Laundry Woes

Before you go to University, there's never a shortage of people who'll give you advice about a seemingly-infinite variety of topics: residence, drinking, workload, sex, classes, computers, drugs, money, profs: the list goes on and on. But in my experience, nobody ever addresses the most important topic of all. I refer, of course, to laundry.

Or perhaps I’m just a laundry freak. I mean, washers and dryers are a staple in rez, but what about all those hand-washables? Knit sweaters? Come on people! If anyone is actually anxious about delicates (like me), bring a small wash bucket and drying rack.

Let's talk about sorting. I will never forget this. I was in the laundry room doing my thing and I look over and see this guy obviously struggling. He says simply to me: “help”. How could I refuse? He had no idea how to sort clothes or even why it was necessary. I came to his aid, of course. As a moral to this short story, I recommend learning about laundry before making the move to residence and away from Mommy.

I want to address “laundry room jerks”. These are people who either monopolize many machines at once or leave their freshly laundered clothes in the dryer for hours. This is supremely irritating when it’s rather busy in that hot, small room and there are no free dryers. Perhaps I felt a little guilty about it initially, but I see no problem in taking their clothes out and placing them on top of the dryer so that you can deal with yours ... putting them back in of course, if they're not claimed by the time you're done. Don't worry: they won't be; the people who leave them in the dryer are the ones who won't be back for them until they need them – probably the next day. And, with any luck, they will have no idea that their clothes were disturbed in the first place.

There should really be a Laundry Swat team. Or at least a sign on the door about etiquette!