I’ve been trying to finish one load of laundry for over three hours now. There are two washers and two dryer for my building. Some people have a washer and dryer in their unit – you can rent them for about $40 each per month. I do about one load a week which costs me $6 for a total of $24 – $30 per month. I was only supposed to be here for 5 months. I didn’t rent a washer and dryer because I figure at worst it would be a minor hassle for short period of time. But today…. what I save in $$$ I’m clearly losing in time. The laundry is on the floor below mine, so it’s a slight pain in the ass to carry my stuff down and back up when the machines are all in use. More often than not, doing laundry isn’t an issue. Plenty of times, the machines aren’t in use. Today I lucked out, both dryers were being used and so was one washer, but the other washer was open – I only had one load. So, I started my laundry.
I always set my phone time to get my stuff out of the washer and dryer as soon as they’re done. I remember one of the worst things about doing laundry in the college dorms was waiting for someone to take their stuff out – sometimes it might be half of day. College students aren’t terribly mindful of the fact that they live with other people and are sharing these spaces and resources. There are some people in my building who seem equally oblivious. I went down to switch my stuff out and both dryers had finished running, but they both still had laundry in them. I left. I waited about 20 minutes and went back down – same thing, not running but full of the same laundry. At this point, I’m starting to get a little ticked. It seems inconsiderate to leave your stuff sitting in the machine. I left. After waiting another fifteen minutes and having some lunch, I wen back. This time both dryers were full and running. I’m not sure how I missed my chance to get in there, but I did. They had 40 minutes to go. 45 minutes later, I went back down. One guy was leaving the laundry room, and there was a woman folding laundry and again, both dryers were being used. I have no idea how this many loads are getting done and the dryers are in constant use – when one of the washers is currently not being used because it has all of my stuff in it. As best as I can tell, someone has decided that they are washing several sets of bed linens. If I had to guess, it’s one or two of the apartments that are being used as airbnb rentals. This is mildly infuriating. I had wanted to get other things done today. I had wanted to exercise after lunch (all my exercise clothing is in the laundry). I had thought about getting groceries – I don’t feel right taking up a washer and running out for groceries. It’s hard to start in on anything when you have to constantly check on the laundry.
I know these are first-world problems. They probably shouldn’t rise to the level of frustration… but this is one of my bigger triggers. I’m bad enough when it comes to wasting my time, and I’m extra sensitive about wasting other people’s time. I really struggle when I feel other people aren’t being considerate of my time (or anyone else’s). Monopolizing the dryers feels terribly inconsiderate. I’ll go down one more time in a few minutes (at about the time the dryers are supposed to be done). I suppose I’ll wait to jump in as soon as the person removes their stuff. I’ll probably get pretty pissed if they take another 30 minutes to show up to get their stuff. As it is now, by the time my stuff is done, it’ll have taken me close to five hours to accomplish a pretty basic task.
If it takes much longer than that, I may just call it a day and have a drink. Or maybe meditate or something. And maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to not do much and blame it on other circumstances. For now, I’ll just vent about the dryer (see what I did there?)