If you've been following me for a while, you already know that at some point during almost every trip, we end up doing laundry. One memorable example was our outdoor gas station self-laundry experience in Scotland last fall.
Now, I mentioned before that I only joined hubby and son for four days in Prague. Personally, I didn’t have to worry much about running out of clothes, but the men, being men, waited until almost the last possible moment to research their laundry options.
Our hotel, unsurprisingly, didn’t have a guest laundry. They did offer dry-cleaning services, but at boutique hotel prices, which immediately ruled that out.
Luckily, they discovered that the Palladium Mall, literally a three-minute walk from our accommodation, had a “Čistírna / Prádelna”, a dry-cleaning and laundry shop.
Now, dry cleaning sounds a bit excessive for a bag full of T-shirts, shorts, socks and underwear, doesn’t it? But thankfully they also offered regular washing services, charging by the kilogram.
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| Photo Credit: Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels |
The only downside was that even with the express option, the turnaround time was still two days. Frankly, by that point, this was absolutely not my problem anymore.
So on Friday we dropped off a 5 kg bag, that’s over ten pounds of dirty laundry, and paid CZK 498 (about USD 24) upfront. The guys picked it up on Sunday. Sunday! Completely unimaginable in Switzerland.
Honestly, the convenience was amazing. Thanks to the mall opening hours, they could collect it anytime between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. I loved that.
But wait, I still have to tell you about one funny little detail.
We received a receipt, not primarily as proof of payment, but because it contained the transaction number identifying our clothes. The lady working there, whose English was fairly basic, insisted: “Take picture.”
We were confused. Why were we supposed to take a picture of the receipt? Weren’t we allowed to keep it?
Then her colleague, whose English was slightly better, explained:
“You know tourists… stupid. They lose receipt. Then we don’t know which clothes to give.”
Aha.
Apparently this happens often enough that they have developed a whole creative system around it. Honestly? I thought it was clever.
So naturally, we obediently took a picture of our receipt.
And only today did I notice that the yellow tag apparently identifies German-speaking stupid tourists.
How thoughtful ;-)
Oh wow ! What a palava! Certainly quite a thing! This laundry business!
ReplyDeleteI once worked at a drycleaners and laundromat. Laundry is one of those mundane tasks that you never really think about until you have to do it.
ReplyDeleteI just about spit out my tea reading you say that men wait until the last possible moment to even think about laundry and what their options are.
ReplyDeleteThat’s an interesting system - and cheap! I’m sure it would cost way more than that in Canada (not that I would know 😉)
I've always brought home laundry except when we were in Ghana. We were there 6 weeks. Weather hot, humid and by the ocean. So everything was full of salt. No service. I laundered by hand and hung.
ReplyDelete“You know tourists… stupid” made me laugh! 😅 (Sorry, it's not funny, but very rude... 😒Taking a photo of the receipt is actually a very clever system, though I think the yellow tag for German-speaking tourists added a rather special finishing touch. I once had to use a laundromat in Napoli (I'd never used one). I was staying in an AirBnB that didn't have a washing machine. I waster quite a few euros in the drying machine, because I had no idea how long I needed to put the clothes to dry for. And they kept coming out still wet! 😂🫣 In my case... "English/Portuguese speaking stupid tourist"! haha
ReplyDeleteI used to work at a laundromat when I was 20 years old. I worked there alone, it was probably my favorite job. lol
ReplyDeleteLOL about taking a picture! I have to admit, I think it's a good idea for people who speak any language. There's something about being away from your normal routine that makes it all too easy to lose track of things. That does sound like a great convenience, though.
ReplyDeleteTamara, well well, what an adventure to get clean clothes! How great you found the place in the Mall! That tag story is brilliant. I immediately read the German and wondered idly why they were speaking German in that laundry/cleaning store. Then you noted it-- they wanted to insure against the stoopidity of German speakers, and they thought you were German speakers. I laughed !
ReplyDeleteWell not sure if I should tell you this but I will. I always take pictures of receipts that I may need to retrieve items because I'm always misplacing them! LOL
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