Tuesday, November 25, 2008

washday

Since I don't have one of those guys from Monday's Amuse hanging about just waiting to be helpful, I made my own way down to the laundry room the other day only to find a crude sign on the locked door saying "closed for electrical issues".

Huh?

Mystery solved yesterday when it was discovered the price of the washing machines had risen. Some interesting 'electrical issue'.

A few months ago we were treated to new machines, ones that took smart cards instead of coins. The coin machines were annoying in that instead of just taking quarters, you had to use 1 loonie and 2 quarters, then 3 quarters. So, when the price went up to $2 I guess the machine couldn't handle the dilemma of 2 loonies or 1 loonie and 4 quarters.

Problem solved by getting new machines so the price could be raised by cents: $2.10, $2.20, $2.25, $2.35, $2.45.

And, sneaky bastards, the times get to be altered too. So now instead of a 40 minute cycle, it quietly went down to 38 minutes. At first, I noticed some of the machines were 40 minutes and some 39 minutes, then if you paid attention, you noticed that the machine would jump from 40 to 39 within seconds making you wonder how long that 40 minutes actually was. I never hang around the dismal place to find out.

Oh, there are more tales from the laundry room, but I have more laundry waiting downstairs to be brought up and folded and put away.

14 comments:

  1. Ahh, I love this combined with Monday AMuse! Such is life. Sometimes paying attention can be really annoying.

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  2. Electrical issues! I love it. I hate doing laundry, I need one of those Monday AMuse guys. wonder if there are any on ebay.

    ttfn
    MA

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  3. How cheesy to secretly alter the time on the dryers! It reminds me of "NEW AND IMPROVED!!" versions of food products that are both more expensive and smaller. They nver advertize the smaller part.

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  4. I hate the laundry room. I hate everything about it. The cost, the lugging stuff there and back, the anxiety about getting there in time to get your stuff before someone touches it and dumps it on the table, the fact that other people's stinky stuff was in the washer just before yours, the people who hang around the laundry room, the smell of the laundry room, the fact that your clothes never seem quite clean. The end

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  5. We've been contemplating switching over to the swipe cards as collecting coins is a PITA. But then we only have 3 machines, most units have their own washer/drier. I had to use them when I washed everything a few times in the spring and it was a scramble to find change, then come back on time (not that it made a difference, it's always empty when I went down lol) to pick it up.

    But I remember losing a bunch of jeans in the first rental building I lived in when I was 17. Turned me right off and never had a unit without laundry ever since.

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  6. Ruth: yes, sometimes just leaving is best

    MA: hadn't thought of ebay...or Craigslist

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  7. CotW: Exactly what I thought.

    UA: Yeah, keeping track of the time is a pain. That's why I usually head down at the first commercial of my soap...

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  8. XUP: I agree with everything. I usually try not to think about any of that, though. So thanks for reminding me!

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  9. What?? All that and NO STEAK knives? What a rip off.

    BTW, have got into that postcrossing stuff - what fun!

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  10. I love how they're always thinking of new and inventive ways of ripping you off, but are never available if things go wrong...

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  11. Sagittarian: A steak knife might be dangerous in a laundry room with full machines and people waiting...

    Hope you get lots of lovely postcards!

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  12. Jazz: yeah, R & D = Revenue and Destruction

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  13. O I am so glad to have my own laundry room, & machine & dryer. Cannot bear to think about having to share! Of course it is a pain to hang the clothes outside on the line but it is a bliss when they come in, smelling so wonderful!

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  14. Meggie: Ah, the fresh heady scent of air dried clothes and linens. It is worth the effort. I put out as much as possible on a clothes horse on my balcony.

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