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Laundry room etiquette

User
7 years ago

Can somebody tell me if I'm right or wrong about this?


I live in an apartment building that has 6 units and 1 washer and 1 dryer in the laundry room. The washer takes 30 minutes to wash, while the dryer takes 60 minutes.


Today I went in to do my laundry. When I walked in there were wet clothes sitting on the dryer and clean clothes waiting to be removed from the washer, but the dryer was empty. It was weird, so I left my hamper of dirty clothes next to the washer and went back to my apartment. After 10 minutes, I returned. Everything was still sitting there. So I moved the stuff in the washer into the dryer (but I didn't start it) and I started washing a load of my clothes. 29 minutes into the 30-minute wash cycle, I went to see if the person who left their clothes behind had started the dryer. They had. So I left and returned 30 minutes later to see if the dryer had been emptied yet. But when I returned, my wet clothes had been removed from the washing machine and placed on top of the dryer and somebody else had started their clothes in the washing machine. I was pretty upset because I couldn't understand why somebody had to wash their clothes right then when they were going to have to wait for me to dry my stuff anyway. I also had dirty clothes sitting right there, which made it evident that I still had another load to do!


I went home and returned a little while later to find that the lady who lives a few units down from me was moving her stuff out of the dryer. So I was waiting for my turn to put my pile of wet clothes in the dryer, but after she removed her stuff she put the stuff that was in the washing machine in the dryer and started drying it! I confronted her and said, "What are you doing?! I have to dry my stuff!" She then voiced that she was very upset that I had moved her stuff from the washer into the dryer, so I explained that I had moved it because she was taking too long to move it! I told her that I waited 10 minutes for her to remove it. She didn't care that I had given her a 10 minute grace period. Then she told me that she was there first and that she was entitled to the washer and the dryer but I told her that she had given up that right when she didn't move her stuff promptly. She then told me I would have to wait several hours before drying my clean clothes or washing my other load because she has a lot more to wash but I told her that that wasn't fair and that I should be allowed to dry my wet stuff now since it's wet. I explained to her that I have a sick toddler who has been throwing up all over his clothes and I just want him to have some clean stuff to wear to bed tonight. But she repeatedly shook her head and said, "I was here first!" I was then forced to bring my wet clothes home for the night, because she had so much laundry to do. I asked her, "How was I supposed to know you had more loads to wash when there were no dirty clothes in the laundry room and there was no note indicating that you were still using the machines?" And then she told me that if I hadn't moved her clothes to begin with, it wouldn't have been an issue. If I had known she had several loads to do I would've either went to the laundromat or just waited till the following day.


The argument got pretty heated and pretty ugly ... at one point I was screaming at her, "Excuse me?! I'm speaking to you! The least you can do is look at me when I'm talking!" To be honest, my grandmother was on the phone with me and she was screaming "Just walk away from the situation!" This happened at 4:00 today and here it is 11:30 at night and I'm FUMING! Am I wrong to have started a load of laundry? I couldn't believe that after leaving her stuff sitting in there she was upset that I moved it and that she had the balls to take my stuff out of the washing machine and then cut in front of me with her wet clothes to dry them. When I confronted her she never apologized for leaving me waiting, she never apologized for taking my stuff out of the washing machine and leaving it on the dryer, she never apologized for cutting in front of me and making me take all my wet stuff home, and she never apologized for not even looking at me when I was confronting her. She was extremely calm and just kept repeating that she was there first but I was fuming and yelling and upset because talking to her was like talking to a wall! she had the same come back every time (she kept saying "I was here first!") and other than that, she was ignoring me. This is the same lady who yelled at my husband the first week we moved in because he moved her clothes when he had waited for a long time for her to take them out of the washing machine. It's laundry room etiquette to move your things promptly, am I right? I hate when people move my stuff... that's why I always show up a minute or two before my cycle ends!


What am I supposed to do moving forward? Just start going to the laundromat all the time? I'm so upset I feel like I could seriously knock her out! I feel like she won the argument when she was completely wrong and completely rude. I don't know if I can continue living in a building with somebody like this!

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