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I was back at the ol' Laund-O-Rama this summer, working part time and filling in for vacations. Here's a couple of choice stories, including a kind of scary one!
How Cheap Can You Be?
One of my pet peeves in when someone comes to the laundromat totally unprepared. No detergent, no money, no nothing. Then they try to make it YOUR problem.
Now, we sell detergent in a vending machine for $.75 per single load serving. And there's a grocery store, like, 50 feet away if you don't want to do that.
So this woman comes in, asks about the soap, and I tell her the usual spiel. But instead of spending her own money, god forbid, she spies where another, absent customer had left their detergent and just takes some! I happen to be busy and notice what she is doing too late, and she just sort of laughs it off like they won't mind.
Seriously, how cheap are you?!
Eternally Clueless.
Oh, no, it's another one of THOSE customers. The kind that acts like operating a laundromat washing machine is akin to operating ground control for NASA. She has a few comforters, uses a giant machine, and brings a BIG plastic baggie (like one of those freezer storage ones) of detergent. I stress to her, you only need ONE cup. Yes, even for the giant washers. There were at least several cups in that bag. I even get her a cup that she can use. But alas, I get distracted by another customer.
As her wash is beginning its final extract, I notice the water is still REALLY soapy. The lady comes up, all helpless, and asks "Is there any way to just pay a few dollars and get extra rinses?" Um, no. You pay one price, and the machine locks and must go through the whole process and you can't cherry-pick anything. In fact, to even stop a washer, I would need to shut off the breaker switch. Once you start that train, you ain't never gettin' off!
She looks at me helplessly, like I'm going to magically make her comforters UNsoapy. Eventually, she coughs up another $6 and does a whole 'nother wash, grumbling away.
Later, I am cleaning and I find the empty plastic bag. She had dumped the whole thing in, of course. WHY don't people LISTEN? That's the worst part about these kinds of people. They will fret and overthink and eat up your time with pointless questions, and then they will just go ahead and do whatever the hell they want to do.
Regular Customer, or Crazy Racist?
There's this regular I'll call Bob. He's "off", but up til now has been generally harmless. He's a gun nut, has quaint conspiracy theories, odd mannerisms, and decided to advertise an empty apartment by tacking a huge cardboard sign on his beat-up pickup truck. His way of speaking is overly polite and mild-mannered.
Except this day!
A Spanish couple, also regulars, came in with their little adorable daughter. I guess the male of the couple "touched" Bob's laundry bin, because a shouting argument erupted in the rear of the laundromat.
Now, it's PACKED in there. Everyone just kind of stares at them. Bob is shouting at them, and the man (husband, boyfriend?) is just sort of going, "Ok, man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." etc.
I start heading back there, and Bob demands I call the police. I tell him, I don't think so. Then things start to get racist!
Bob yells that they should "go back to their own country" and that the police will "teach them a lesson" (implying that the police will be white and automatically side with Bob, who is white, against a Spanish couple). At this point the husband AND wife get angry and tell Bob he's racist and that they are in fact American citizens.
I lost any sympathy for Bob, but I didn't kick anyone out. I said this is over, NOW, and I will not be calling any police for Bob. When Bob started making noises about his violated laundry bin, I just cut him off. I felt like a mom saying "I don't care WHO started it, this ENDS". He left in a huff after a few minutes. I apologized for the racist comments to the couple and made sure they understood that the laundromat does not share those views. We get a lot of different people from all walks of life and they are all welcome (as long as whey have money and aren't violent!).
Later, he tried to pull one over on another employee (who wasn't there!) and the owner. He claimed that couple started it, "threatened" him, and he was just defending himself! But I called bullshit, and here's why:
1) The husband, although big and tough looking, made no aggressive moves whatsoever. In fact, he was trying to calm Bob down and minimize things. Even after the racist comments, they made no move to surround Bob or advance on him.
2) The couple angrily argued back, but it says something that they did not use profanity, call names nor make threats (I'll kick your ass/let's take this outside/etc). And they only got really angry after the racism.
3) They were with their little girl. Odds are they were not looking to cause trouble.
4) They did not follow Bob when he left.
Luckily, the owner sided with me, and he also knows Bob and says "he's a nut" and he doesn't care if Bob never comes back.
And Bob is a GIANT man and I wasn't sure if my order to STOP would work, but he did stop and leave. Boy was I nervous! I'm not a small woman, but still, you never know what someone might do. Some of the scariest stories I've heard were of seemingly-harmless people who snap. My adrenaline was rushing and I'm glad it all ended NOT in tears.
