More Laundromat Blues.

[bigjimaz]

Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.

Friday evening...

We close at 8:30, no-one can start a washer or dryer after 7:45, the doors are locked at closing time. We start telling people this at 6:30pm as they arrive. There are also signs affirming this fact. Once the door is locked, we allow anyone finalizing drying and folding to stay inside and I let them out when they’re done. The latest I’ve walked out (in the 8 shifts I’ve worked so far) has been 9:05pm.

Friday was busy. From the time I got there at a few minutes before 3, all of the washers and the bulk of the dryers were running non-stop but strangely, the place was completely empty by 8:00. I pull out the bucket and mop to scrub the floor. Then this...

BATMSC: Bad At Time Management Sucky Customer
ME: Still humble after all these years.

BATMSC walks through the door at 8:20 dressed to the nines in a black ¾-length fur trimmed leather jacket, black nylons, black CFM heels. My orders are to lock the doors at 8:30 and not a second before. Even though customers can’t do anything, sometimes people will drop off stuff they need done in the morning, or so says the owner. It has yet to happen on my shift though.

ME: (looking up from my last section of mopping when I heard the door open) Hi, Please be careful, the floor is wet. (Memo to self: ask boss to get a “Wet Floor” sign) How can I help you?
BATMSC: I just need to do these real quick. (holding a few blouses and a pair of jeans)
ME: Sorry, Ma’am, I lock up in about 10 minutes but everything is already shut down.
BATMSC: It’ll only take me a half hour. I don’t need to dry them.
ME: I’m sorry, all the machines are turned off. (True. I had flipped the breakers for them when the last customer left at 8:00.
BATMSC: The sign says you close at 8:30 and it’s not 8:30 yet. I got here before you closed and I need to get these done. (It’s amazing how they can read the signs when they think it’s to their benefit)
ME: Yes Ma’am, but this sign says that the last load has to be in by 7:45.
BATMSC: Aw come on, I really need to wash these. I’ll do them on the fast cycle. I even have quarters.
ME. Again, I’m sorry. We can’t do that. If you want, you can leave them and they’ll be done in the morning if you like, but everything’s shut down tonight.

Lather, rinse, repeat another 5 times.

BADMSC: Why are you doing this to me? I just want to wash my clothes?
ME: (not too far from kicking said entitlement whore out the door) Ma’am, we’ve been open since 9 this morning. You’ve had all day to do your laundry.
BADMSC: I come here all the time. I’ve spent HUNDREDS of dollars here!
ME: Well, if you’ve been here before, undoubtedly you’ve seen the bright red signs that say “Last load: 7:45"

She finally gets the message that she is the embodiment of fail and leaves. I look at my watch. 8:29pm. I wait at the door for a minute and lock it. Humble Laundromat guy puts away mop and bucket, finds and fills 5 gallon change bucket, (something I have to do on Friday nights, emptying all of the machines, including all three vending machines) puts it in the safe and is out the door at 8:55, enjoying the fact that I’m getting paid to walk home. (I get paid until 9) Then Murphy’s Law hits me square in the pants when I realize I forgot to set the alarm, losing my paid walk home and my 5 minute head start to a couple cold ones.


Well, DUH!

This afternoon...

Young guy comes in with two garbage bags filled with clothes and literally stuffs all of them into a Speed Queen. (the large, triple load washers) spills some detergent into it from a full one quart tupperware container and walks out. He returns two hours later and pulls all of them out and (again, literally) stuffs them into one dryer and leaves. An hour and a half later he returns and starts bitching that his clothes are still wet and smell like detergent.

I didn’t know what he was expecting would happen. When you overload a washer, put in twice the detergent required and then leave them set in a washer for an hour and a half then stuff what would normally take three to four dryers into one. Yep, they’re gonna still be wet and smell like detergent and no you’re not getting a refund or a free cycle. At least split the load between two dryers and put in the $2.50. Consider it an asshat tax. No, he didn’t. He pushed the wet clothes back into the garbage bags and lugged them out, muttering the whole distance of the place.


I see much suck in my future.

Friday night the boss’ daughter (my friend who got me the job there) tells me right before she leaves that the closest Laundromat to us (about 15 miles away) raised their prices on January 15th so her dad is raising his prices a quarter on just about everything on February 4th. (we’re still going to be cheaper) I can hear them bitching and moaning already and none of them even know what’s happening yet. The signs go up Monday. Pray for me.



Minor annoyances this weekend...

Had a guy strip down to a pair of Speedo-like swim trunks to wash the clothes off his back (including his coat) along with the rest of his laundry last night. I thanked my lucky stars that it wasn’t summer and he hadn’t come directly from the pool.

