I tried out a laundromat for the first time this morning, since the dryers at my complex have been wimpy, useless buggers lately. I’m fairly impressed with the experience—the washers cost more, but while the two at my complex come in small- (normal, I suppose, if I’m feeling kind) capacity, the ones here are large-, super-, and uber-. Their cycle is also around 25 minutes, which given that I’m used to the ones at the complex taking an hour or so, made me stare at the time indicator in perplexity at first.
The experience has also made me realize that I’m not like most other people (I blame my mother). I selected a super-capacity as likely giving me the most value for my money, and dumped in one of my three and half “Target or JC Penny at Christmas time”-sized shopping bags. There was room to spare, so I started rooting through my medium/dark bags to find the articles that were worthy of joining the whites. I have a couple of red shirts that are licentious sorts, and cannot be allowed intimacy with my few virginal white unmentionables. Though I think the white bra in that load was the one that still bears a faint tint of pink from the red shirt that was so lecherous that a normal summer day’s worth of sweat turned both my bra and me bright pink. The culprit was, as you might expect, banished back to Goodwill.
In any case, there I was there earnestly sorting and packing the washer to the full extent of its super-capacity, and some dude wandered in with a carry-on sized duffel bag full of clothes. A small carry-on from before luggage fees, even. He selected the uber-washer and tossed them in. I was staggered. Why would you choose to pay a full $3.50 more than for the large capacity washers? Were his clothes claustrophobic? Were they so manly no mere large washer could manage to banish their funk? It wasn’t like it was denim and flannel, it seemed from the glance I got a fairly standard selection of button-downs, boxers, and socks.
I don’t know if it belongs to the same dude, but there was a dryer behind me as I wrote most of this entry, whirling away for a full half hour or more on only a dozen shirts or so. You will be DRY, bitches!
Then again, I’m the kind of person who dries two loads to 80% dry, feels each article on taking it out, and combines the two damp 20% into one load that is dried 25 cents at a time. And now I’m going to add up my costs and compare them to the costs calculated for my complex machines. Don’t judge.
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