Tuesday, September 11, 2007

This is the Way We Wash the Clothes

Today I spent 2 hours in a laundromat. It's been a long spell since I have done such a thing. The last time I was forced to cart laundry to and from a laundromat was when the washing machine broke down back when I still lived with Mother. (Yeah, I know that sounds funny, but now she lives with me.)

This doesn't count laundry done at campgrounds. I actually have fond memories of laundry time at the KOA in Ouray, Colorado. They always had a great pinball machine in the laundry room that ate more of my quarters than the washers and dryers.

Your non-campground laundromat is usually not much fun. And times have not changed that much. Today's trip was courtesy of a septic system that is ailing, which is a whole 'nother story. At least laundry done on a weekday is a less crowded proposition than laundry done on a weekend.

However, regardless of when you go to a laundromat you can always count on a few things that never change.

1) There will always be a squalling kid in the room. If that squalling kid leaves, another one comes in to take his place.

2) There will always be a toddler that stands in the door blocking traffic to and from your car.

3) There will always be an aging hippie sort who is doing a month's worth of laundry and very interested in any unattached female that arrives. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes not.

4) There will always be a college age kid who is washing EVERYTHING HE OWNS in one big washer.

5) There will always be a family that exudes poverty, dragging along 2-3 little bitty kids. I always feel like shoving a $20 bill into their basket when they aren't looking.

6) There will always be the professional laundromat habitue. I assume these are women who have been hired to do laundry. They have an air about them that says "these clothes aren't mine, but I know what I'm doing and you had better not get in my way".

7) There will always be floors dirty enough that if you drop something when you clear out the dryer, you question whether you should start another load, toss it, or operate by the 3-second rule of contamination.

Then there's me. Eight loads of laundry running simultaneously, two of them large loads in the double capacity machines. I was definitely the oddball in a place where odd is normal.

LSW

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot #8... There will always be a few machines that don't work and you usually don't know which ones they are until they steal your quarters.

Anonymous said...

#9: There will be 30 functional washing machines, and 3 working dryers.

Anonymous said...

#10 And, of the three working dryers, at least one will have a snag inside that will catch your clothes. Also, there will be a full lint screen and lint balls on the folding tables.....sure am glad my washer and dryer are working well.....