After The Laundry, The Ecstasy
By Rory O’Connor
I’ve lived in Shaker for many years, in two
single-family homes and three apartment
buildings. The building I’m in now is quite
nice – the management efficient and
responsive, the neighborhood pleasant
and attractive, and my fellow tenants
friendly and courteous. And really,
that pretty much describes my overall
experience in all three buildings.
But apartment life is not for
everyone because you cannot take for
granted the everyday chores that one
performs almost without thinking in a
single-family home.
I’m talking about laundry.
Maybe you’ve noticed, but there are
no laundromats in Shaker. And the dry
cleaners here don’t do wash-and-fold,
whereby your laundry is done for you,
my preferred method. I know because
I’ve checked.
So unless you find a newer
building with washers/dryers in the
units, you’re in for doing your wash in
the basement, or else in a little room on
the floor you live on.
I’ve lived under both systems. Need I
point out that neither is ideal for anyone
who hates wasting time washing clothes?
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For the floor-by-floor system, the general practice is for the building manager
to post a grid, usually hand-drawn, in the laundry room. This grid looks much like a
calendar, with the days of the week and the hours of the day in columns. Tenants on
that floor are supposed to put a check mark next to the days and times when they want
to do their wash.
The first building I lived in had this system. It worked maybe half the time. The
other half of the time, the aggravation wasn’t so much that someone was poaching my
time, which they were, or that their clothes were just sitting in the washer, wet and
gooey – it was that the clothes would remain there for hours, sometimes an entire day.
Dark thoughts would plague me.
“Just throw them on the floor,” said the building manager, an Englishman, who
was suspicious of me anyway due to my lack of furniture. “Or put them in the bloody
dryer.” Both really bad choices, since I would have to use the dryer myself.
Another building I was considering some years later had the same system. The
unit for rent was on the third floor, and the laundry room had the typical chart, but it
was completely filled – by the same tenant – except for Sundays. Church time?
“Oh, it’s just a nice old woman,” the manager, a Scotswoman, said. “Don’ worry
about it, no one else does.” Yeah, that’s what you think….
The other system, the basement system, sometimes is not much better – if there are
not enough machines for the building’s population, there will be all sorts of trouble.
To wit: The first basement-system place I lived in had two washers, two dryers,
and about 25 tenants. One of them was a Starbucks barista, who would wash half a
dozen or more aprons at a time and, yes, leave them in, wet and soggy. For days.
“Throw ‘em on the floor,” said the manager, a Clevelander, “or just stick ‘em in the
dryer.” Which, this time, I did. And paid to dry them. And kept one.
I still have it, all these years later. Yes, I know the barista had to pay for it. But so
did I. And I still happily use it. There’s an old saying in Zen Buddhism that goes, “After
the ecstasy, the laundry.” And vice-versa. SL
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