Since we’ve moved here, four of Crayton’s dress shirts have developed a hole in the right elbow. Not a tiny hole, either — more like messy, shredded tear, as if someone took a pair of scissors and stabbed the thing. Or, like, yanked on the fabric with his teeth. What’s weird is that even though the hole is so severe, the shirts are perfectly fine otherwise. No missing buttons or threads hanging off.
We’ve both been perplexed by this — and annoyed, because two of the shirts were Brooks Brothers. So C went to work and asked his male co-workers if they had the same problem. Turns out they did. Tear on the sleeve, in pretty much the same spot. With one guy, it happened after he took the shirt to get dry cleaned.
What is going on here? Why does Mexico eat dress shirts? And how do you say “torn dress shirt sleeve” in Spanish, so that I can freaking google this and try to find some answers?
Last night I had some folks over for dinner. With all the men there having been smote by the Shirt Sleeve God, we must have talked about this for 20 minutes. Among the theories tossed around: Maybe Mexican soap is too strong. Maybe it’s the washing machine. (This is my guess, because I washed Crayton’s shirts in Dallas and never ran into this problem.) Maybe it’s the dryer. Maybe it’s the dry cleaning solution, or whatever they use to dry clean things here.
In either case, we have to go buy Crayton some more shirts, because he doesn’t have much left to wear. Luckily there are lots of men’s dress-shirt stores in the area. An unusually high number, actually…. hmmm. Conspiracy?
Better go continue my googling in Spanish. If anyone out there has solved this problem, please enlighten me.
Why do you think it’s the washing machine, since don’t we have different types of washing machines? Ours is a Kenmore, American brand.
I swear it’s the water – or the soap, or both!
Mysterious, whatever it is.
CRAYTON SMASH! I would recommend not getting Crayton angry any more. Seems like he’s come down with a case of the Hulks.
i think its the soaps- the detergents. When i go home to Jalisco, my socks end up holier than thou (excuse the pun). i try to handwash whatever i can with Jabon Lirio that is a big yellow block.