Time to do the laundry. Normally I would drop off my clothes for dry cleaning and regular laundry at the store near the subway. That store’s been closed for a while. I think Laundromats should be essential.
I don’t mind doing it. My building has a decent laundry room. I was VP of its board when it was renovated. But never walked into it. People used to tease me when they saw me walking with my laundry bag and shirts. I heard, “You’re going to another laundry room.”
I decided to do laundry on Mother’s Day. After all, my mom is an expert on laundry. I remember when I would come home from school or camp and bring several weeks worth of laundry for her to wash. She did it. I got yelled at.
The laundry room was empty when I loaded my clothes for the wash cycle. Thirty minutes later, I went down to move my clothes to the dryer. The laundry room was quite busy. A couple was in there moving there placing their clothes in the washer. Similar to food shopping, I do not feel two people must do the job. Certainly one person can load the machine, pour in the Tide, Downy, and swipe the payment card. It should be easy enough for one person to move the wet clothes to the dryer.
One guy was there on the phone. I watched this from outside. He was holding court when people came in and out. Sort of like his social center. In camp, there was a camper who held court on his seat in the latrine. Laundry guy came in and out and said it would take him about 20 minutes to fold his clothes. Again, why do you have to fold them in the laundry room? Throw the clothes in your laundry bag and go upstairs and fold in your residence. He placed his clean clothes on the folding table. He did not place anything between the table and his clothing. Another woman did come in for about two minutes to take care of her laundry. They chatted.
Thirty-plus minutes later he finally finished. He seemed very proud of himself. I raced in and moved my clothes from the washer to the dryer. The couple from before came back in to do the same. But kept their distance. They did say hi and seemed very friendly. I realize couples like to do stuff together go to eat, the theaters, sporting events, see Depeche Mode at the Garden. For the record, doing that alone is great. The music talks more to you.
Forty minutes later, I went down to grab my clothes from the dryer. One of the women who were in earlier came in. She seemed friendly. As I was pulling out my last towel and sock, her dry cycle ended. Naturally, the dryer was close to mine. Did she wait for me to finish? It was pretty clear I’d be out in less than a minute. Of course, not she had to race right over to her dryer. What would have the extra minute cost?
For the record, when I lived in an apartment complex in Bay Terrace, Staten Island, I was laundry boy. I did it on my own in a small laundry room. One day they closed it for renovations. What did I do? I brought it to mom. The renovations went on a little longer than expected. When do renovations ever start and finish onetime? Never. Mom did the laundry. When it went on a little longer she said, try dropping it off. I did. When the building’s laundry room was ready they put balloons and signs all over it saying “Welcome back, Mitchell, laundry boy. Please give us a full report.” Everything came out clean.
Other posts can be viewed at:
“Pandemic Watch: Yes, it is Monday,”
https://mitchellthoughtsblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/11/pandemic-watch-yes-it-is-monday
“How skills I learned as a teen in the scouts help during the Covid-19 pandemic, “
“How the Covid-19 pandemic causes us to rethink old habits,”
“Traveling on public transit and being outside during the Covid-19 pandemic,” https://mitchellthoughtsblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/traveling-on-public-transit-and-being-outside-during-the-covid-19-pandemic
“Grocery shopping during Covid-19. Or anytime,” https://mitchellthoughtsblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/28/grocery-shopping-during-covid-19-or-anytime
“I want to help restaurants during the pandemic. But…,”
“Masks and gloves,” https://mitchellthoughtsblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/608
“Trashy Parks,”
https://mitchellthoughtsblog.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/trashy-parks
Mitchell's thoughts, photos, etc. 
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