In the sense that you’re forcing a machine to sit unused that otherwise would be bringing in revenue. I used to live in a place where it seemed some people would put in a load Friday night and not come back till Sunday to collect it.
Here’s my take:
If you are using someone else’s personal washer & dryer (e.g. your mom’s, your housemate’s, a friend’s) you should neatly fold any of their laundry that’s still in the dryer when you’re ready to use it.
If you’re in a semi-public laundry room (like in a college dorm or apartment), you should try to collect your clothes as soon as reasonably possible after they’re done. If you’re not there and someone else needs to use the dryer (or washer), they can take them out and pile them loosely in your laundry basket (if it’s there) or some other clean, dry place (assuming the dryer or washer has stopped—interrupting someone else’s machine while it’s running is an obvious no-no). That way the clothes are no worse off than if they had sat in the machine until you collected them yourself. If you have to remove someone else’s laundry from a dryer, you are under no obligation to fold it neatly, though you can if you’re feeling nice and want to do a good turn. It’s certainly not a rule—if it were, there would be an incentive to leave your laundry in the dryer until someone else came along to take it out for you.
If you’re in a public laundromat, you shouldn’t leave your laundry unattended anyway. But if someone does, the rules of the above paragraph apply.
I agree that it’s unconscionable to do that, but I don’t really think it’s stealing. It’s not like someone’s going to trudge all the way to the laundromat instead of just waiting.
Of course, I’m surprised that the laundry lasted that long in the machines.
I wish I could do that. People here will steal anything that’s not nailed down. We can’t even keep a trash can in the mail room for people to throw away their junk mail because the trash can kept getting stolen.
(es, people steal clothes too.)
If, by your actions, you are preventing the owner of the machines from receiving income they would normally have received, you are ripping them off. If the other users chose to go elsewhere, you took money out of the owner’s pocket. Now if it had been me, if your stuff was cold it would have been in a pile somewhere (and no I’m not rewarding your inconsideration by folding your laundry for you - in fact I would probably make sure any undies were prominently displayed on top of the pile).
As for cleaning the lint filter on the dryer, I always do because it makes the drying time go that much quicker.
I would be creeped out if somebody took my stuff out of the dryer and folded it. Heck, it creeped me out when my grandma did that once when I was visiting her. I did not need her folding my underwear.
Really. I hate the idea of being judged by my stains. And believe me, I don’t need the details of someone else’s either.
I would be happy to unload the other persons laundry with a shovel, but that’s not practical. I just grab the largest fewest bunches I can hold.
Sometimes their dryer will be stopped and their stuff still wet. Sometimes I will throw in some quarters for them just to speed the process up.
I encountered this for the first time in college, too Abbie. For some reason or another I had left my clothes in the dryer long enough for some kind stranger to come along and fold my clothes, all nice and neat. I was so astounded by this unselfish act that I decided to pass on the favor whenever the occasion merited it. I even had one particularly nice person who would tear open a plastic trash bag and place it on the fairly clean table before placing my neatly folded clothes on top of the bag. The idea that a stranger would go through all that trouble for little old me really brightened my day.
This can’t be as Pollyannish as it seems. They were probably wearing your panties on their heads while folding your other stuff.
No. You’re supposed to keep track of time and return for your laundry when it’s done. Got a three hour class to go to? Do your laundry at another time. You might not know how long the wash takes for the first time or two, but you should figure it out fairly quickly, since it’s predictable. Dryers are even easier since you’re paying for a set amount of drying time.
There goes the niceville theory.
Could it be that the person who removed your jeans and folded them for you did so because they wanted to steal the dryer, and the folded jeans were just a distraction so you wouldn’t notice the missing dryer?
Abbie Carmichael is a thoroughly civilized person with whom I’d be happy to share a laundry room any time:
Absolutely. If you don’t show up to collect your clothes, I have the right to yank them out of the dryer after a reasonable wait, but if I do, I fold them. Likewise, if you don’t show up to move them from washer to dryer, I have the right to move them myself, and will, into an available empty dryer, where you’ll find them. (You have to insert your own coin, though).
Who are you clothes-folding freaks? Good grief.
