She noticed this tag and its washing instructions.

"Now I just have to get this put into action. Not sure of my chances of it happening though ... mmm," Clarice said.

We're pretty sure that loads of women everywhere hear you, Clarice.

Clarice's tale does remind us of a joke about a bloke whose boss asked him to take on a regular job of cleaning mirrors.

The bloke's reply: "It's not really a job I can see myself doing".

When the Newcastle Herald reported on Monday that former discount store king John Peschar was awarded an OAM, he received several phone calls.

One of them was from us. But first things first.

We received an email from Sue Perkins about John.

"It was lovely to see Newcastle's John Peschar receive more deserved recognition in the Queen's Birthday honours list," said Sue, of Adamstown Heights.

John, now 92, was known for his discount stores at Mount Hutton, Gosford and Kurri Kurri.

"Like many young families just starting out in the '70s, I purchased furniture and other goods from his Mount Hutton store," Sue said.

"I still have the dining chairs I purchased all those years ago and have re-oiled them."

Sue wondered whether John "might be able to shed some light on where the furniture was sourced from and a little about the history of his suppliers".

We called John.

"At the time, we were importing a fair bit of furniture from the Philippines and Taiwan," he said.

"I went over there a few times to visit the factories. They made some great furniture. I have some at home that I still use.

"They had all these people working almost in the open, making the furniture almost by hand. They used very good timber."

One of the calls John received on Monday came from a woman who recalled buying a Sunbeam Mixmaster from his Kurri Kurri store.

Topics: "Bet your heart skipped a beat. You probably thought she was going to say, 'It's just broken down this week, can you replace it?'."

John [chuckling]: "Absolutely."

John said it always amazes him that people remember items they bought from his stores decades ago.

"We had the official opening of the cathedral [in Newcastle] after the rebuilding. John Howard [when he was prime minister] came as the official guest.

"When I was introduced, he said, 'Peschar, that's an unusual name - anything to do with the furniture store in Gosford?'

"When he was a young man and got married, he bought a mattress, table, fridge and washer all from my store."

Getting back to Sue, she said the furniture she bought had "stood the test of time".

It now had "value for retro collectors".

They sure don't make things like they used to, hey.

We thought we won an argument with our wife about how to rearrange our furniture. But when we got home, the tables were turned.

The furniture store keeps calling us. All we wanted was one night stand.

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