It is April 2006, I am stuck in a dead end postal job and have become surprising bitter after four years of it.
Enter a by-chance meeting with a friend and she tells me to apply to her work place. This is not the first time she has pushed me to apply, but this time I am ready for a change. It comes down to my mental health because there is nothing worse than dreading getting out of bed in the morning. It was time for me to break free of the postal handcuffs and breath again.
I meet the boss to my prospective new job at a coffee shop. Half way through the interview I could feel that I was losing the job. Panic set in as the question of 'where do you see yourself in 5 years?' fell upon my ears. I hate that question because I am not a personal goal type person. I like letting my day to day decisions and actions pave my future. That is to say I am not lazy but not a go getter, at the time. I fumbled through a half ass answer hoping that my lack of foresight did cost me a new job.
Needless to say I got the job! The job is working the front end of a rug cleaning plant. The scenario of a fish out of water comes close to how I felt for the first few months. All of my 14 years customer service was useless in the rug business. Slowly and surely I saw enough rugs and read until my eyes went cross and got to a point where I didn't need to be babysat by my co-workers. By the third month I knew what my top five favorite rugs were.
My all time favorite area rug is a wool Gabbeh. I love the bold colours, the plushness and the stick figure designs put randomly throughout. The next four aren't in any particular order of fondness. I like wool Belgians, quite possibly due to the mental association to Belgian chocolate. Next is the wool Turkish Kilims, the holes between the colours fascinates the crafty side of me. Third on my list is Moroccan because of two that came in the shop had a 3d effect to them. And even though the side wraps usually come off, I love Pakistan Bokhara rugs. They are a simple design and my favorite was a square rug in teal. I also enjoy it in a periwinkle blue. Last is the Chinese/Nepalese/Tibetan rugs. They are thick, plush and have wonderful designs and colours. All three have there own characteristics, but are similar enough that I can get away with classify them together and not step on any toes.
You are now wondering who is this woman who claims to love rug, but seems to only love the low end rugs?
I am a (yikes) 33 yr old woman living in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I am a crafty person. I love to crochet, scrapbook, write poetry, do jigsaw puzzles, cross stitch, well you get the picture. I have two dogs, a Jack Russell Terrier, Daisy, and a Chihuahua, Texas, and one cat, Skitters. I will not bore you with how cute and adorable they are and how much I love them. I am a fierce fan of the Vancouver Canucks, yes I know their history-I like the underdog and Swedes, and if you want to lose an hour of your day ask me about hockey. I can go on for awhile about it.
The wool rugs I have chosen as my favorites are not valuable rugs and probably aren't on any collectors radar, but because of the way they are constructed and the designs they appeal to me. I do appreciate all handmade wool rugs for the workmanship that goes into them. I recently read on the rug hub, a area rug cleaning forum, that every knot is a weaver's thought and that hits home with me.Until next time, RugloverMary!
