# Advice needed: laundry room jackass **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097 "2013-04-19T02:14:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/21 "2013-04-19T12:55:58Z")
I give people two cycles to get their clothes out of washers, dryers. Then I’ll do it for them. I’ve never had any problems doing this. There’s no excuse for it otherwise. It isn’t hard to set the timer on the stove when you get back from the laundry room. I lived in a building where I put a wash in one of the two washers. Two washers, two dryers. Came back after 30 minutes to put them in the dryer. When I got there both washers were running. My wet clothes sitting on top of the dryer. My clothes was taking out mid-cycle. I lost my shit. I unplugged both washers, and brought my wet clothes back up. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/22 "2013-04-19T13:29:49Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > … Stories like this confirm my priority that WHEREVER I live, I will have my own laundry facilities.. Funny the cultural difference. Dutch houses are tiny and we have lots of facilities communal that the US has privately (like swimming pools, only the super rich in the Netherlands have private swimming pools and virtually no apartment complexes have them). But each tiny Dutch house or apartment has its very own washer and dryer. I think the US system is much more space saving and efficient. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/23 "2013-04-19T14:21:11Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Your clothes are wet, not covered in toxic waste, take them upstairs, drape around the place till tomorrow. Bring them back, damp or dry, and put them in the dryer for a while tomorrow. > > No stress, no fuss, no chance of pissing off your neighbour and tomorrow is another day. Life is too short for stress and conflict when it can easily be avoided. Just my opinion! That’s taking conflict avoidance to an all new (and ridiculous) level. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/24 "2013-04-19T14:23:05Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Just last week, I was talking with my daughter on the phone while she did her laundry, and she was complaining about having to take someone’s clothes out of the dryer. Stories like this confirm my priority that WHEREVER I live, I will have my own laundry facilities. I might be willing to go without electricity or indoor plumbing for the rest of the home, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to regularly open myself up to the possiblity of interacting with ignorant/rude neighbors over something as mundane as laundry. > > Crazy, crazy shit - of the kind that makes you hate your own species. I agree. I decided once I hit thirty that I will never share laundry facilities again. When I was in school, and later when I was living in apartments, I would occasionally go to a laundromat and do my laundry there since people had to stay with their laundry, and it wouldn’t sit there. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/25 "2013-04-19T15:25:10Z")
There was a girl in my college dormitory with some kind of emotional problems that prevented her from leaving her room unless absolutely necessary. About once a month she would do all her accumulated laundry, taking up all twelve washers at once. She would have drawn a lot less ire upon her sensitive little self if she’d done less laundry more often, but I guess the point of her problem is that it wasn’t rational. The day I moved into an apartment with its own washer and dryer was a beautiful, beautiful day. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/26 "2013-04-19T15:43:57Z")
My guess is that his apartment flooded somehow and that is why all his stuff is wet without use of the washers. The only beef I have with people at the laundromat is the people who use 2 washers and then spread their stuff out into 6 or 7 dryers when done. Really? Your shirts and underpants can’t share a dryer? You have to monopolize a third of the dryers for 2 loads? ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/27 "2013-04-19T15:55:35Z")
The last time I lived in a location with shared laundry facilities was a high-rise apartment building. Not only were the facilities spacious and clean, there were signs that told you exactly what to do if someone failed to retrieve their laundry. (Wait 15 minutes and then put the load on a designated table.) Worked great. And, since there were 40 washers and dryers, it was rarely a problem anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/28 "2013-04-19T16:02:43Z")
I spent an extended time in a hotel last year (on business) Eventually I had a load of laundry to do, and used the laundry room at the hotel. I returned to get my stuff out of the dryer a bit late (nothing unreasonable) and found all my clothes neatly folded on the table. What a nice surprise. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/29 "2013-04-19T16:19:16Z")
I work on a boat where we have 4 washers and 4 driers (usually). I have gotten people’s laundry out and folded it when I needed to use a drier. I even left a mint on it for them a few times. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/30 "2013-04-19T16:34:33Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > The only beef I have with people at the laundromat is the people who use 2 washers and then spread their stuff out into 6 or 7 dryers when done. Really? Your shirts and underpants can’t share a dryer? You have to monopolize a third of the dryers for 2 loads? 😕 Craziness. I’ve found that often the dryers will hold more than the washers, so I throw two loads into the same dryer. At that point the colors aren’t going to bleed (… I think.) I’ll admit that one time I was a dryer-hogging jerk. This was my last semester of college. I got up, put my loads in the washers, then the dryers, then went back to my room. In the interval while it was drying, I got sick - a combination of not eating, stress, and depression. Ended up crying and calling my boyfriend to come take care of me. When I went back down, maybe two hours later (from the dryers starting), somebody had piled my laundry on the top of the dryers. Exceptional circumstances AND I wasn’t hogging all three dryers. And there were more laundry rooms available. ( **Sattua** , how many clothes did she have?! I’m lazy and will often wait a month or more until I’m running out of stuff and I still only have four or five loads.) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/31 "2013-04-19T18:02:36Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Just last week, I was talking with my daughter on the phone while she did her laundry, and she was complaining about having to take someone’s clothes out of the dryer. Stories like this confirm my priority that WHEREVER I live, I will have my own laundry facilities. I might be willing to go without electricity or indoor plumbing for the rest of the home, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to regularly open myself up to the possiblity of interacting with ignorant/rude neighbors over something as mundane as laundry. > > Crazy, crazy shit - of the kind that makes you hate your own species. When my daughter was apartment hunting last year, one of her requirements was having her own laundry facilities. Back when I had to use a laundromat or an apartment complex’s washer and dryer, I used to take a book with me, and I’d sit and read. This wasn’t just as a courtesy to other users, it was because I was tired of getting my clothes stolen. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/32 "2013-04-19T18:10:37Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > There was a girl in my college dormitory with some kind of emotional problems that prevented her from leaving her room unless absolutely necessary. How did she attend classes? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/33 "2013-04-19T18:26:44Z")
> [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > (How this came to be the case, when all six washers and at least three dryers were empty during my initial trip, is perhaps a question best left unasked.) When I used to go to the laundrymat, there were people who would use the washers and then take their clothes home to dry them. That doesn’t make as much sense here but I’m grasping at straws. The flood idea makes sense too. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/34 "2013-04-19T18:31:35Z")
> [@Running\_with\_Scissors](#): > > How did she attend classes? Since it was a predominantly freshman dormitory, my guess is that she didn’t, and got to go home for good in the springtime. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/35 "2013-04-19T19:10:36Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I work on a boat where we have 4 washers and 4 driers (usually). I have gotten people’s laundry out and folded it when I needed to use a drier. I even left a mint on it for them a few times. I did this all the time on course - but I was always paranoid someone would come in and catch me folding their gitch. Never happened, but it was a concern. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/36 "2013-04-20T02:05:25Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > You would be surprised at how catatonically stupid some people become when confronted by laundry. I had a roommate in college who spent an entire semester pouring his laundry detergent into a hole in the middle of the agitator. So it didn’t actually go into the water and he spent 4 months essentially just rinsing his clothes… I knew an _engineering_ student who did that for a few weeks. In his defence he was from India and had never even seen a washing machine before; all of his family’s washing was done by hand by servants. > [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > My apartment complex’s laundry room has six washers and six dryers… I never understood the logic of communal laundry rooms having 1 dryer for each washer when it takes twice as long to dry clothes as it does to wash them. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/37 "2013-04-20T03:56:09Z")
My current and last places have both been half of a two-flat where the basement houses a washer and dryer. One set for two flats isn’t generally too bad. On the rare occasion someone leaves a load in the washer or dryer, it’s carefully put on top of the (wiped clean) dryer. But shared laundry for a larger apartment building (6+ apartments) suuuuucks! My first apartment was a first floor studio that was literally next door to the tiny laundry room and I hardly ever used it because of the aggravating jackholes fucking everything up. Being literally a step away from the laundry room didn’t make up for it. Instead, I’d go to The Laundry Palace (best name ever!). Cheaper rates, buy-10-loads-get-11th-free punch cards, dozens of top and front loading washers in single, double, triple and even quadruple load capacity and huge dryers, great folding tables, an actual nice waiting area with big tables and cable tv AND free wifi! 🙂 Way nicer to go there and get everything done and folded in one fell swoop. Btw, my #1 laundromat tip: The hands-down BEST way to transport your laundry is with [those big blue IKEA bags](http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/17228340/). They hold a TON, can be easily carried on a shoulder to free up your hands, and the flat bottom supports tidy stacks of folded laundry, even if you have to sling it over your shoulder. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/38 "2013-04-20T04:32:46Z")
Those Ikea bags are a good idea. I ditched laundry baskets since discovering the handle bags are so much better. I use a couple of those reusable Whole Foods shopping bags - they exactly fit one load of laundry, so they’re great for sorting and getting loads ready before going down to the laundry room. Other grocers bags a a little smaller. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/39 "2013-04-20T12:03:05Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > The hands-down BEST way to transport your laundry is with [those big blue IKEA bags](http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/17228340/). This is \*the \*number one universal laundry solution around these parts (Norway). I’m sure those bags also have a secondary function as a way to lug your stuff home from Ikea, but their number one use is absolutely as laundry bags. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097/40 "2013-04-20T12:17:11Z")
BTW, this reminds me of one of my previous apartments, where, if I left my laundry in the dryer for too long in the laundry room, I would sometimes come back to find it neatly folded and stacked on a nearby table. I never discovered which one of my neighbors was doing that, but man, that was pretty sweet. Otherwise, the general solution around here is to just take the stuff out of the dryer and put it somewhere, on top of the dryer if possible, but otherwise the floor will do. If my clothes actually disappeared, I would be very confused and pissed off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-needed-laundry-room-jackass/656097.md?page=1)