What Carriage Cleaners in Dilworth is trying to say with its inspirational sign. (Hint: Not ‘tit’)
I drove past the sign outside Carriage Cleaners on Park Road Sunday and read the word “tit.” I had to turn my car right around and pull into the little parking lot in front of the Dilworth store to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
Yep, the word was there. More specifically, the sign read: “Life is not perfect, but your tit can be.”
I burst out laughing. Clearly someone had tampered with the sign. Besides, who doesn’t love a good boob joke?
By Monday morning, order among those black letters had been restored to the appropriate message: “Life is not perfect, but your outfit can be.”
This time, I smiled.
I always do. I’ve driven past this sign multiple days a week for almost four years. I’ve loved it since the day I first saw it. It shines bright with inspirational messages that change every month.
“People driving home or on their way to work, they just need something to pick them up,” said Kate Caltis of Carriage Cleaners, who has been in charge of selecting the monthly message on and off since 2008.
She wasn’t aware that the letters on this month’s sign had been temporarily out of order over the weekend, and she wasn’t sure who had switched the letters back.
Typically, Gerald Taylor, one of the company’s drivers, is in charge of changing the letters around on the sign each month to share the message that Caltis selected, with feedback from others in the office.
“He takes a lot of pride in it,” Caltis said.
Of the six Carriage Cleaners locations in Charlotte, the Dilworth location (2447 Park Road) is the only one with an inspirational sign. The family-owned company is run by Bill and Susan Ford, who opened the first location in 1992 at the Arboretum shopping center. There happened to be a sign next to the Dilworth spot when they started renting space there.
For the message on the sign, Caltis said, “We try to pick something seasonal that’s appropriate for a holiday or a season.”
The first message she recalls going up, chosen by a nephew of the Fords, said, “Drop your pants here.”
Since she inherited the task of selecting the phrase, Caltis said, she always wants the message to be inspirational and uplifting. On occasion, she picks a message from her quote books or Pinterest that relates to clothing to tie in the company’s mission to provide quality dry cleaning and laundry service.
A sampling of the monthly messages:
“Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.”
“Throw kindness around like confetti.”
“Be an encourager. The world has enough critics. Put on your positive pants.”
The messages on the sign are what drew me to this Carriage Cleaners location in the first place. Over the years, I’ve dropped off my (one) pair of nice work pants, a bridesmaid dress, old prom dresses.
And I’ve always noticed that sign. It makes me pause every time.
Photos: Katie Toussaint
This story was originally published March 21, 2017 at 11:00 PM with the headline "What Carriage Cleaners in Dilworth is trying to say with its inspirational sign. (Hint: Not ‘tit’)."