If there’s no one else around while you’re loading your laundry, then it’s fine to use all four machines. This is for the simple reason that it’s more efficient. In the long run, *everyone *spends less time doing laundry if the machines are idle for as little time as possible. You don’t know how long it will be before someone comes down to make use of the machines you don’t use, or even if anyone will be down to use them at all in the 23 minutes it takes you to do a wash cycle. If you sit there that whole time looking at an empty washer with a pile of dirty clothes next to you, then the average amount of time wasted doing laundry for the building as a whole has just gone up because of you.
And consider this: your apparently altruistic decision could quite plausibly inconvenience others as well as yourself. Say you have four loads but, in an effort to be considerate, decide to use only two of the four machines at a time. Just as your first two loads finish, two other tenants come down, each with two loads of their own. Well, obviously your not going to let them both go ahead of you, as you’ve been sitting here for more than 20 minutes now already. One of them will get to do his laundry immediately while you do your second two loads, but one of them will have to wait.
So it takes you an extra 23 minutes to do your laundry, *and *it takes one of your neighbors an extra 23 minutes as well. OTOH, if you’d just gone ahead and used all four machines when you first got there, then no one would have to sit around waiting for an extra 23 minutes. You’ve just inconvenienced yourself and another, to one’s benefit – an awful decision.
Of course, the OP’s situation is different. Verbally claiming all four machines when someone is right there in the room trying to use one doesn’t ultimately save any time, so it’s just rude.
ETA: Of course, this logic doesn’t work at the extreme: if it’s the busiest time of the week and there are eight machines instead of four (because it’s a larger building), then obviously someone else will be down any second, and whatever tiny amount of expected time saved there might be should just be eaten by you as a sign of neighborliness (and because using 8 machines at once is freaking weird).
Your behavior is perfectly acceptable based on what you thought you heard. If I were in your place and had the opportunity, I’d apologize. Say you thought you heard her say she was using 3, and therefore used the 4th. Don’t get into the rest of it.
I’ve got no problem with someone using all the machines at once; they’re not ending up with any more washer time than anyone else that way. However, the machine is not yours until your stuff is in or on it. If she wasn’t going to stake a claim properly, then the claim is invalid.
You’re in the clear, don’t apologize, she’ll get over it.
Oh my God she was rude as all get out! My apartment building only has 2 washers and 2 dryers and I only ever use one at a time (though I’d like to use two) because I think it’s rude to hog all available machines when they’re shared. And I figure that if I was in a house with my own washer/dryer, well, I’d still only have one set anyway…
I’m sensitive to laundry issues; my studio apartment is right next to the laundry room and the layout is such that the only space for the bed is against the wall… that the washers are against in the laundry room. I had to ask management to post a damn sign that laundry hours are from 8am-10pm which doesn’t mean you can start your damn load in the washer at 9:59 and keep going with the dryer afterwards.
The timing is what gets me, too. Saturday morning is a high traffic time in every apartment building and laundromat I’ve ever experienced. EVERYONE seems to want to do laundry at that time, and it’s unreasonable to expect all machines to be ready and available for one person.
One of the things that I like about having my own house is having my own washer and dryer. I can do a load of laundry in the middle of the night, if I want to, and leave the dried clothes in the dryer without worrying about them getting dumped onto the floor.
When I did my laundry at a laundrymat, I did take up several machines, as it was more efficient for me that way. But I was going to the big places that typically had a couple of dozen machines, so I usually wasn’t making anyone wait for a machine. It was a relief to be able to do the whole week’s worth of laundry in about 90 minutes or so. I usually did it on a weekday night, so I didn’t have to deal with a lot of other people wanting to use the machines, too.
This situation reminds me of Rashomon, where three people, all present at the same time, have a wildly different take on the same event. OK, it’s 2/3 of a Rashomon.
I’d say apologize to her for misunderstanding what she (probably) said and let it go. No one likes to be lectured on what is the correct protocol for a shared facility. Neighbor squabbles aren’t fun and some people harbor grudges for a long time. Next time, do your laundry on a non-Saturday.
Ha, the Rashomon similarity is great – maybe next time I will bring a dagger to the laundry room. I would love to do my laundry on a non-weekend, but unfortunately my work hours mean that I am not home during the week when the laundry room is open. I do not know why the building management closes (and locks it) in the evenings, it would be a lot more convenient for those of us who work standard business hours.
Things like this make me very glad that we’ve had our own machines for years now.
That being said, I would just explain to her if you see her again that you misheard and thought she was going to use three machines, leaving one for you. No need to seek her out for it, but no reason to call direct attention to her rudeness.
I think the OP is in the clear; the only time I’ve ever used multiple machines (over 2) is at laundromats which have a billion of them. A public laundromat is a business and I could conceivably use all the machines if I wanted to…if I ever had that much freakin’ laundry…
But when I had an apartment laundromat like the OP’s, they were convenient enough that I never had that much laundry to do at once, so the idea of hogging all the machines never came up. There were times when all the machines were being used and I came back an hour or so later. No big deal.
I don’t think it’s inherently rude of her to take all the machines–because they’re all going to get used simultaneously at some point, regardless of whose laundry is in them–but, as in the OP’s scenario, you don’t get to “call” them, like shotgunning the front seat. First come first serve. Until your money and your clothes are in them, they are fair game.
If you had a washer and dryer at your apartment you’d still only wash one load at a time. It would be NICE to get it all done at the same time, but nobody is entitled to wash all their clothes at once. The other woman in the OP was being absurd.
In college I would often wash my clothes at 2:30 in the morning just so I could do it all at once and not worry about it. It was nice being able to wash every single item of clothing you have INCLUDING towels and linens in an hour and a half.
LOL. Almost everything just a pair of shorts (commando) and a tee shirt. Though I do know someone who washed all her clothes while she was traveling through Europe. Washers and time for laundry were at a premium so they’d wrap up completely in a large trench coat and wash every piece of clothing they had. After it was done they’d sneak into the bathroom take off the coat and put clothes back on.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using all the washers and dryers at once. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s one person or seven different people who are using the machines–they’re in use, they’re in use, end of story and end of my thoughts about it. But calling it is a little odd.
My (large) apartment building has seven washers and seven dryers, and a friend of mine will wait until her and her boyfriend have no clean clothes at all, then use all seven at once to wash everything in their house. Living like that would make me insane.
I also don’t understand people who sit in the laundry room to wait for their clothes but don’t bring anything to do, so they just stare at you while you do your laundry.
I agree, if they’re in use, they’re in use. I also agree with VarlosZ. What I’d do if I was the first one there is claim the machines I needed by putting in my money in them all and get them all started filling with water while I loaded each with my clothes. Then there’s no controversy about who was there first and calling machines. And even if I didn’t do that and I was the other woman in the OP’s scenario, I’d simply say that, sorry, that machine is taken. I can be pretty merciless in a first-come-first-served situation.
Unless I might get beat up or my tires slashed.
However, silly things happen, and if you loaded your clothes in the fourth washer in good faith, then a simple apology would be sufficient.
That’s what I do, because I have to go to the laundrymat and I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. Ive bought clothes to not have to go to the laundrymat when it comes down to that last day. So yeah, I hope like hell for the quadruple loader and a couple triple loaders to be available when I get there.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using all the washers IF there is no one else around. But if you aren’t done loading them in, and someone shows up, you have to share.
?? Huh?, that’s not the way I remember that film…