Yeah, that sounds like a real bummer of a laundry day. But perhaps there’s an upside to the crowded factor.
Pardon my personal story, but.. when I was in my early 20s, I had to drive to a laundromat in Beaumont, Texas late at night while hubby slept. He had weird work hours and we only had one car so it was my only opportunity to ‘do’ the laundry.
The place was empty except for an occasional car full of blacks driving by and oggling at me. I always carried back then, and even though it was only a 25, I knew I could discourage anyone from messing with me, but it was still scary. So.. I would drop the clothes off, start them washing, or drying, and then drive around for half an hour... just so I wouldn’t feel like a sideshow or sitting duck. Even then I didn’t believe in tempting fate.
So I guess the upside is, with that crowd of people around you, at least you won’t be in any real danger. And... you can always take a flask of Crown Royal with you to sip on and kill the pain.
Ah, laundromats. I haven’t been in many, as an adult. One of the last times was late night in Felony Flats in Eugene, OR in the late ‘80s, I guess. Me and the roommate had our dog with us, just because. Had the whole place to ourselves until a transient ( what the homeless were called at the time) came in. He was pleasant enough, probably bummed a smoke, and went to the back of the place to wash his clothes for free, in the sink. The evening ended, and a couple of weeks later we saw the guy’s picture in the paper. He’d been an escaped inmate. They said he’d been found when some folks saw his heavily tattooed arm sticking out of a garbage bag down by the river.
The place was empty...
Similar story. After my divorce, I lived in an apartment with no laundry facilities - Brockton, MA.
So, I would get up at 2:00am Sunday morning. Stuff my laundry into a pillow case, add a cup of Tide and hustle down to the Laundry Mat. Dump the whole thing into the machine and go home - not far. Come back later and toss the clothes into the dryer.
The thing is, you had to get your laundry done before 6:00AM. If you missed this time, you were doomed because the local “women” would take over the whole laundramat.
Later, the laundramat was closed from 6:00PM to 6:00AM.
I met a couple other divorced men who showed me how to ‘Jimmy’ the door lock so I could get in and do my laundry. One old guy said, “Hey, the cops come by, ya just tell ‘em, I’m doing my laundry WTF ?”
Sometimes there would be drunkin bums sleeping it off, curled up on the floor of the laundrmat. You just stepped over them...
HUbby is a lucky guy.
Can always do tequila, or for beer, Modelo, Pacifico, Sol, Victoria, Corona, etc.