What Do You Collect?

 

At the end of WWI there was a sarcastic saying that English soldiers fought the war for honor. French soldiers fight for glory, and American soldiers fight for souvenirs. This was because American soldiers brought back a lot of "war trophies" likes guns, flags, helmets, etc.
It is only natural for people to want souvenirs.
We as human beings I think like to collect things.
They remind us of  experiences, are interesting, or just fun.
I've known a lot of laundry room managers, staff, and laundromat owners. The majority collect SOMETHING related to laundry careers, even if it is only while they are working there and then throw it away when done.

The original owner of my first laundromat collected zipper pulls. He said he gave them to his brother for Christmas. He also kept a few for the times he found a jacket he wanted to keep that needed a zipper pull, or for customers who needed a zipper pull because theirs had been lost in the washer. He had a bunch. 

Other laundry staff I know collect keys.
Sometimes they group them by brands, shapes, colors, or designs.

How many Kwikset keys you have found over the years?

Other laundry staff save all of the stick pin earrings they find. One laundromat owner told me, "haven't found a real diamond yet, but I'll keep looking for that giant karat that will allow me to retire!"

I don't collect rings, but I've saved a bunch of the rings that no one has claimed.
All are cubic zirconia. One my wife wears as a back up wedding ring if we are out someplace that she doesn't want to risk losing her real ring.

I joke I'll make her the biggest bling ring ever using all the other stones as a celebration of when we retire.

As for me...I collect all the little cars that get left behind or lost under the machines.

They're not worth anything but they are fun to look at. Some I've gotten out from drain pipes or drain troughs that were in there for quite a long time. It is interesting to see what that sludge will do to a Matchbox car (Hey! New idea for a blog article!)!

Some laundry folks collect lighters, pens, video game cartridges, and of course we all collect the money we find in the washers and dryers!

What do you collect?

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy