Until Tuesday, I was fairly ignorant of the particular hazards of dry cleaning. Until Tuesday, I vaguely understood that the chemicals used in the process were not awesome, so I would be sure to tear off the plastic bag right away and let my clothes air out after picking them up. (I would also sort of try to hold my breath every time I stopped by the cleaners.)

But then Tuesday came. And what began as an extremely simple work-related query to the people in charge of a local dry-cleaning chain exploded into a hostage situation in which I was stuck on the phone for roughly 17.5 hours. But! I did come away with some (kind of) interesting information regarding dry cleaning solvents and practices.

Here, the very abridged version of What I Semi-Consensually Learned About Perchloroethylene. (more…)