First World Problems

Laundry day always has the potential to send me into a fit of rage.

I'll admit it: I absolutely loathe those people who throw a load of laundry in the wash, or the dryer, and then just forget about it. It infuriates me when I go down to my apartment's laundry room with my laundry, and someone else's clothes are just sitting there.

Because I'm a wimp, I'll usually give that person the benefit of the doubt, and head back upstairs, wait a half hour or more, and go back down. Because maybe the machine had just stopped. They're not precise. The washer usually takes a little less than a half hour, the dryer a little more than 45 minutes. It depends on the load, so it's no big deal.

But when I go down there repeatedly, and the same clothes are just sitting there, utterly untouched, my blood kind of starts to boil. There are only two washers, and two dryers. There are 16 units in this building. How arrogant do you have to be to think that you're the only one who'd like to have some clean damn clothes that day?

It's moments like that that make me want to throw the forgotten clothes onto the laundry room floor and just use the machines. I hate that I have to drag out someone else's laundry (which is sometimes damp from the washer and starting to smell a little gross) and pile it on top of the narrow, rickety table. I hate that I have to feel guilty about doing that, and that a small part of me is worried that I'm going to get caught in the act, and bitched out by the owner of the orphaned laundry. I wish I just had the balls to do what I had to in order to get through this chore that I already hate without feeling like I'm the asshole here.

I know that sometimes things come up, and that emergencies happen. I'm sure that people are probably willing to take the fact that their clothing has been displaced in stride, in a cool and mellow manner. I'm perfectly aware that there is a laundromat not three blocks away from my apartment - but frankly, it's more than twice as expensive, and it's goddamn hot out there and no relief of inconvenience is worth spending more than $15 to do 2.5 loads of laundry.

I'm in a miserable mood today, and I won't feel better until my laundry is clean and I don't have to think about it for another week.