How Cheap Can You Be?
One of my pet peeves in when someone comes to the laundromat totally unprepared. No detergent, no money, no nothing. Then they try to make it YOUR problem.
Now, we sell detergent in a vending machine for $.75 per single load serving. And there's a grocery store, like, 50 feet away if you don't want to do that.
So this woman comes in, asks about the soap, and I tell her the usual spiel. But instead of spending her own money, god forbid, she spies where another, absent customer had left their detergent and just takes some! I happen to be busy and notice what she is doing too late, and she just sort of laughs it off like they won't mind.
Seriously, how cheap are you?!
Eternally Clueless.
Oh, no, it's another one of THOSE customers. The kind that acts like operating a laundromat washing machine is akin to operating ground control for NASA. She has a few comforters, uses a giant machine, and brings a BIG plastic baggie (like one of those freezer storage ones) of detergent. I stress to her, you only need ONE cup. Yes, even for the giant washers. There were at least several cups in that bag. I even get her a cup that she can use. But alas, I get distracted by another customer.
As her wash is beginning its final extract, I notice the water is still REALLY soapy. The lady comes up, all helpless, and asks "Is there any way to just pay a few dollars and get extra rinses?" Um, no. You pay one price, and the machine locks and must go through the whole process and you can't cherry-pick anything. In fact, to even stop a washer, I would need to shut off the breaker switch. Once you start that train, you ain't never gettin' off!
She looks at me helplessly, like I'm going to magically make her comforters UNsoapy. Eventually, she coughs up another $6 and does a whole 'nother wash, grumbling away.
Later, I am cleaning and I find the empty plastic bag. She had dumped the whole thing in, of course. WHY don't people LISTEN? That's the worst part about these kinds of people. They will fret and overthink and eat up your time with pointless questions, and then they will just go ahead and do whatever the hell they want to do.
Regular Customer, or Crazy Racist?
There's this regular I'll call Bob. He's "off", but up til now has been generally harmless. He's a gun nut, has quaint conspiracy theories, odd mannerisms, and decided to advertise an empty apartment by tacking a huge cardboard sign on his beat-up pickup truck. His way of speaking is overly polite and mild-mannered.
Except this day!
A Spanish couple, also regulars, came in with their little adorable daughter. I guess the male of the couple "touched" Bob's laundry bin, because a shouting argument erupted in the rear of the laundromat.
Now, it's PACKED in there. Everyone just kind of stares at them. Bob is shouting at them, and the man (husband, boyfriend?) is just sort of going, "Ok, man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." etc.
I start heading back there, and Bob demands I call the police. I tell him, I don't think so. Then things start to get racist!
Bob yells that they should "go back to their own country" and that the police will "teach them a lesson" (implying that the police will be white and automatically side with Bob, who is white, against a Spanish couple). At this point the husband AND wife get angry and tell Bob he's racist and that they are in fact American citizens.
I lost any sympathy for Bob, but I didn't kick anyone out. I said this is over, NOW, and I will not be calling any police for Bob. When Bob started making noises about his violated laundry bin, I just cut him off. I felt like a mom saying "I don't care WHO started it, this ENDS". He left in a huff after a few minutes. I apologized for the racist comments to the couple and made sure they understood that the laundromat does not share those views. We get a lot of different people from all walks of life and they are all welcome (as long as whey have money and aren't violent!).
Later, he tried to pull one over on another employee (who wasn't there!) and the owner. He claimed that couple started it, "threatened" him, and he was just defending himself! But I called bullshit, and here's why:
1) The husband, although big and tough looking, made no aggressive moves whatsoever. In fact, he was trying to calm Bob down and minimize things. Even after the racist comments, they made no move to surround Bob or advance on him.
2) The couple angrily argued back, but it says something that they did not use profanity, call names nor make threats (I'll kick your ass/let's take this outside/etc). And they only got really angry after the racism.
3) They were with their little girl. Odds are they were not looking to cause trouble.
4) They did not follow Bob when he left.
Luckily, the owner sided with me, and he also knows Bob and says "he's a nut" and he doesn't care if Bob never comes back.
And Bob is a GIANT man and I wasn't sure if my order to STOP would work, but he did stop and leave. Boy was I nervous! I'm not a small woman, but still, you never know what someone might do. Some of the scariest stories I've heard were of seemingly-harmless people who snap. My adrenaline was rushing and I'm glad it all ended NOT in tears.
Two cups in fine. (Whatever! Just do what you want! I don't really care! Why'd you even aaaaask?!)
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