I avoid such trouble by bringing a book, and a soda and sticking around until my load is dry. So much less aggravation that way, IMO. Thank goodness the dryer was fixed quickly though, it isn’t pleasant to stick around in a laundromat, but better than coming back to find either your favorite top is stolen, or the like.
Did you watch them do this? Because if you did, why didn’t you push the button yourself? And if you didn’t, machines sometimes shut off all by themselves. My dryers have been known to do that- eithe rbecause they were defective, overheated or a tennis shoe or something bumped the door from the inside.
To add to what others have told XaMcQ- My dryers have no time indicators either.
Actually, he said they were damp and were likely that way due to an overfilled dryer. Every place I’ve ever lived with a communal laundry facility, the rules are simple. It is YOUR responsiblity to watch the time on your laundry. No other tenant has the obligation to sit around while you take your sweet time getting back.
Since no one has ESP, there is no way for other tenants to know that you’re “just going to be gone for a few minutes”. What the person in the OP did WAS thievery. He didn’t just move the OP’s laundry, he stole the time the OP had paid for.
Something similar happend to me several years ago only, LUCKY me, I actually got to see the person. I lived in a 14 unit building with 2 washers and 2 driers. (it might be important to note that only 5 of the tenants were permanent residents, the rest of the units were part of a “hostel” from a nearby hospital for people coming in from the villages for basic health care, like dental or routine checkups, it was generally about a week long vacation in the “Big Town” for them, though occasionally there were some folks who were seriously ill) . Someone had put clothes in a washer (no soap just dry clothes), but then gone off and left them along with a couple of quarters on top of the washer.
I waited about 5 minutes, then unloaded the washer and carefully placed the quarters next to the laundry on top of one of the driers (our laundry room had no baskets). I loaded mine, and started the laundry. I went out to my car and brought in a small bag of trash to put in the laundry trash can.
Just as I was about to leave (about 10-15 minutes has passed since I first moved the laundry from the washer) a lady comes in and sees the laundry on top of the drier and immediately goes into meltdown mode. I merely informed her of the “house-rules” and the fact that because of the tiny number of machines, they were very strictly adhered to by everyone, that we HAD to keep a very close eye on our time.
She was screaming about how they had a flight back home early the next morning. I wasn’t at all patient, I replied “and you wait until 6 hours before that flight to decide to do your laundry?”
That didn’t go over well, I thought she was going to blow a gasket! I said something to the effect that I wasn’t going to stay there and watch her throw a temper tantrum, and for her to take it up with the Hostel Director, then I left (it was only ratty work clothes and tshirts, so I wasn’t too worried about her doing anything bad to them).
We 5 tenants had to deal with this sort of careless and thoughtless behaviour all of the time from the hostel guests, and “nice” never worked so we’d just gotten to the point where we had to be mean about it. The hostel director never did a thing about it when we complained. Nor did our apartment manager.
No, because I don’t like to sit around my apartment’s laundry room all day. If I had to do that, I’d never have time to do laundry. I know that’s what happened because how else would my time run out without drying my clothes? And I have seen people open the operating washers/dryers to see if there are clothes inside, so I know they’re that dumb. I didn’t have anything that could have bumped the door, just a load of clothes. :rolleyes:
Well, thanks to some time in the dorms and apartments, I’ve seen the typical range of laundry room behavior. I got thrown for a loop, once, when I returned a bit late to get my stuff out of the dryer, only to find it on the counter, nicely folded. Damn, we need more people like that kind soul.
Years ago I once removed someone’s dry, cool clothing from a non-running dryer (the only other one was in use). I put my own clothes in the dryer and started it. I came back and found my clothes removed from the dryer and thrown all over the laundry room. Needless to say, I won’t take a chance again with some other psycho.
My current apartment building has 12 dryers. When I started my laundry, 6 of them had cool, dry clothing in them. When I finished my drying my clothes, 90 minutes later, the clothes were still in those 6 dryers.
