I loathe the laundry mat. However, it provides a useful function when the washer won’t spin.
I put my clothes in an overpriced, foul-smelling clothes container. I have a super sniffy nose ( as my grandson always tells me) and I can smell mildew a mile away.
First you load up all your “stuff”, channeling George Carlin now.. and put it in the car. Load up the supplies, it’s an outing after all. Book, tablet, phone. I can’t get bored. Then I drive to the local 24 hour one, but first I google to see if I have other options, I don’t. It’s not the best but there are definitely worst ones.
It’s in a little college neighborhood dotted with bars and restaurants. It was gloomy day today so, I scored a mostly empty laundry mat..Always a plus..
Just me and one young kid about 12 or so and the tall lanky boy man who as taking a picture of the washer that ripped him off when I arrived. He asked me if I knew the number for the laundry mat, he wanted his money back. Got to the last quarter and it wouldn’t take his money or return what he had fed it.
The scourge of the laundry. Move your “stuff” after it’s all settled in. So he is scattered all over the laundry mat, wherever he could find a machine big enough, the more he could pack in the better.
Tall guy, shadow of a beard, knitted beanie on his head.. green all cotton coat dressed down look, but expensive phone and car. College student perhaps?
A TV is on and you can barely hear it over the hum, whirl and spin of the washers. But you can look at if you wish. I prefer to use the free internet here at the “neighborhood Laundry”. It’s your usual laundryland appearance, numerous “do not use” signs taped to dryers and washers, the vending machine of supplies which I adore because they are so 1950, a candy/chips machine and a soda machine.
The decor is early yard sale, or restaurant closing, take your pick. Two blue tables, each with three threadbare chairs. A couple of tables to fold or sit on, depending who you are and two chairs that no one sits on, because the stains ar far too many and unidentifiable. A unisex bathroom that was…remarkably clean.
This laundry actually has an attendant during the day, so that’s a plus. And there is the mandatory bulletin board covered with business cards , mostly from small business owners looking for work or people who want to save your soul.
So after the skinny laundry dude took a picture of the washer to send off to the owner ( I would like to know how that photo proves he lost money) but he seemed confident. He actually got someone on the phone who assured him they would return his money. I hope so, he went to a lot of effort to make contact with them. When his clothes are done he packs them in two oversized black garbage bags and loads up his car.
Its drying time. 8 minutes for a quarter, fastest 8 minutes ever. I continue to feed my four dryers and dine on my dinner of orange crush and sun chips. Garden salsa so it’s like almost veggies.
Some patrons actually bring hangers, there is a gentleman hanging every T-shirt on a hanger. Me, I am a folder, with military precision. Yes, there is a cadence.. and things that need hangers, get folded and placed on the top of the basket.
As I begin my folding, a man about 80 years old wearing a green carhart jacket and a stocking cap topped off by a skull scarf around his neck begins a conversation, asking if I think he should use hot water because the warm doesn’t really feel warm. I assure him he should use hot, because even hot isn’t very hot. It is followed by a detailed description of why he needs it to get something real clean. Seems he walks his landlady’s dog because she can’t, and he got into something really messy and stinky. As he stands there chatting away about the Hawkeye jacket the dog wears, argyle he says. Real nice, oh he’s in the car, I will go get him so you can meet him, and off he goes. He comes back with this bundle of fluff wearing a bears jacket this time, because his Hawkeye one is dirty. He is a sweetie, and the man is so proud to show him off. And he is taking really good care of him.
I pack up my laundry and load the car and he wishes me good luck with my doggie, who is waiting in the car.
Another day in Laundryland.
Until Next Time,
LJ
Eclectic Energy 