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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
Way nicer to go there and get everything done and folded in one fell swoop.