You share a common laundry room with numerous other apartment dwellers. One day you walk in, and there is a large, nearly full jug of laundry detergent on the shelf about the washers. Other than the manufacturer’s label, it is unmarked.
Do you use it for your own laundry? Do you take it out of the room after you use it?
FYI, I posted the repeated loss of my detergent in this fashion as an example of really annoying petty theft in this thread. Another member said it would be normal to assume that the detergent was “abandoned or for common use”. I disagree, but perhaps I’m wrong.
I personally wouldn’t feel free to use it, would assume that some one had left it. Given, tho’ that where I work there’s a frig for some 60 people and routinely stuff gets gone (even w/names on 'em), I understand that others feel differently.
I would assume, regardless of labeling or location, that if I did not purchase something (and was not given explicit instruction that I could use it), I was not entitled to use it. I’ve never heard of a common laundry area with supplied detergent, so it sounds to me like someone is just tired of hauling the bottle back and forth from their apartment.
So the answer is no, I would not use it. Then again, I also would not leave it in a common area, since many people think that anything left unsupervised is a “loosers weepers, finders keepers” deal. Unfortunately, you can’t trust people not to mess with your things (generally), so you can’t leave stuff like that lying around.
I read the thread you referenced and wondered why someone would disagree that this was stealing. I see that a time period of two weeks was mentioned. I still view it as stealing, for all I know, the owner of the detergent forgot about it and then went on vacation, had a family emergency, etc. If I didn’t buy it and it’s not specified in the lease as a provision, it’s not mine.
Would I expect it to be stolen… yeah. I don’t think that means you deserve it. Though I wouldn’t personally set up tests for my neighbors, you did find out what you wanted to know. Sorry you were disappointed.
are you suggesting that the other person wouldn’t be aware that they hadn’t purchased it themselves?
If I’d left something like that in a common area for two weeks, I wouldn’t expect to still see it there, but, OTOH, that doesn’t mean that whoever took it had a right to it, either.
I’ve done laundry at campus laundromats, and while from time to time there’d be stuff sitting out (perhaps left in a washer or whatever), the only time that I’d think it was free for the pickin’s is when there’s a sign saying “free” (and that’s happened).
yes, one shouldn’t leave personal property out in public areas. Yes, a prudent person would put their name on it. but, also yes, taking something that you know you didn’t buy, and don’t have any specific reason to believe was ‘free to a good home’ is theft.
I would stick a post-it note to the side of the bottle saying, “Is this detergent for common use?” That way if whoever left it there wants it to be for common use, they can write “Yes” or put their own sticky on it or whatever. If no response, I would assume it belongs to somebody else and not use it.
Just a couple of things for clarification: I haven’t had detergent stolen repeatedly in the same building, because the first time in a new place is lesson enough. After being really surprised the first time it happened (after all, it’s not as if I left it in a public laundrymat(sp?), but among a small number of neighbors), I have left it out in subsequent apartment buildings as a deliberate test, and also because – I have enough load to carry, why should I haul the heaviest thing back and forth when there’s a shelf that looks made for the purpose?
And I have no interest in finding out WHO took it, it’s enough to know that someone did. This has happened 5 or six times over 23 years of apartment living.
I would consider using to be stealing. However, if I happened to have already started a load of laundry and then noticed that I had left my own detergent three stories above me and there just happened to be this thing of detergent on the self and if the detergent on the shelf was over half full, well then I might steal enough detergent to do wash my clothes, knowing full well that what I was doing was wrong, but not considering it a big deal. If I had a pen and paper, I would leave a note explaining the situation, and if I had 50 cents (which I probably would, in a laundromat) I would leave that underneath the box/bottle. I certainly wouldn’t remove the detergent from the room under any circumstances.
How much is a cup of detergent worth? 14 cents? I don’t think I would call Judge Judy about 14 cents missing.
If someone left their detergent in the laundry room & someone else used it, fine by me. The person shouldn’t have left it there in the first place if they didn’t want someone to maybe use it.
At work we bring in food & coffee & put it on the table & people share & eat other people’s food. It’s called ‘sharing’
wring, it’s just that there could be people from another country, etc. where it is the norm to share the detergent. You never know what people are thinking. It was just a suggestion that would help make the situatation clear. If it were totally clear, this question wouldn’t have been posted in the first place.
That is a valid point I hadn’t considered. It does seem unlikely, however, that I have been neighbors with a sharing, communally-oriented foreigner in EVERY building in which I’ve ever lived (except the last, which didn’t have in building laundry).
I thought of this too. At work, if we have cookies to share, we go t the common area and leave the cookies out on the table – it is understood that they are “to share.” Whereas cookies we don’t share, we keep in our offices.
Somebody in your building may be innocently thinking someone is being altruistic and may not be intentionally “stealing.”
Yojimboguy, I also HATE lugging around that big jug, so my solution is to pour only what I need into a little jar and take that along with me. It might be more effective than leaving your detergent out at the risk of pilfering.
In most apartments where I’ve lived, anything left unmarked/unattended in a common area for more than 24 hours was considered abandoned and up for grabs. True, this is due more to not wanting the place cluttered up with toys and other belongings, but it applies in this case as well, I would think.
Personally, I wouldn’t assume the detergent was for common use unless it was marked that way. But it’s not inconceivable that others might think it was intended for common use.
But taking the whole jug is just a crappy thing to do. It doesn’t matter whether it belongs to one person or all the tenants, either way it is theft.
I’d assume that anything left for an extended period was abandoned and take it as well. By that point I’d assume that someone just didn’t want it and left it there. If it was there for just a day or a few hours I’d leave it.
I would never assume laundy detergent was “abandoned” after a set period of time - how do I know how long other people go between doing washloads? Maybe they dry-clean everything. Maybe they only wash their sheets and towels once a month. I certainly wouldn’t want fellow tenants putting a time limit on when I should do my laundry again. Now, would I expect detergent I left down there to be left alone? No way.
On a side note, I once caught someone taking motor oil out of a box I had next to my parking place in our shared garage. <!> They tried that same “I thought it was for everybody” bullshit, and we almost came to blows.
I don’t mean to be flippant, but how do you know this? Was it discussed? Is this your assumption by obervation, by conversation? And I certainly understand this in terms of stuff let on the lawn, or blocking the stairwell, and or in some way detracting from the common area.
And going the other way, if I put a really nice padded deck chair out by the pool without my name on it, I would expect that others would probably use it. Yet an area of our garage where bicycles are stored is a common area, and though I lock my bike, I DON’T think it’s a reasonable assumption to consider an unlocked bike abandoned til there is a pretty damn thick coat of dust on it.
In any case, I see that there is a significant minority opinion that such an assumption of abandonment/gift to neighbors/communal property is not entirely without merit.
I will do this again, with my apartment number written on it, and see what happens.
