Who Are These People

Last Updated on: 6th November 2020, 12:53 pm

Just a few quick questions about human behaviour, if I may.

  1. We had a friend staying with us a while ago. While him and I were making breakfast together one morning, he asked me for a fork. I gave him one, of course. I then watched as he started using it to crack eggs rather than doing what I assume everyone else does, tapping them on the counter or on the edge of the bowl. Yes, dude was bonking each egg with the fork until he could break it open. I’ve been around for just about 40 years, and I can safely say I’ve never seen anyone do that before. I even asked brother Brad about it last time I saw him since he’s a very good cook and he bakes all the time, and he took my side. So what’s the matter with my friend and how can I get him the help he needs?
  2. We did our laundry on the weekend. Searching for enough free machines in a big apartment building can be a frustrating exercise, especially when some of them are broken. And indeed, that’s what happened this go round…or so we thought.

    Carin found an open one, and without giving it the absolute best look her wee little self could give it but one that’s generally good enough, tossed something in.

    Splash.

    Oops, that one’s pooched. Right?

    Wrong.

    As it turns out, somebody had come and gotten their stuff out of it a full 12 minutes early.

    I hope something went very wrong in this person’s life very suddenly, because why else would you do that? You’re losing out on the benefit of the full rinse and spin, plus since they’re still going to be wringing wet, whatever time you think you’re saving by not letting the washer finish is going to be eaten up by extra drying time. And if you are going to do something that weird, should you not at least have the decency to close it and let it run out the rest of the clock so that the next guy can use it without having to wait? The machines don’t bill you by the minute, it’s ok.

    This is just one strange person and not something that people who think they don’t have enough time for anything anymore do now, right? Please tell me that’s what it is.

  3. And speaking of laundry, what happened to the universal public laundry room code? For years, every place I ever lived or visited had the same rule. If a washing machine was open, it was yours for the taking. If it was closed, it was either spoken for or broken. Dryers were a little more murky, but I’ve seen enough situations where people signal that they’re free by not closing them all the way to take that as a thing.

    But this building we live in now, it’s like the freaking wild west down there. Nothing signals anything. People leave baskets and clothes on top of equipment they have no plans to use, which has always been the other acceptable method of reservation. Out of order machines are left open, plugged in and signless as if they’re ready to go. Open dryers with clothes left in them for so long that they’ve actually had a chance to cool down? Why not.

    None of this should be happening. The tenants here represent a very wide age range so should know how this is supposed to work. Do Carin and I live among barbarians or is there simply no longer any need for manners and order in the clothes cleaning space?

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2 Comments

  1. If it was just the open/shut thing, I’d blame that on the fact that washing machines have screens now, and can indicate their brokenness with error codes or a black screen. But no, it’s so much more than that. And why do so many people break machines in this friggin place?

    1. The only thing that makes any sense to me is that they might break down more because this building is so big. More people equals more demand on them equals more potential for failure.

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