I opened our front door and stepped out into the passage to pick up my shoes from the shoe rack. As I stepped out I bumped into the laundry chap trying to edge past me into my apartment.
Now, the laundry chap was one of those shifty "half-nut"characters employed by the laundry shop downstairs to collect and deliver laundry. Instead of waiting at the door, this chap has the habit of entering our living room - even when my wife is alone. Since he pretended not to understand spoken language, we switched to the more overt tactic of keeping the door shut while we go inside to fetch the laundry, or one of us will physically block the entrance so that he does not ease himself into the house.
And here he was today, again trying to sneak past me into the living room without so much as a "Good Morning, may I.......?"
Through an adroit maneuver, I managed to regain the front door before he could enter. I promptly shut the door just as he was about to step inside, and informed my wife that the laundry chap is waiting outside the door.
"Phoo .....and as usual he was trying to enter the apartment" she said.
She brought out the laundry bundle from our bedroom, opened the front door and handed over the laundry bundle to the chap outside. She told him there are 8 items in the bundle for ironing and then shut the door.
After a minute, the door bell rings. She opens the door and looks at the chap standing outside with the laundry bundle which she had just handed over.
She looks at him for a few seconds, and then says "Oh you!" in a very embarrassed manner.
And then she turns to me and says to me "Did you not realise this is NOT the laundry man? This is the person I hired yesterday to clean the house".
I gave a sheepish apologetic smile to the confused looking chap entering the house. Yes, on closer scrutiny this guy indeed was a different guy, though there was a resemblance to the laundry chap.
"Do you have a brother...?" I started to say, but a glare from my wife shut me up.
"My husband always makes silly mistakes of this kind" she says as way of explanation to the cleaner.
"Well, you handed over the laundry to him..." was the sharp rejoinder that came to my tongue, but like all great Generals I decided to hold my tongue, and gave another sheepish smile to the cleaner chap.
Now, the laundry chap was one of those shifty "half-nut"characters employed by the laundry shop downstairs to collect and deliver laundry. Instead of waiting at the door, this chap has the habit of entering our living room - even when my wife is alone. Since he pretended not to understand spoken language, we switched to the more overt tactic of keeping the door shut while we go inside to fetch the laundry, or one of us will physically block the entrance so that he does not ease himself into the house.
And here he was today, again trying to sneak past me into the living room without so much as a "Good Morning, may I.......?"
Through an adroit maneuver, I managed to regain the front door before he could enter. I promptly shut the door just as he was about to step inside, and informed my wife that the laundry chap is waiting outside the door.
"Phoo .....and as usual he was trying to enter the apartment" she said.
She brought out the laundry bundle from our bedroom, opened the front door and handed over the laundry bundle to the chap outside. She told him there are 8 items in the bundle for ironing and then shut the door.
After a minute, the door bell rings. She opens the door and looks at the chap standing outside with the laundry bundle which she had just handed over.
She looks at him for a few seconds, and then says "Oh you!" in a very embarrassed manner.
And then she turns to me and says to me "Did you not realise this is NOT the laundry man? This is the person I hired yesterday to clean the house".
I gave a sheepish apologetic smile to the confused looking chap entering the house. Yes, on closer scrutiny this guy indeed was a different guy, though there was a resemblance to the laundry chap.
"Do you have a brother...?" I started to say, but a glare from my wife shut me up.
"Well, you handed over the laundry to him..." was the sharp rejoinder that came to my tongue, but like all great Generals I decided to hold my tongue, and gave another sheepish smile to the cleaner chap.
