Proper laundry etiquette?

Question

In a laundry room for an apt. complex, how long should you wait for someone to come and move their laundry out of the washer or drawer? If they take too long, is it okay to move their stuff out and put it on top of a washer or dryer? Also, if the following happened to you, would you consider it rude?:

All the washers are full & you're waiting for the next available one & the person who's stuff is washing right now comes & moves his load to the dryer & then puts another load in the washer even though you were waiting. He also has loads in EVERY single other washer in the facility...and as each load finishes, he reloads the machines with a 2nd load, so that in the end, every single machine is full of his laundry.

Answer 1

When the machine stops, if the person is not there to empty it within just a few minutes, I will unload it. Too bad if they get mad. I get mad too if someone wastes my time. On the other issue--I think it is OK for him to fill up all the washers at one time if he gets there first, but then to REFILL them while someone is standing there waiting takes one really rude and selfish dude. I would say something to him. If he refused to be fair, then I would report him. It may not do any good, but I would report him. Also, once somebody makes me that mad, I am ashamed to say that I get a little devious. I would wait until he left again and then I would open the lids on ALL of his machines so that they would stop. When he came back, he would find wet clothes in the dryer and washers full of water and dirty clothes, plus all of his money would have timed out. Of course that would just tie up the machines longer, but I wouldn't care. It would be worth it just to get back at that jerkwad. Besides, I would just load my laundry into the car and head down to the local laundry-mat and take care of my business and smile while I thought about the little gift Mr. A**hole would find when he came back to get his duds.

Answer 2

Yes, I would consider that scenario rude. My apartment building has only 4 washers. None of them holds much, so I have filled at least three of them at a time. However, I'd never fill them all, let alone empty and refill them all, while people were waiting. I've lived in places where just leaving your laundry in plain view on or in front of the washer would hold it for you when it finished, even if you weren't standing there. However, in my current building you pretty much have to be there. Unfortunately, these things are pretty much a culture thing, so there probably isn't much you can do besides point out that you're standing there waiting and would like to use one or more of those washers when he takes out the current loads. Don't you have to wonder just how much stuff this guy owns +/or how long he waits between times that he does it? Everything washable that I own (including sheets and towels) doesn't add up to 8 loads of laundry.

On the other question, I'd pretty much say that half an hour is plenty of time to wait. Then I just make sure that the washer, dryer, or table that I put their laundry on is clean. Though there are other annoyances in my current laundry room, there is a laundry basket that lives down there permanently, which means that there is an extra clean dry place to put people's laundry when you need to move it.

Answer 3

Well, I live in a dorm, so its not exactly the same. But we are limited to 2 machines, be it 2 washers, or 2 dryers, or a combo of the two. When a load is done, we can either go get the person, or put it on top of a dryer, or put it in their basket (if they left it there). You shouldn't start the dryer due to some stuff not being able to be dried. But its been no problem for me. You could bring it up with the person who owns the apartment complex.

Answer 4

I live in dorms, and when I want to wash my clothes, and there's a finished load in the washer, I'll toss them into one of the dryers. If I need to use a dryer, I take their clothes out and put it on top of the washer. Some people, especially girls get really pissed about handling their clothes and stuff. But you know what? It's a shared facility and I'm not gonna waste my time waiting for you to pick up your clothes.

Answer 5

It is difficult to share washers. I remove clothing left unattended. It stands to reason that if you leave your clothes; one abandons responsibility. Approach the washer hog and request one washer. If that doesn't work, say you have to take your mother to the doctor's office in about an hour. I know it's a lie, but so many people cannot see beyond their own needs these days.If he's hostile, , put some crayola crayons in one of his claimed dryers when he leaves.Another idea is to schedule your washing times at low traffic times.Have a nice day, and don't take sh!t from anybody.

Answer 6

About the first questions-
I remember living in an apt. complex and taking someones clean clothes out of the wash when they were done and putting them on the folding table. Well, the person walked in as I was doing this, and I was so embarrassed-it was my doctor, and she looked really mad. Remember, people are really particular about their stuff, and when you touch someones stuff tempers may flare. In fact, someone in my old condominium building got in a fight over this issue!

The second part-
This man sounds very inconsiderate, but I would not say anything to him, but would talk with management about this occurence. That way they might be inclined to post a sign with laundry etiquette and you can point this out if you ever see this occur again.

Wow-don´t you hate doing laundry???? I do!!!!!

Answer 7

I'd say it's unfortunate that the man is monopolizing the washers, but he's bound to run out of clothes to wash soon! You could go elsewhere.

If I'm doing wash and someone's is done and they're not there, I'll take it out of the dryer imediately. The washer, I'll give a little time...noone wants their wet wash piled on the counter

Answer 8

I would try to change your washing schedule if this buffoon has been doing laundry at the same time as you have. Monday night in my opinion would be the ideal night to do it. Most people get their wash done on the weekend.

If that's something you can't do, just approach the guy and tactfully ask him if it's ok if you take his clothes out when they're done so that you can have clean clothes to wear too. Of course no one should have to do that because he should be in there minding all his chit in the first place but whattaya do? I guess if one wanted to be vindictive they could take his clothes out of the dryer and smear a liberal amount of Ben Gay in the crotch of his boxers.

Answer 9

You have to take it up with your landlord, it could be first come first serve. One thing you could do is figure out what time of the day is less busy and do your laundry then. This person obviously is very inconsiderate so it would be useless to talk to them.

Talk to the other tenants and see if anyone else has the same problem if so have a meeting with the landlord and suggest designated laundry days, You know like tenant A has Saturday morn. & tenant B has Saturday eve. Anyway thats how we do it in my building.

Answer 10

Yeah that's very rude, he can not use all the washers at the same time knowing that there is someone waiting.