When it comes down to it, the drycleaning industry is a people-based business. Customers trust their cleaners with everything from their daily wear to priceless heirlooms. And, while cleaners always try to make a good impression on their customers, there are customers who also leave an indelible mark on their cleaner.

Here are some tales from the front counter of customers that these dry cleaners never forget, and some they would pay to never think of again.

A Brush with Fame

John-Claude Hallak, president of New York City-based Hallak Cleaners, will never forget when one of his jazz idols came into his store in the early 1990s.

“Percy Heath, all 6-foot-6 of him, walked in,” Hallak says. “He was born in 1923 and had played with almost every jazz great through the years. Cannonball Adderley, Clifford Brown, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Bill Evans and countless others. I had the privilege and pleasure of seeing him perform many times over the years. Of course, I let him know what a big fan I was — it was probably embarrassingly similar to a teenage girl meeting Taylor Swift.”

Heath, who played bass, needed his snow-white lined linen jacket, worn the night before during a performance at the Lincoln Center, cleaned.

“Due to the hot lights, and the incredible energy he would expend during his performances, the jacket had underarm perspiration stains the likes of which I had never seen,” Hallak says. “He proceeded to inform me that he needed the jacket back the next afternoon for another concert. I explained the difficulty of the job and the time normally required to have even a chance of restoration. He smiled and said, ‘Just do the best you can, man. I’m sure it will be OK.’”

To his team’s credit, Hallak says, they got the job done — “Not perfect, but darn near perfect,” Hallak says — and Heath expressed his gratitude for the rush job by handing Hallak an autographed LP.

About a decade later, Hallak and a friend visited a jazz club and watched Heath perform at the legend’s 80th birthday party. During the break, Hallak couldn’t resist wishing him a happy birthday.

He started to remind him about the white linen jacket 10 years earlier. “Before I could finish my thought,” he says, “he hugged me and lifted me about 6 inches off the ground and exclaimed, ‘Hallak!’ I remember it like it was yesterday.”

Unexpected Answers

For Jan Barlow, owner of Jan’s Professional Dry Cleaners in Clio, Michigan, one memorable client has made an impact on her at various times in her life.

“I met Eugene Williams when I was a 19-year-old college student in the 1970s,” she says. “He was a sales representative at the finest men’s store in my hometown. I purchased the coolest shirt and tie for my dad for his birthday from him. He continued to be a salesman all his life, and I bought some incredible garments from him.”

Williams became one of Barlow’s best customers when she opened her cleaners, and stuck with her over the years.

“Fast-forward 35 years and I was really struggling with hiring — and this was before the pandemic. I was working all sorts of hours and days of week to cover all the cost centers of my business. Eugene called me one day out of the blue. I hadn’t seen him for a while, and we decided to go to lunch to catch up.”

During lunch, the two discussed the economy and workforce, and he said he had a present for her.

“He gave me the book, ‘Sticking Points,’ by Haydn Shaw,” she says. “I have never had a client give me a book — and this book was so impactful! It helped me beyond words to comprehend and understand what was happening in the world. It explores five generations working together and how each of them thinks.”

It’s now required reading for Barlow’s team, and she shares it with colleagues.

“Thank you, Eugene Williams!” she exclaims. “This was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life.”

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Of course, not every customer interaction makes for fond memories.

Monika Manter, owner of Balfurd Dry Cleaner in State College, Pennsylvania, recalls a time when a customer claimed the business performed a miracle — and not in a good way.

“There was a woman who accused us of changing the color of her blazer during dry cleaning,” Manter says. “She claimed that we turned her navy blazer to black. When I showed her that the invoice also stated that it was navy, she said that she was 100% sure of the color of her blazer and that we must have edited the color on the ticket after we dyed it.”

Manter tried to make sense out of the situation, but that turned out to be an impossible mission.

“She was 100% sure that it was her blazer, just that it was a new color,” she says. “I explained to her that we don’t use dyes and it’s not possible to make a blazer darker during dry cleaning, but she still wanted a reimbursement.”

Manter reports that no reimbursement was issued as a result of the “miracle.”

“It was the first time she used us and she never came back — as far as I know!”

The Case of the Missing Khakis

On the whole, Sasha Ablitt, who owns Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners in Santa Barbara, California, has had good fortune with her clients. “I have only ‘banned’ three customers in 20 years,” she says. “They all came back anyway — using different names, as though we wouldn’t recognize them.”

But there was one client who struck fear in Ablitt’s heart.

