Is it bad manners to take someone’s wet laundry out of the washing machine after it’s been sitting there 20 or 30 minutes? Every week I go to the laudro-mat and can’t believe the nerve of some folks. I wouldn’t want a stranger taking my clothes out of a machine, but then again, I’m right there, I’m not using it for storage! So, does anyone have a list (suitable for posting) with regard to laundry room etiquette. If not, by gar, let’s make one!
With God as my witness, I thought turkey’s could fly.
It is extremely rude to steal my favorite sweatshirt and pair of panties out of the dryer after they are done. Especially if you leave all the rest of the stuff. I’d set the timer and was coming back in five minutes! If I ever find out who did it, bud, you are goin’ down the hard way.
In general, I’d say wait about 10 minutes. If the jerk comes back, he/she’ll feel bad for making you wait and be more prompt the next time. If not, toss em up on the counter and let their owner sort it all out. Same goes for dryers - leave it about 5 minutes (it can be less cause they’re dry) and then take them out and put them on the counter.
But please don’t take someone’s undies! What are you going to do with them anyway?
It is bad manners to leave your laundry behind. I used to live in a large apartment building with a very small laundry facility. People were constantly leaving the washers and driers filled. Droping the clothes on the dirty floor would be rude.
and clean up after yourself!! If you spill soap, bleach or whatever, clean it up. Ohhh… and the dryer lint in that trap that builds up… it is supposed to be removed when you are done.
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
Aargh, I hate this. Some chick in my building actually had the nerve to yell at me because I took her clothes out of the dryer when they weren’t completely dry. (Guess what, you could dry them till doomsday with these machines and they STILL wouldn’t be completely dry.)
Do not steal anything.
Do not stop a machine in mid-cycle, pull out someone’s clothes, and replace them with your own.
If a machine has completed its cycle, however, the next person to arrive gets it. Otherwise, you could wait for days before the owner of the clothes shows up.
If you remove someone else’s clothes from the machine, put them in a clean and conspicuous place where no harm will come to them.
Empty bottles of detergent should be thrown out, rather than left for the cleaning staff to take care of.
Clean the lint filter after you finish drying your clothes.
When I was in college this always happened to me, and I couldn’t stand it. I took this approach. If their clothes were dry, I took them out and folded them for them. This makes them feel even worse. Although, I guess if they were real jerks, they would expect this everytime, but they usually got the point.
I only use a laundromat that has an attendent. They often take people’s clothes out of the washing machine or dryer & put them on a cart with a note where they came from.
But you can’t take them out, that’s like probably illegal or something & sure to piss people off. Maybe they have something to attend to? Maybe the kid is missing or something?
As I toss around these answers, I’m also told by a work mate “As long as my clothes are in the machine, it’s MY machine. I probably have plans to do another load when that load is done!” Yikes!
With God as my witness, I thought turkey’s could fly.
Wash laundry at your mom’s house. If you don’t live near your mom or any of your friends, make a new friend out of someone who owns a washing machine and dryer.
I have a washer and two dryers…I would gladly donate them to any of you who want to come do laundry at my house. (BYOS)
My personal laundry room rules:
–I take their clothes out of the washer after 15 minutes if they have a laundry basket on top of/next to the washer. Otherwise, I wait until they empty it. (Many of the people in the building don’t wait at all, and just pile it on top of one of the dryers or on the shelf against the wall.)
–I take laundry out of the dryer at any time. If they don’t have a basket, it goes on top of the dryer.
There’s also a mysterious laundry room samaritan here who moves clothes from the washer to the dryer and starts it up.
I’ve been living in apartments for about 4 years now and I’ve found that if they have a washer and dryer, you shouldn’t use them… although I did devise my own system of people whom leave their laundy in the washer or dryer far over due:
If they leave their laundry in the dryer longer than 30 minutes you than have the right to either eat their laundry, or better yet, dump another 2 scoops of detergent in their laundry. =)
Be curteous and throw their laundry in the dryer for them… and remember to include a small jar of shoe polish.
Mc[Ph|st]Y Cheesehead
“Software is like sex, it’s better when it’s free.” -Linus Torvalds on the software industry.
In my building, if I need the (one and only) washer, I’ll move the occupying load into the dryer. If I need the dryer, I’ll remove the occupying load, fold it and set it on top of the machine. Everybody knows everybody in my building and no one has objected to this practice so far. I usually only have to if they’ve gone out and left a load behind to be dealt with later.
Good Friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience - this is the ideal life.
–Mark Twain
Garrrgh! This is my current pet peeve with my roomies. We are lucky enough to have a W/D in our apartment, but it is never empty! One of my roomates does one load every morning, and removes it late at night. Every day. I’d be a sport and move it for him if I didn’t know I’d wind up doing this every damn time I want to do laundry. I’ve tried to voice this, but my other roomie is used to letting people walk all over him (and never does laundry anyways) and so thinks it’s no big deal to move people’s laundry “every once in a while.”
And having it in my apartment makes it worse, since I can’t even sabotage it without mucking up my own stuff.
http://www.madpoet.com
Computers have let mankind make mistakes faster than any other invention, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns.
I live in a student apartment. We have 3 wahsers and 3 dryers for 23 apartments. These are the understood rules where I live.
If you take someone’s clothes out of the washer and there is a free dryer, put the clothes in it. Otherwise, sit them somewhere where they won’t get dirty.
If you take someone’s dry clothes out of the dryer, you are not obligated to fold them. Put them somewhere safe and keep them together.
Do not take wet clothes out of the dryer before the end of the cycle. Ever.
If the cycle is over and the clothes are still wet, TOUGH LUCK. They will be removed from the dryer. Better luck next time.
Now, if we could just teach everybody that you should never put someone else’s blue jeans in the dryer on high heat, we’d have it made.
Reading this thread makes me glad that I live alone and have my own washer and dryer. The only time I have to use the facilities provided by my apartment complex is when I am washing blankets.
I crave an art that passionately transcends the mundane instead of being a device for self-deception.–Griffin, from The Griffin and Sabine trilogy.
I really don’t like to take someone’s clothes out of the washer or dryer, but sometimes you just have to. Recently, someone left the same load of wet clothes in the washing machine for over two days. It was gross.
That being said, I suffer from extreme paranoia that the owner of the clothing is going to walk in as I’m removing their load and putting mine in. I don’t want to deal with that confrontation (in case they’re angry), so I race like hell to get it done. It’s a pretty funny sight, actually.
Chris - I may take you up on that laundry offer. As a household chore, what’s easier than throwing something in a machine and turning it on?
