Wednesday, October 9, 2013

This isn't the laundry shack

I'm writing this post from the Laundromat. The awesome thing about this particular one is it is right next to a gym, which means free WiFi. It's also clean and heated and has places to sit. Which explains why I am here instead of the laundry shed (shack?) behind where I live.

It also removes the temptation to leave my laundry unattended. If anyone is looking to steal some designer duds, they're going to be disappointed if they check out my laundry, so I'm not too worried about that. But there is always that nagging worry that while I was gone some creep was going through my underwear. When I did laundry in my apartment complex in college half the time I would go to put my clothes in the dryer and realize that they were all full, but some guy's clothes had been sitting in the dryer for an hour. Then I always had the dilemma of needlessly waiting for a dryer to become available, or moving the other person's clothes onto a nearby table and risk looking like a perv when the guy walks in and I'm holding his underwear.

Co-ed laundry rooms can be awkward. Like the time I had to use two washers on opposite sides of the room, so I was throwing all my light-colored clothes into the washer across the room so I didn't have to walk back and forth. Of course the moment a guy I knew walked in I totally missed the washer and threw my bra at his feet. However awkward you are imagining that being, it was worse.

I don't even like doing laundry. And paying to do laundry is even worse. It's like paying to do your own dishes. It makes it tempting to do laundry in the style of a certain brother of mine, whose idea of laundry is picking the least dirty thing off the floor and spraying it with another layer of Axe. For most people the moment they start doing their own laundry is the moment the criteria for what needs washed goes from "Did I put it on for five minutes and then change my mind about what I was going to wear today?" to "Can you notice the smell from more than three feet away?"

Unfortunately I will be here at the Laundromat longer than I thought, owing to the fact that I opened one of the washers I was using and found it still completely full of soapy water owing to the fact the machine stopped working halfway through. Seriously? This was supposed to be a step up from the laundry shack.

I guess there's still the free WiFi. And it's definitely a step up from the third world countries where they beat their clothes on a rock in the river. My clothes would have to get pretty bad before dunking them in the Columbia would actually improve their cleanliness level. Then again, you don't have to throw quarters in the river to make it run.