Spin cycle

One of the hugest, worst, most irritating, terrible, soul-sucking, despairing, unflattering, gruesome drawbacks to our new Boston digs is the fact that we have no in-unit washer/dryer. It's been a while since I've had to use common laundry facilities and it's something that I loathe.

High on my list of chores this weekend was to clean my clothes, something I've been putting off because I don't like having to be prompt in moving my stuff to a dryer or in picking them up when they're done.

So, after clearing two hours of my Saturday morning, I descended into our building's basement and surveyed the laundry scene. Puppy had warned me that you had to purchase a card to operate the machines and that he'd lost $5 in the process of figuring out how to use the laundry facilities. I was determined to figure out how to do it properly, but was thwarted by the first step: procuring a laundry card.

I basically walked around the laundry room, investigating every inch of every wall for approximately 10 minutes before I mustered up the courage to visit the building security guard to inquire about how to purchase a laundry card. Ever the helpful gentleman, our security guard let me know that one purchases a laundry card "from the machine." Upon further prodding, he showed me said machine, next to his office (and nowhere near the actual laundry machines).

I inserted my $5 (It only accepts $5 bills) and went on my way, pouring detergent into a machine and dumping my clothes into it. But when it came time to select the cycle and pay for the service, my card suddenly had a balance of ZERO. I apparently followed the steps too quickly for the machine to register and therefore lost all my money. And of course, I had no more $5 bills, so I had to scoop my detergent-covered dirty clothes back into the hamper and trot up to the apartment, having accomplished nothing except increasing my blood pressure level.

You'll be happy to know that I figured it all out yesterday and successfully completed two loads of laundry. And the machines seemed to work well enough and I didn't have to spring for an extra drying cycle, like I have in past laundromat situations. I didn't officially meet any of my neighbors in the process, but I did marvel at the lady with the two big garbage bags full of clothes who hogged four machines at one time. These are the people in my neighborhood...