[Imogene]

Had a guy strip down to a pair of Speedo-like swim trunks to wash the clothes off his back (including his coat) along with the rest of his laundry last night. I thanked my lucky stars that it wasn’t summer and he hadn’t come directly from the pool.

Any chance he was a scruffy looking guy, dismal five o'clock shadow, scruffy hair, tweed suit, never said a word?

[RetailWorkhorse]

Had a guy strip down to a pair of Speedo-like swim trunks to wash the clothes off his back (including his coat) along with the rest of his laundry last night. I thanked my lucky stars that it wasn’t summer and he hadn’t come directly from the pool.

YouTube time!

[Eric the Grey]

She finally gets the message that she is the embodiment of fail and leaves.

This one line made the whole thread worth reading, not that it wasn't interesting..


Eric the Grey

[chops]

One local laundromat states that they close at 9 PM sharp. If anyone wants to stay, they must be prepared to pay the attendant $15 per hour, with a one-hour minimum. It's right there on the sign.

[XCashier]

Young guy comes in with two garbage bags filled with clothes and literally stuffs all of them into a Speed Queen. (the large, triple load washers) spills some detergent into it from a full one quart tupperware container and walks out. He returns two hours later and pulls all of them out and (again, literally) stuffs them into one dryer and leaves. An hour and a half later he returns and starts bitching that his clothes are still wet and smell like detergent.

I didn’t know what he was expecting would happen. When you overload a washer, put in twice the detergent required and then leave them set in a washer for an hour and a half then stuff what would normally take three to four dryers into one. Yep, they’re gonna still be wet and smell like detergent and no you’re not getting a refund or a free cycle.

Sounds like my husband before we got married! He'd literally cram ALL of his laundry into one washer -- I mean, push the clothes down with all of his might and barely be able to close the lid -- and wonder why half the clothes didn't even get wet, let alone clean! Not to mention washing whites with dark colors and wondering why everything turned a dull beige-grey.

Needless to say, I do the laundry now...

[smileyeagle1021]

all this is making me very happy that I have my own washing machine and dryer... but I have seen some idiots in the laundromats back when i lived in reno (my mom's washing machine couldn't fit big blankets... really niether can mine which means I'll have to suck it up and go to a laundromat eventually).
I feel the OPs pain with some of the idiots out there... though I must admit some of them are funny and strange, the one that really stands out in my mind happened during the summer once

wd- weird dad
ps- poor soon, i'd guess roughly 12 or 13

wd- there is still some room in the washer and I don't want to pay for empty space, (son's name) take off your shirt.
ps- what?
wd- I know you are wearing boxers today, if you'd prefer I could have you take off your pants.

needless to say the son took off his shirt
too bad he didn't have a daughter *ducks*

edit- I probably should mention I was only 13 or 14 when this happened, i realized that my off color comment could be taken really out of context without that little piece of information.

[edible_hat]

I see much suck in my future.

Friday night the boss’ daughter (my friend who got me the job there) tells me right before she leaves that the closest Laundromat to us (about 15 miles away) raised their prices on January 15th so her dad is raising his prices a quarter on just about everything on February 4th. (we’re still going to be cheaper) I can hear them bitching and moaning already and none of them even know what’s happening yet. The signs go up Monday. Pray for me.

Yeah, it sure is going to suck. At my work the car wash prices went up two weeks before Christmas, people are still whinging about it and demanding the old price. They threaten to go elsewhere, then come back the next day having done the rounds and found that we're still the cheapest within half an hour's drive.

[blas]

I don't go to laundromats. My parents say "The laundromat is no place for a young lady to go alone" (I think they are just being over-protective!)....

There was a mini laundromat at my old apartment. One in every building. But hell, I'd rather lug my big basket to my parents' house and use their facilities where I know where everything has been and everything will come out clean than risk putting my precious clothes at risk, putting them in machines that are probably forever stained with semen, puke, poop, and any and every other nasty nasty thing that the nasty people that lived in my building had.

Same goes for where I live now. No way in the world will I use the same machines that Tommy Lee and Kid Rock use. I don't want all kinds of fluids exchanged with their prositutes getting on my stuff.

Yes, I'm a snob in that aspect. I don't know who has used it before, and I don't want to know or risk it.

So long as my parents let me do my laundry there for free, that's where I'll do it. When I get my own home, I'll buy my own washer and drier. I feel for anyone who ever has to go to a laundromat.

Edit: I do not mean to offend anyone who goes to a laundromat. I am not saying customers at laundromats are dirty or disgusting foul people. I am not saying anyone who lives in a building with a laundromat should refuse to use it because of who else lives there. I am just elaborating on the crazies that people often encounter at laundromats and the fact that I'd never trust any of my stuff there or even at the one where I live.