There are a lot of inconsiderate assholes out there.
Wow, that is psycho! But yes, there are people who get bent out of shape if you do anything to thier laundry. Here’s another thread on the subject, which has links to yet others.
How about this? You are standing there in that long line, impatient to get back to your seat, and the guy in front of you buys his beer and then doesn’t go. He stands there instead, talking to the server in a language you don’t understand. He may have a legitimate reason. He may be an inconsiderate jerk trying to flirt. He may be an idiot who should be able to go the fuck away without taking any more of your precious time, but regardless, you don’t have the right to physically put your hands on him and move him. If you do, don’t be surprised if he punches you in the face.
It’s far from a perfect analogy, I know, but my point is that the OP assumed that the person who had been using the dryer was an inconsiderate jerk instead of a fallible human being. Then that person got back and while he may have been a jerk to begin with, there is the possibility that he reacted like a jerk to what he perceived as the OP being a jerk, having moved his clothes, maybe before his time was up(how was he to know for sure?)
Stealing is worse than moving laundry, yes. Punching someone in the face is worse than moving them out of your way. I think everyone would be a little better off to plan in some buffer time so you don’t treat other people like inconveniences, if it can be helped. It makes you mad, it makes them mad. Things sometimes escalate. You walk around in a bad mood for hours.
Iwakura43, treat yourself to an emergency nice outfit, for parties or job interviews only, and don’t wear it otherwise if you want to avoid being late due to laundry jerks. It may not be fair, but it is less stress.
If you’re not around to collect your laundry when the machine stops, I’m going to move it. Your time is no more important than mine – I have no reason to wait for you to come back and collect your things.
I’m almost positive that the dividing line on this issue is a geographic one. If you live in a larger city where laundromats and shared apartment laundry rooms are the only way to get clothes clean, you end up taking the dog-eat-dog approach to laundry room rules.
Because the machines sometime shut themselves off. We had to have one of our dryers serviced for exactly that reason and the maintence dudes were not suprised at being called for that reason.
This is a pretty good idea I may implement when I get home–unfortunately not practical while traveling 
Which city is it that has a ban on owning your own washer/dryer?
If you found your clothes folded by the Laundry Fairy, that may have been me. A Christmas working at Old Navy turned me into a real good folder, so I occasionally will do it if it just looks like towels or T-shirts.
I came back to my dorm after Christmas break once and had two loads of stuff going right down the hall from my room. Came back in about twenty minutes to see if they were ready to get put in the dryer and they were gone. Just gone. So not only did someone steal all my new clothes I got for Christmas, but they stole soaking wet ones. It happened to a few other people as well. After that, I have always sat in there with a book.
I have to agree with this. It seems mean to take out wet clothes to throw in a basket to get mildewed when there are other dryers to be had if the OP only waited a few more minutes. Sorry, I have to consider it a draw in the laundry war.
I give people the same consideration I would want, which is if I come down to use the dryer and it is full but off, I will give them about ten minutes to come get their laundry. Folks may disagree but I think it is ridiculous to expect someone to be there the instant the the dryer finishes.
When I was in college in the eighties I lived in a garage apartment attached to a house belonging to a friend’s mother. One day she told me the story, as it was told to her by a friend whom it had actually happened to.
A few days later, in French class, the instructor was telling a story in French. As I stumbled through the translation, I gradually realized that it was the exact same story.
Coincidence is powerful stuff.
Where does one put a washer and dryer in an apartment that is not designed for them?
It’s not the CITY, many apartment building landlords ban washers and dryers in your apt. Matter of fact, in many leases it is specifically written that no washer/dryers allowed in the apt.
So it would be a necessity to use a public laundromat.
I think Terry Pratchett, for one, posited that this happens not because the stories aren’t true, but because they are, and are happening everywhere all the time.
It didn’t happen to me yesterday, so as far as that goes, Pratchett’s theory falls short of describing reality.
As an aside, I hear a lot about Pratchett on these boards, but have never had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Any recommendations?