an ode (for the future...)
brett and i do not have a washing machine. therefore we wait until we have a smelly mountain, made of various degrees of dirty cloth, before we break down and bring it to the mat on Fulton. we chose this laundry mat for a few different reasons. first, it's the cheapest. we've scouted the whole city and it is the only place in town where you can get a cold wash for a buck. second, it is close to our apartment. and third, "free soap thursday." we rarely take advantage of "free soap thursday" but it is appealing enough to lure our business, even on mondays.
the thing about the Fulton mat is that it totally sucks. it is dirty. the machines hold about two shirts and a pair of jeans. the money dispensers on the machines do not work. and people are allowed to smoke inside the building. if you get caught there with a smoker, you leave with smokey clothes. it's like you have just spent two hours in a bar rather than in a place that boasts free soap.
the people that work at the mat are, at best, hard to figure out. there seems to be some breaking of child labor laws going on. everytime we are there it seems as if the person half-heartedly mopping the floor with what seems to be gutter water, is younger. we think the business may be owned by a family, a family that is continuously in and out and talking on those beeping Nextel phones. a family that kind of looks like a bunch of thugs. however, more likely the place is simply run by people who just don't care. i came to this conclusion last night. we were at the mat and the phone started to ring. the oldest of the workers yelled across the whole place to the younger girl who was about to answer the phone, "make sure you don't get on that camera!" apparently, the cameras at the Fulton mat are not to keep an eye out for burglers, but to keep an eye on the employees. suspicious.
sometimes a machine breaks down or your money gets stuck. this means that you have to interrupt someone's Nextel phone call to get help. it's almost not worth the large sigh and eye roll to ask for help. but quarters (ie-gold) are precious things in the land of laundo-mat. you can't just let them get eatten up.
one time brett had already filled a dryer with quaters when we noticed that there was a large wad of gum stuck to the side of the machine. we wanted our gold back so we went to stage our complaint. the girl came over to the machine and peered inside. she spotted the gum, touched it with her finger, and then looked at us as if we were crazy. "naw, that's OLD gum," she said. old gum? does that make it any less gross? to her credit she gave us our gold back.
the Fulton mat has this way of pitting brett and me against each other. we walk in that place and inevitably the same argument flares up. "sara, more clothes can fit in this one." "brett, you have to DISSOLVE the soap before putting the clothes in." "sara, why are you paying for hot water?" "brett, if we are going to wash our clothes in this hell then i at least want them somewhat clean!" it never fails. but, we're both getting better at getting over it. now it's just routine. we say what we came to say and then we buy squirts out of the vending machine.
every time brett and i journey to the Fulton mat we know that we will be there for at least two hours. we usually bring some reading material and last night we brought our own cokes. we had had our argument already so there was nothing more to do than watch and analyze all the other people there and try to figure out why the circle machines cost $2 a load. when it was finally time to start folding brett looked at me and said, "you know, someday we'll look back fondly at our time at the laundry mat." i suppose he's right.
the thing about the Fulton mat is that it totally sucks. it is dirty. the machines hold about two shirts and a pair of jeans. the money dispensers on the machines do not work. and people are allowed to smoke inside the building. if you get caught there with a smoker, you leave with smokey clothes. it's like you have just spent two hours in a bar rather than in a place that boasts free soap.
the people that work at the mat are, at best, hard to figure out. there seems to be some breaking of child labor laws going on. everytime we are there it seems as if the person half-heartedly mopping the floor with what seems to be gutter water, is younger. we think the business may be owned by a family, a family that is continuously in and out and talking on those beeping Nextel phones. a family that kind of looks like a bunch of thugs. however, more likely the place is simply run by people who just don't care. i came to this conclusion last night. we were at the mat and the phone started to ring. the oldest of the workers yelled across the whole place to the younger girl who was about to answer the phone, "make sure you don't get on that camera!" apparently, the cameras at the Fulton mat are not to keep an eye out for burglers, but to keep an eye on the employees. suspicious.
sometimes a machine breaks down or your money gets stuck. this means that you have to interrupt someone's Nextel phone call to get help. it's almost not worth the large sigh and eye roll to ask for help. but quarters (ie-gold) are precious things in the land of laundo-mat. you can't just let them get eatten up.
one time brett had already filled a dryer with quaters when we noticed that there was a large wad of gum stuck to the side of the machine. we wanted our gold back so we went to stage our complaint. the girl came over to the machine and peered inside. she spotted the gum, touched it with her finger, and then looked at us as if we were crazy. "naw, that's OLD gum," she said. old gum? does that make it any less gross? to her credit she gave us our gold back.
the Fulton mat has this way of pitting brett and me against each other. we walk in that place and inevitably the same argument flares up. "sara, more clothes can fit in this one." "brett, you have to DISSOLVE the soap before putting the clothes in." "sara, why are you paying for hot water?" "brett, if we are going to wash our clothes in this hell then i at least want them somewhat clean!" it never fails. but, we're both getting better at getting over it. now it's just routine. we say what we came to say and then we buy squirts out of the vending machine.
every time brett and i journey to the Fulton mat we know that we will be there for at least two hours. we usually bring some reading material and last night we brought our own cokes. we had had our argument already so there was nothing more to do than watch and analyze all the other people there and try to figure out why the circle machines cost $2 a load. when it was finally time to start folding brett looked at me and said, "you know, someday we'll look back fondly at our time at the laundry mat." i suppose he's right.
posted by SN at 6:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home