The woman speaking to Adisai Saisawang is distraught. The trousers she's holding in her hand cost her Bt40,000 just the day before. She wore them that evening, received numerous compliments on them, gave them to her maid to clean the next morning, and look at them now! They've shrunk so badly they can't be worn again, at least not in the shape they (and the woman) are in.

Adisai is her last hope.

"Can you do anything," she asks desperately.

She's come to the right man. The Laundry Manager of the Oriental Dry Cleaning Service, Adisai has more than 30 years' experience in cleaning clothes.

Born in Ayutthaya 52 years ago, he never expected the path his life has taken. He first dreamt - unsuccessfully - of becoming an artist. "I lacked the ability or will to apply myself," he smiles today. Instead, he joined his sister and her husband in Hamburg, Germany, and found himself learning German.

Apart from playing badminton with his friends, he wasn't doing very much else. But when his brother-in-law offered him a job in his laundry and dry-cleaning operation, Adisai jumped at the chance - even though he knew nothing about the business.

To the elation (and probably relief) of his brother-in-law, Adisai gradually rose in the ranks, from counter service to, eventually, responsibility for the entire dry-cleaning operation.

By the time he left Germany, in 1985, he had the experience and self-confidence to continue in this career. After three years with the Landmark Hotel, he joined the Oriental, where he remains to this day.

A good "laundry man", Adisai says, must know fabric types as well as stains and the chemicals to be used to remove them.

"Dry-cleaning is generally not good for food and beverage stains, unless they're oil," he says.

Over the years, he's seen a number of changes in dry-cleaning methods and points proudly to the Oriental's system, which was the first hotel in Thailand, he says, to replace the use of hazardous solvents such as perchloroethylene and fluorocarbon with harmless hydrocarbon solvents.

 Adisai has also had to develop his logistics skills. All laundry and dry-cleaning work is done at the Oriental, but the hotel offers four "drop-off" stations - Siam Paragon, Isetan, the Emporium and Central Chidlom, with pickups every day. His laundry room is full of colour-coded tags, bags and empty boxes waiting for finished clothes.

In addition, he also lectures at the Oriental Hotel Apprenticeship Programme on laundry, dry-cleaning and quality control.

"Not many people are attracted to this profession," he says sadly. "Who wants to work deep in a hot basement?"

Yet, for Adisai, the career offers excitement. In the planning stages, to be implemented in around two years from now, is the project to convert the entire operation to an "ozone system".

Cycle times will be reduced, clothing will be disinfected more thoroughly, chemical use will be lowered considerably, he says.

"Besides, it is the most environmentally-friendly system available," he adds.

The distraught lady's trousers, though, don't need such advanced technology. Adisai smiles to calm the woman and explains: "Your trousers are made with a synthetic material. Your maid washed them in water, and water shrinks this particular kind of cloth."

With another smile, he instructs his staff to steam the trousers, then stretch and block them. Within that day, the trousers are ready to be worn again.

No longer agitated, the woman asks for the bill. She's prepared to pay thousands for the service, but at the Oriental Dry Cleaning Service, the charge is Bt160. "It just took steaming and stretching," Adisai shrugs.  Besides, secretly, he's pleased. A beautiful piece of clothing has been saved.

"I think I am an artist," he chuckles.

Laurie Rosenthal

The Nation