BlinkingDuck, jayjay, Jadis (and on preview, Bad News Baboon)…I ain’t asking for you to leave my stuff in the dryer for half an hour, or an hour, or overnight (which has apparently happened in my local laundry room, and which I think we all agree is pretty damned inconsiderate). However I think ten freakin’ minutes isn’t too much to ask in the name of simple politeness. I have never, to my recollection, ever left laundry in the dryer long enough for the dryer to get cold, but I still run into people who can’t even wait that long, and quite frankly it’s bloody rude.
No, you don’t know how long the dryer has been stopped, or whether I’m coming in a minute or a day. But if the thing is still warm, the considerate thing to do would be to give me the benefit of the doubt. And yes, it is a public laundry room. But you don’t deliberately peer under stall doors in a public washroom, unless perhaps you hear someone choking. Please try to respect my privacy within reasonable limits.
(And on related note, jayjay, if we ever share a laundry room I’d like to request that if you do absolutely have to take my laundry out of the dryer, please just leave it in a basket without folding it. Although I appreciate the sentiment, I’d prefer you didn’t fold my stuff. Ideally I’ll be along quickly enough that I can fold it myself before it wrinkles.)
why is your time more important than someone else’s time?
I always made sure to allot time out of my schedule to be able to spend at the washers. Why should I (or anyone else) wait ten more minutes? I mean, I could have practically a load half done in that time. Ten minutes is a LONG time when you are sitting and waiting. and waiting and waiting.
Since I was down there, I would give people the benefit of the doubt and would wait 5 minutes or so. But I don’t blame those that move them out the second the bell dings and no one is in site.
if you don’t want people touching your clothes be there when the bell rings.
it sucks. indeed it does. But that is one of the costs of living in an apartment/using a laundry mat.
Sorry MathGeek, but I do think that waiting 10 minutes to see if someone is going to return and deal with their completed laundry is unreasonable, especially considering that there’s an easy solution that doesn’t waste anyone’s time. That is to simply remove the items from the w/d that has completed it’s cycle, place them either in a laundry basket or on a table, and get on with your business. If you have that many issues with people touching your stuff, then you have the option of babysitting your clothes. It’s that simple.
If you aint there when the washer/dryer stops you are shit out of luck. Your clothes are coming out. Here in NYC the lines at the Laundromats can get pretty thick. I sometimes have to wait 20 or 30 minutes before a dryer is even open. You can be damn sure that when there is a fucking line, the machine stops, and you’re not there to quickly remove yuor items so the rest of the customers can get on with it, your shit is coming out. If you whine about this you are an idiot and a jerkoff. You should have been there.
Here, however, I never take the clothes out myself. I find one of the staff and they take them out (putting them in one of the little baskets with wheels). See, not only is it polite to be timely, it is also the rule around here. Tough titties if you can’t tell time. Tell with the staff.
Stealing or defacing someones clothes is unacceptable. Folding them, while kind, is a bit ridiculous. Unload em onto a counter or into a basket and fuck em. We’ve all got time crunches.
I never gave a damn if anyone touched my clothes. Luckily, the place I rent has a w/d so I don’t have to deal with that stuff. If I was in a laundrymat I would ALWAYS sit with my clothes, I’d bring in some homework or a book, cuz you never know who’s gonna be lurking in there. But in an apartment, I’d usually go back upstairs and be checking the clock every 5 minutes. If I was the one waiting for the dryer, I’d open the door, if it was hot inside I’d wait 5 min or so, then take their shit out. If it’s cold, I never hesitated to take it out. Who knows when the owner is gonna return? I never fold others clothes though, it’s one thing to toss them on the counter, it’s quite another to be handling every piece of a stranger’s clothing. It’s a PUBLIC facility, if you don’t have enough courtesy to remove your stuff on time, don’t be all shocked and offended if someone else does it for you. The laundry world does not revolve around you…
[slight hijack]
If the dryers in my laundry room were that good, we wouldn’t be having this discussion
[/slight hijack]
Seriously though…(shrugs) I guess I just don’t think of the problem in terms of time. If mean, if you can’t afford ten minutes then you’re going to be pretty SOL when you go into the laundry room to find all of the washers already running and half the dryers not working. In that situation, I prefer minimizing the social friction to striving for the surgical laundry strike.
And yes, that does include doing what I can to get my stuff out on time (lezlers, for example, has said nothing I don’t agree with) but I don’t preclude the possibility that something will prevent me from getting out the door at the correct instant. My chatty fictional Aunt Frue might call and not shut up long enough for me to say “I’ve got to get my laundry, I’ll call you back”.
As far as babysitting my laundry goes, yes that’s sometimes possible; I’ve done it on occasion. But I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that of people. Your neighbour may have kids, or guests, or some other reason why spending 75-90 minutes watching their laundry spin just ain’t gonna happen.
I guess what it boils down to is my belief that being polite to other people sometimes involves accepting less-than-instant gratification. Either that, or I’m not nearly in as much of a rush as some of you.
Clearly, though, YMMV. dalovindj’s mileage varies quite a bit, from the sound of things. I’m glad I don’t share your laundromat, pal. At least you get the staff to do it, though: better them than Lord knows who.
To me, the amount of time I’m willing to give someone depends on the time of day and the day of the weekend. If it’s a weekend morning, I give none. The buzzer goes off, out go your clothes - because you’re not only holding up me, but everyone behind me, too. In my building there are 58 units and four of each laundry machine, which doesn’t exactly leave a lot of leeway.
On the other hand, if it’s a weekday evening I might be a little forgiving. But only a little.
To expect others to sit around waiting for you - even ten minutes - is really pretty arrogant. And you say you don’t want others touching your stuff? Good. Sit your ass down in the laundry room and wait. If you aren’t willing to do that, then I guess it must just not be that important to you. Don’t whinge later.