In my high-rise building, where I know nothing about you, please please please do not fold my clothes! I always put my clothes hamper on top of the washer/dryer that I’m using, and if I’m a couple of minutes late and you need the machine, I have no problem with you taking my stuff out for me, and cramming them into my hamper. I’ll do the same for you, if you’re running late and messing up the laundry flow.
I can understand that it seems like a nice gesture to you, but to me it feels like a complete stranger going through my clothes.
(TD gets on the elevator. A girl on the elevator whispers to her friend and they start giggling. TD feels like hot stuff, until he hears the phrase “brown streaks in his boxers.” TD runs sobbing into the night).
Many moons ago, when I was in the bachelor pad, I lived in Niceville, so folding was the norm. I found mine folded, and I returned the favor. I didn’t do anything rude to/with the ladies undies, either
Where I am now, the tendency is to dump on the counter unfolded. Usually, I don’t have a problem finding open washers/dryers, even though I take 4of them at a shot, but I also try to wash on oddball days, such as the weekend, when everyone is gone or drunk. I did pull out someone elses’s load one time, and I was Mr. Nice about it.
Some clod had a pile on the counter, unfolded, for about 2 weeks.
Since someone else asked, both machines cost $1.25. That will get you 45 minutes of drying time, too.
If a person isn’t there to claim their clothes when the dryer stops, it’s okay to remove them so that you can use the dryer. You don’t have to fold them, but you do have to put them in a basket–either their own or one of the laundromats.
I, too, would be a little creeped out by a stranger folding my clothes. A dorm situation might be different, though.
Moving stuff out of the machines when the cycle is finished is fine, though I’d give the person a few minutes to show up first. I’m currently living in a house with its own washer and dryer, thank Og, but I’ve emptied laundry room dryers more than once so I could dry my own stuff. I’ll pile it on the counter if there is one, or in the basket if there is one. But I’m not going to fold some stranger’s laundry, and I’d hate if somebody did that to mine.
In my building we have 2 washers & 2 dryers for 24 apartements so laundry time is at a premium. I try and do mine (hungover usually) between 9-12am on a Sunday morning as no-one else is up then. There are people who put loads in and then seem to leave for the weekend. If there is a basket then I will put it in if not I will put it on top of a clean surface. Washers here run for 40 mins dryers for 50 mins ($1 each) I have it timed as I usually only do laundry every 2 weeks and have a ton to do.
What gets me is the lint thing. I always check before I dry and I always clean up after myslef but there is only one other couple in the entire building who do the same. Sometimes there are 3 loads of lint build up in there when I get there. This irritates me something rotten.
Please, please, don’t touch my clothes, even to fold them. In the last eight years I’ve had two lingerie items (negligees) stolen out of my laundry. :eek: It creeps me out to think someone either:
Went through a bunch of laundry loads to find something like it,
or watched me and wanted mine specifically and knew I had washed it.
Now lingerie gets washed by hand.
Elenia28 I’ve had underwear go missing. Not even nice underwear. These were cheap cotton panties picked up at either wal-mart of the dollar store. I find that faintly more creepy than negligees because negligees I can understand being leery of buying. But hopping into the dollar store to pick up a couple dollars worth of panties? Not so bad.
I don’t think y’all get it.
Your clothes can’t stay in the dryer. If you wanted to be the one to do things with your clothes when they’ve finished tumbling, you needed to be here within a few minutes of the cycle ending. You weren’t.
Your clothes can’t go in a big unfolded lump on the folding table, either. They take up too much room there. Other people are going to want space on that folding table. Folded fairly neatly, your pile can be reduced to manageable size, but as a big wad your laundry would sprawl out to take up a big chunk of table. I know some folks prefer to toss their stuff in the basket and fold everything back in their rooms, but some of us actually use the folding tables to fold our laundry!
Aside from the table, umm…there’s always the floor or the lint disposal can, but not much else in the way of places to put things, either in our apartment’s laundry room or the one I recall from my days in the dorms.
If you don’t like strangers folding your clothes, get your slow sorry ass down here on time so you can fold them yourself. Meanwhile, count your blessings. Having someone fold your laundry because you weren’t there on time may not be the act of selfless kindness you folks apparently construed it as, but it sure isn’t the worst thing that could happen to you or your garments.