[bigjimaz]

Hell, I don't have to go to a laundromat either. There is a washer and dryer in my building. The reason I go to the laundromat is pure economics. The landlord has the price set at $2.50 per load to wash and $2.50 a load to dry. I saved 50% every time I go to the laundromat. (100% now that I work there) The only bad thing as far as I'm concerned is that I am not allowed to do my laundry when I'm on the clock, meaning that I have to either go in early on the days I work or go there on my days off. The nice thing is that I have enough clothes that I only have to do laundry once a month if I want.

Blas87, considering some of the "people" I've met or seen in laundromats in my lifetime, I can understand your parent's concern. The laundromat I work at is in a small affluent town. The police station is 3 blocks up the street. The grocery store where I used to work is practically across the street, as are a set of condominiums ($250,000 - $500,000 each btw) and the place is well-lit and kept clean. Believe me when I say that I have seen some that even I won't go back into after the first time.

[TNT]

You should see the laundromat I have to go to. It's got a prime location in the slums... last week, in 20F weather, a shirtless guy outside the place decided to demonstrate his kung-fu moves for me. (Thankfully, he didn't demonstrate them on me.)

One time a woman took umbrage at something the owner did and said, "My man's the biggest drug dealer in town, and he's going to come back and shoot everybody in here." I didn't worry too much about that... the laundry's customers are his customers, too, and it would have been bad for business.

They used to have a payphone until some guy shot it. I'm not sure what result he was hoping for.

[Peppergirl]

Jim -

Your stories bring back memories of working in my dad's laundromat back in the late 80's.

Ever notice that the ones who come in late week-after-week are also the ones who are SO VERY METICULOUS about their folding and took FOREVER about it?

My mom and I used to refer to them as 'folder elves'.

I used to stand at the door at 10pm on a Saturday night, waiting to lock up so I could go out and these idiots would always have to fold their stuff so slowly and carefully. I never got to leave before 1030p usually. And my dad wouldn't let me kick them out, either. Don't get me wrong, my dad didn't take much crap from anyone, but when it was ME there stuck, he didn't care.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I had to giggle at the fact that part of your "cashing out" procedure is to put a five gallon bucket o' change in the safe.

Sounds like my husband before we got married! He'd literally cram ALL of his laundry into one washer -- I mean, push the clothes down with all of his might and barely be able to close the lid -- and wonder why half the clothes didn't even get wet, let alone clean! Not to mention washing whites with dark colors and wondering why everything turned a dull beige-grey.

Needless to say, I do the laundry now...

Are you sure that wasn't his plan all along?



I do my laundry at my parents' house, too. My apartment complex does not have a laundry room, but there is a laundromat right across the street, another one about a mile down the road, and a third on the highway right by the street you end up on if you go out the back of the complex. Last week my parents' washer started leaking, but luckily I did not absolutely need to do laundry, and now they just got a brand new washer/dryer. The only reason I would really have for the laundromat is when I need to wash my queen-sized comforter. That one will definitely need the big washer....



-ams- who is on dad's computer waiting for the dryer to buzz as she types...

[MadMike]

I definitely don't miss the old days of the laundromat either, with the change machines that screw you out of 5 cents of each dollar, the machines that didn't work half the time, and the idiots who think the "no smoking signs" don't apply to them.

Aside from the above-mentioned inconsiderate smokers, I never saw anything really sucky happen. Just this one story that's amusing rather than sucky.

A guy had loaded up one of the large-capacity washers. For anyone who doesn't know, these things lock at the start of the cycle, and you can't open the door again until it's done.

I had just loaded up my machines, and was getting ready to run out and grab some lunch, when I saw him running around frantically, and then asking someone how to get the machine open. They told him that it can't be opened until the cycle is done. Then he yelled, "Shit! I left my wallet in one of those pairs of pants!"

I walked out after that, chuckling to myself (I should be ashamed, but I couldn't help laughing), so I can only assume he called the emergency number and the owners came out. When I got back, the machine was open and there was a lot of water on the floor, and someone was mopping it up. The customer then proceeded to take the bills out of his wallet and put it in one of the dryers. I didn't even try to keep from laughing when I saw that.

[bigjimaz]

I had to giggle at the fact that part of your "cashing out" procedure is to put a five gallon bucket o' change in the safe.

I know. I chuckled at this as well when I was first taught the routine. I'm just glad that I don't have to manually count them or lug them to the bank to deposit.

I don't know how much is in a 5 gallon bucket but apparently he has this done on Tuesday nights as well as when I do it on Friday nights. I imagine he makes enough money just in the detergent/chip/soda vending machines every week to pay me, let alone all of the washers/dryers. He owns the machines and fills them himself. Even if he pays retail for the soda, which I'm almost positive he doesn't, he's making a 200% profit.