You got up extra early to make sure you would get a washing machine, since the building owners think that two washers and two dryers are sufficient for fifteen apartments. You arrive at the laundry room after lugging two overflowing laundry baskets down three flights of stairs to the somewhat-scary bowels of the apartment building. Whew - no one’s there.
Once you catch your breath, you open the washer - and find someone else’s laundry. What do you do? It’s an age-old dilemma: Do you wait for the owner or unload the wet clothes into a basket or on the table? Or, do you go ahead and put them in the dryer? And, what do you do if the person ahead of you in line isn’t in the laundry room when a machine frees up?
Who knew that laundry could be fraught with so many issues. To help create some clarity - and perhaps start a grass-roots movement for National Multi-Unit Laundry Legislation (N-MULL), we surveyed those in the know - renters frustrated by the lack of laundry room etiquette.
Apparently, there is no clear-cut answer to the burning issue of moving someone else’s wet clothes. Our informal survey shows a two-to-one advantage of unload the wet clothes over waiting for the owner. Nonetheless, this outcome might depend on whether you are the clothes-owner or the mover. As one person said, “It would really piss me off if someone touched my stuff.”
Although no one opted for putting the individual’s clothing in the dryer, one participant thought that should be the proper outcome, but was concerned over putting things in the dryer that really shouldn’t go in the dryer. And, the question remains: do you really want to touch someone else’s underwear?
There was near-consensus, on the other hand, for the outcome when the person ahead of you isn’t there when the machine frees up. Here, nearly all agreed that you must be present to win - you lose your turn if you aren’t around at the moment of rotation.
What do you think? Have you been burned before? Are you ready to sign on to our N-MULL movement? Let us know your thoughts.
Now, if we could just find that missing sock…
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If the people were that inconsiderate to leave their stuff in the washer overnight then I think someone coming in to do their laundry has every right to remove it from the washer. In a communal living situation, people need to keep track of the time and get their laundry out of the washer and dryer in a timely manner.
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends!