Seams Like Old Pants

I’ve got a pair of pants with a bad leg. The hem is coming undone. Since I don’t sew, and my wife is very busy, I went to the dry cleaner today where they have a very friendly seamstress. She’s helped me with numerous clothing issues in the past. I like a full service dry cleaner. The guy who runs the place is great, other than being a smoker (see "Blowing Smoke" March 1, 2016), and can often be seen in the lobby offering fashion tips to some of his women customers. One time I went there with a tear in my britches and they fixed it on the spot. I just had to wait behind this kinda flimsy curtain, but they got ‘em fixed. So, today I went there to get the hem fixed. The seamstress asked what needed to be done to the pants. I said “A hem.” She looked at me funny and asked again what was needed to be done. “A hem”, I repeated. This went on for a bit, and I think she thought I was beset with allergies or had phlegm issues or something, but then she finally realized my pants needed a hem. She said that nobody had ever hit her with that routine before, and she used to be a seamstress in Sonoma California where some pretty clever people lived.

Who says all the cool stuff starts on the coasts?