“I was new to the cleaners and this male customer was coming in two or three times a day demanding a pair of khaki pants,” she says. “We had given him all his clothes, but he insisted he was missing another pair of pants.”

This went on for a few days, and the customer was growing increasingly agitated.

“The following day, I was out doing a route in a gated golf-course community in an affluent area,” she says. “He spotted the company logo on our van and started aggressively following me. I was nervous because I was new to the business, I couldn’t see who was in the car following me, and I didn’t know the roads in the area very well.”

The man drove Ablitt off the road.

“I was so scared,” she says. “He hops out of the car and asks to see the inside of my van to check if his pants were there. I was a little relieved to know who he was, but I was still apprehensive. I assured him they weren’t, and he took a look for himself. I was shaking, even though he was, at that moment, now acting reasonable.”

Ablitt believes the man must have recognized his behavior was out of line, because his demeanor quickly shifted.

“When he left,” she recalls, “he said, ‘Thank you for checking. I’m in the middle of a divorce and my wife must have them. I just wanted to be sure.’”

Ablitt and her team didn’t see the man for about six months, but he eventually returned. Since then, he has been a pleasure to work with.

“He is still a good customer and even a friend now,” she says.

Calling the Bluff

Many dry cleaners have a liberal policy when it comes to paying claims of damaged or lost garments. And almost inevitably, there will be customers who attempt to take advantage. Brian Butler, president of Dublin Cleaners in Columbus, Ohio, remembers a client who pulled that trigger once too often.

“My CSR comes to tell me that we have a two-year, good-volume customer who has been nickel-and-diming us for claims, and now he wants a big one,” Butler says, “and she’d like me to take it because it’s a higher dollar amount and the pattern of abuse isn’t going well.”

Butler quickly looked up the customer’s record and saw that he had put in five claims in two years.

“He wanted $750 for a Jos. A. Bank sports coat that was way over the hill,” he says. “The customer said we tore the lining. It was only frayed where it matched up to his right hip of his waistline and belt area, and other than appearing well-worn, it was otherwise OK.”

Butler knew the coat was only worth about $250 new.

“I get him on the phone and let him deliver his speech,” Butler says, “you know the one they rehearse: ‘Favorite jacket, it’s in great shape, how could this have happened, blah, blah, blah.’ I then tell him this is his sixth claim in two years.”

The customer disputes that he had made that many claims, but Butler offers to let the man look at the records. Butler then issues his own terms.

“I said that if he truly believes we are causing this much damage, he should have fired us two or three claims ago,” Butler says. “I then said I would repair his lining, but I expect it to wear back out because he’s either carrying a phone or a pistol on his right hip. I was hoping for the phone because we were at the end of the line on claims.”

Butler told the customer that he would accept losing the man’s business because he would never pay another claim of his again. “I told him that we were now six deep in two years, and I don’t have a 25-year client with half that many.”

The bluff called, Butler said the man’s request changed to wanting a standing discount, which he promptly and firmly refused. Despite this outcome, Butler reports that the man has remained a route customer for the past 15 years and to this day sends good volume.

“He’s tried to sneak some claims by us,” Butler says. “We just ignore him when he does.”

Good Dogs and Nearly Naked Men

A good drycleaning store makes visitors feel relaxed while there — which can have its ups and downs.

“We give out dog treats when a customer comes to our drive-thru or into the store,” says Tom Zengeler, president of Zengeler Cleaners, headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village. “At one of our stores, a customer came in on a Monday morning with her dog. She explained to the manager that she had lost the dog over the weekend. They looked all over the neighborhood and just couldn’t find it. They finally came to our store — we’re closed on Sundays — and they found the dog, sitting at our drive-thru window, waiting for a treat, and nobody was there. That was a very smart dog.”

While that dog was pleasantly comfortable with Zengeler’s store, some human customers can feel a bit too comfortable when they visit.

“We had a customer who would put all of his dry cleaning in a hamper, and then bring in everything at one time,” Zengeler says. “He would come in just a couple of times a month. He was so particular about making sure that he gave us all of his dry cleaning during that visit. And then before he left the store, he left his pants and shirt that he was wearing and walked out of the store in his boxers and T-shirt.”

And believe it or not, this isn’t an isolated incident.

“A few years ago, we were having this special where if you brought in 10 shirts, you got them done for a particular price,” Zengeler says. “A guy brought in nine shirts, and he needed that 10th shirt for the special. So, he took off his shirt and walked out of the store with no shirt or undershirt on. We’ve had people change in their car or whatever after picking things up, but some people are a little more direct than others.”                                

Feature in American Drycleaner