My apartment complex launderette has a huge sign that says, “DO NOT TOUCH ANYONE’S CLOTHES FOR ANY REASON.”
Doesn’t stop some people though. I’ve had clothes removed from the dryer before the time was up because some loser didn’t want to shell out three quarters. I’ve had a full load of laundry stolen (I was not late…I’m never late). I’ve had detergent and softener sheets taken. I’ve even had nice, brand new towels taken out, leaving my old towels. Gee thanks THIEF!
I never, ever leave my laundry now. Last night I noticed that someone had broken the lock on the door and ripped off the lid of one of the washers. And I swear this isn’t a bad neighborhood.
It’s not about expecting people to sit around waiting for you, it’s about hoping that people can be a little patient, and give a little leeway to people who may have extenuating circumstances which prevented them from getting back to the machine right away. It’s about having a little humanity, showing a little understanding, and giving people the same consideration that you would ask that they give you.
Blinking Duck, if you ever, ever, tried to push past me to pull my clothes out of a dryer while I was in the process of doing so myself because I wasn’t moving fast enough for you, you wouldn’t have won the war that you would’ve started. If you cannot wait the few minutes that it will take for someone to complete the task that is underway, then the problem is yours. Budget your time better; no one is beholden to work at your preferred speed, just because you say so. You are an impatient, rude little twerp.
Seeing these reactions makes me glad not only that I have my own washer and dryer now, but that the building that I used to live in had a 15 minute grace period codified into the co-op bylaws and posted in the laundry room. If anyone was caught violating this rule – either by leaving things longer than that, or by moving someone else’s belongings before their grace was up – they would receive a reprimand from the co-op board.
I got the impression that the woman wasn’t pulling her clothes out and putting them in a basket; she was pulling them out and folding them one-by-one right there and holding up the dryer. That’s rude. She should get them into her basket and fold them elsewhere and make the dryer available to others. Although Blinking Duck shouldn’t have thrown her clothes, she was in the wrong also.
There’s no reason for her to fold her stuff right there out of the dryer, especially not when people are waiting to use it.
Alright…I’m moving into a new place with a stackable washer/dryer. There’s also a laundry room downstairs, about 10 feet away from the doorway to my place. The stackable washer/dryer cost $40. Here’s the key though.
I have a small kitchen. The washer and dryer have to sit in my kitchen. It gets the water from my sink.
Should I keep the $40 a month washer and dryer in my kitchen, or should I ditch it and use the laundry facilities downstairs?
Forty bucks a month for the washer/dryer? Does that include the electricity and water?
You’ll be glad of the convenience of having the washer/dryer in your place. But geez, forty bucks? why don’t they just stick an IV in your arm and drain your blood the usual way?
Back in the day before we got fed up & bought a W&D, I was sitting at the laundromat waiting for the dryers to finish. As I’m reading my book, uncomfortably seated in one of those hard plastic chairs in front of the 2 or 3 dryers I was using, some woman walks up and turns all of the dryers up to “high.” One of them was loaded with my nice cotton dress shirts that I was drying on “low” until they were just damp (easier to iron). Fortunately I was there, or I would have ended up with a dryer full of shirts for Ken rather than for a 6’2" man.
My language was not the type a gentleman usually uses with a lady. But then again, she wasn’t much of a lady.
It includes water, but not electricity. That’s on me too. So let’s sum up!
$40 a month for a stackable washer/dryer I must pay electricity for sitting in my nice kitchen where my table is supposed to go.
Someone very wise and knowing of these things told me that I should keep the combo and try using the laundromat for a month. If it doesn’t drive me insane, then ditch the combo. But she is very confident that I will find otherwise.
Tlw, Bibliocat has it right. She was folding them one at a time from the dryer.
I don’t think I’m normally a “rude, little twerp”, but if you are rude to me, don’t expect me to be polite back. I may respond to rudeness with rudeness, even if it is you tlw.
This just stinks. I bet if you shopped around a bit, you could rent-to-own a w/d stack combo for that amount. Or heck, I bet your local power company would sell you one and let you make monthly payments on your electric bill.
Do you know how much you spend each month now in laundromat costs? That might help you make the decision.
Okay, on preview I see that you’ve answered that question. Although, if you’re a single guy, three loads of laundry a week might be pushing it. When I was an apartment dweller, I could throw my towels in with my whites, and do colors separately. That works out to two loads a week.
I still say check into local rent-to-own places or the appliances sold by your local power company. That might be a better deal for you.
I’ve done more than my fair share of apartment living, and have had to deal with both laundry Nazis and dryer hogs.
Yeah, if laundry is sitting in a communal dryer for a half hour or more, I’ll take it out and fold it … but not undergarments. Eeeeew from both sides.
Once, I came back to the dryer about five minutes after it turned off. All my stuff was uncerimoniously thown on top of the dryer. FIVE MINUTES, and of all the loads finished in the laundry room dryers, you picked mine to mess with. Fortunately, karmatic forces were looking good that day, and it was raining. I took the load that was in the dryer I uded just a few miutes earlier, and dumped it outside. In the muddy landscaping. Evil and assholic, yet, but it felt DAMN GOOD.
Thank Christ I’m done with apartment living. Once some fuckwog removed my wet clothes from the running dryer, put them on a chair, and put their clothes in the running dryer, I assume to save a buck. Of course, I removed their clothes, put mine in ANOTHER dryer (so they couldn’t do anything to them, unless they remember what my clothes look like). I should have put their clothes in the garbage, but I just put them on the same chair they put mine.
Once, I walked into the laundry room and there was a pervasive shit odor. Someone had actually put SHIT in a dryer. What the fuck? Did they have turds that needed drying? Needless to say, I never used that particular dryer, ever.
