The Deception of the Thrush

Ah, 3M. I used to know a guy who was a chemist at 3M. He was the father of my roommate. Once he told me all about the glue for Post-Its and I remember my bizarre but genuine admiration for the innovation and hard work involved in developing nothing more profound than the adhesive for a small, sticky notepad. Really, tell me if I am wrong, is there not a distinctive grip to the sticky back of a genuine 3M post-it? When your supply closet at work doles out something inferior (as does mine), do you not find post-it notes falling off your desk, your filing cabinets, and so on? There's a lot of brains behind that stuff. Almost makes a person want to become a cheerleader for privatization--if the free market can do this, it will surely find the solutions to all our worst social problems! But, before I transform into a conservative overnight, here's one area where 3M--and hence all the forces of capitalism--went wrong. I cannot find any good lint roller, anywhere.

Now, to be sure, of all the lint rollers of modest quality, 3M's is probably the best and it's what I have in my linen closet right now. But, it just doesn't do the trick with fleece shirts. Especially, dragged-out-of-a-suitcase-after-being-stored-all-summer fleece. Fleece that, every time it goes through the washing machine, picks up another fresh load of lint accumulated across every single person in my apartment who hasn't figured out how to clean out a lint tray. I clean it out myself, of course (which is gross) but I have a feeling that once it's gone too long and collected too much junk, some of that has got to get into the machine and subsequently onto all my clothes.

So, I have all these fleece shirts lined with lint, and I have tried all manner of lint roller, including that one proudly made by our friends in Maplewood, to no avail. Ideas?