The weather has turned nasty today, strong winds and rain mixed with hail. Not a typical Victoria day. Everyone is stuck on the island as the B.C. Ferries are not sailing. This weather does make our shop busy because of flooding and leaking. Some area rugs come in so sad looking you would think that there was no use in trying. There is always a use for trying.
I had a client come in to pick up his rugs and he got to call me a liar, in a nice way. One of his rugs came in with green stains on it, since he had no idea what caused the stains we couldn't say for sure if they would come out. The stains were completely gone. He was very happy and said that the rug was too clean for use in their summer cottage. I apologized for our cleaning results, joking of course. I like clients with a good sense of humour.
I returned a call to a lovely charming woman today. She wasn't having a good day and my phone call cheered her up. She had left a message asking if we repair rugs, her rug has a five inch tear in it. She loves her rug very much and was very thrilled to hear that Luv-A-Rug does rug repairs. Hopefully we can restore her rug without too much cost to her.
It if wasn't for bad weather and pets the rug cleaning business would be much slower. I would say at least two thirds of the area rugs we clean are because of pets or flooding. I heard a story that one area rug cleaner asked his client for her cat's birthday. She was a little perplexed as to why he would want to know. He replied it was so he could send him a 'thank you' present for bring him so much business. So true!
The water drainage is a little slow after it rains for three days straight. The only thing that I will mind about it is having to disappoint the clients when we tell them that their rug may not be returned to as good as new condition. Sometimes it can be hard to convince clients to get their area rugs cleaned after they find out that the cleaning costs as much as a new rug. It is hard not tell them that putting it in the landfill isn't environmentally friendly. I don't like to make people feel cheap if they don't want to pay for cleaning. All I can do is tell them what is involved in our cleaning process and that if they get our finishing treatment as well we will clean their rug for free (six month guarantee).
Thank you reading, RugloverMary
