretty frightening. He looks dirty but he smells like April Fresh and sometimes Orange Citrus. How do I know this? I have a bottle of febreeze in my car, room, and bathroom. Oh yeah, at the Laundromat too. If you sniff him really well, you will sniff past the febreeze and reveal his true scent of “dirty fool.” One day, I think he forgot to febreeze himself and my eyes started to tear up and I gagged. I couldn’t handle the stench so I pulled out my own bottle of febreeze. It would have been funny if he came over and asked to use some. Hell, I would have offered….