Among our other things in storage were 3 carpets we bought during our time in Mauritania. None of them were all that expensive or unique, but they are pretty and we like them.
Naturally, after 2 years in a dusty garage, the carpets were filled with powdery dirt. We asked Ismail if he knew of a good carpet cleaning place. He recommended one, and Donn dropped off the first rug. “Come back in a week,” they said.
A week later, he went back. “It’s not ready; come back in 3 days,” he was told. This happened 3 more times.
Finally, 16 days later, he talked to Ismail about it. Ismail phoned his friends and then told him, “Go tomorrow at 4:00. It will be ready.”
At 4:30 or so, Donn showed up. The rug was not there. One of the men crawled into our car, and directed Donn on a merry exploration of the back streets of Takkadoum—round narrow corners, through tiny twisting alleys, etc. They stopped at a house to pick up another man, who directed them even father out.
Half an hour later, they stopped in front of a second house, and both men got out. “They’ve gone to explain to the people they sold it to why they want it back,” Donn joked to a friend who was with him. Sure enough, this time they emerged with the roll of carpet over their shoulders.
As they bumped back towards the dry-cleaning shop, Donn noticed the clouds of dust filling the air, coming from the “cleaned” carpet. “It’s not cleaned?” he said. “Yes, of course it is. It’s been washed and beaten well,” said the man. But it was evidently not so.
Upon being confronted with the indisputable evidence of a small pile of Mauritanian sand, the man admitted it had not been washed. He offered to keep the rug again for an indeterminate period of time, but Donn declined. He also, somewhat optimistically, felt that we should pay him for storing our rug for 17 days, but again, Donn declined.
Now the rug hangs over the balcony. Donn has bought carpet cleaner, and we’re trying to sell the kids on the idea of a little beating for a good cause.
8 comments
July 16, 2009 at 2:11 am
Kelly @ Love Well
“A little beating for a good cause.” That could have been your title.
So did you ever figure out why the carpet was so far from the place where you left it?
July 16, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Grateful for Grace
Funny! I think it really does sound like they sold the rug! Did you see that episode of Seinfeld???
Anyway, is this one of those situations where it makes for a hilarious blog post, but not so funny in real life situation? Has my husband asked you to post stories that make me double think my desire to live abroad?
July 17, 2009 at 12:10 am
MaryWitzl
For some reason, the minute I read ‘carpet’, I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. The ONE household chore I can always get our youngest to do is vacuuming carpets. She loves the ones that are especially dirty — the satisfying rattle the hoover makes as it sucks up dust and particles. When I feel especially optimistic, I may start her on carpet cleaning one of these days, but until then, I haul our rugs out and beat them. I’m awfully tired of that…
Good for you for refusing to pay these guys for storage. That’s not what you asked them to do, after all!
July 17, 2009 at 10:46 am
meredith
That’s so funny, but some how, I’m not surprised 🙂
July 17, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Karen
oh dear.
I have friends living in Senegal and this sounds just like one of their stories. At a certain point somebody stole their dog and asked them to buy it back. Happily, it didn’t come to that & now the local vet uses their dog as the “stud” so everyone can have one!
If it were to ever rain very heavily, you should drag your carpets out onto the roof or railings. My step father is in the business & he says that this is the best way to clean any rug made out of natural fibers – hose it down or let the rain do the job. We use our driveway, but of course, that’s not an option for you…maybe the top of your car?
Summer is a great time to do it here at home because we get massive thunderstorms followed by hot, hot sun.
July 17, 2009 at 3:28 pm
LIB
Wow! Never a dull moment!
Very well told. Thanks for posting.
July 20, 2009 at 4:14 am
Cassie
This is too crazy! I can’t believe anyone would try and run a business like this! lol glad you got your carpet back and good luck selling the kids on that idea.
July 22, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Carrie
Hey, what about using the power-washer hose at the “car-washes”, like they did at the gas stations in Mauritania (I mean, I think that water at the gas stations was actually for car washing, but I only ever saw it get used to clean carpets. . .)? Surely there’s a few of them in Morocco. . . I had to laugh at the story though. . . sounds rather classic. I feel like I’ve lived that through before, only it was usually with getting my car fixed.
I don’t miss that.
🙂