Ive heard of people dropping their basket, and losing their basket, but what happens if someone steals it?

The (somewhat) rainy season is upon us, which really only means that I no longer have to water my grass and postage-stamp size garden daily. Now I have to do it every other day. On a positive note, the rain we've had so far hasn't created "Lake Fabs" in the potholes in front of our house, as it generally does.



Another interesting developement of the rain, is that the laundry mat around the corner stole my basket.



I don't own a dryer. I find it senseless to purchase a device that creates heat, while living in Cozumel. The backyard is essentially full sun all day (hence the obsessive watering) and clothes dry in less than an hour. There are approximately three times a year when I need/want a dryer, and up until now that hasn't been an issue, since there was, what I thought to be, a quality lavanderia, two blocks away.



One rainy day last week, I dropped off a load of freshly washed, wet clothes to be dried and folded. They were in my trusty laundry basket. Let me tell you that this basket was nothing special, in fact, it even had a hole in the side. It was white, plastic and tall. I had it for years, and it was mine. To the right you can see a photo of the basket in happier days. (No cats were harmed during the taking of this photo, FYI)



Anyhow, I returned a few hours later, collected my folded clothes, and asked for my basket back.



"Oh, that basket was yours?" asked the girl behind the counter, "well the other girl that works here took your basket full of wet clothes to the other location, and I'm sure she'll return it shortly.



"Not a problem at all," I snarkilly replied, "I'll just take my clothes and when you give me back my basket, I'll pay you."



No one has 20/20 hindsight like I do, and as the afternoon wore on I began to feel a little guilty about not paying. What if the girl got in trouble with the owners? Was I over the top bitchy? I discussed this with the Fabster, who is the level-headed voice of reason in the family. We agreed that I should go back tommorrow and pay and collect the basket.



When I arrived, the other girl, told me that she did indeed return my basket, however, the first girl loaned my basket to a woman who lived around here, and had alot of clothes to take home. Second girl felt confident that in the next few days, neighbor woman would return with my basket. It simply wasn't her fault, but the first girl, who caused the entire situation. She then asked me if I was going to pay my bill.





End of story, I now have a new white laundry basket, that I don't like nearly as much (not that any sane person would get attached to a laundry basket, mind you) I can never ever go back to the laundry-mat on the corner, since I still owe then $47 peos, and, frankly, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do when it rains again.