All Washed Up On Washing Machines

Eleven or twelve years ago, I lived in a small basement apartment. On the same floor, near my apartment, there was a washer and dryer for the residents to use.

My new neighbor, living in the apartment above mine, was a young student, about eighteen years old. When he used the washing machine the first time, I kept hearing weird noises I had never heard coming from the machine. I went to check on it because if something went wrong with one of the machines I relied on for my clothes, it could end up being my problem.

As soon as I opened my door, I noticed a strange smell coming from the washer like something was starting to burn. I opened the lid and saw that the machine was crammed with clothes and towels. It was so full, it could not even spin, and there was not much water in it. I unplugged the machine to try and stop the damage and called my landlord who lived nearby.

When she saw how crammed the machine was, she got mad at me. I reminded her that I was not the one who did this; I only called her to inform her of the problem since my neighbor who caused the problem was gone. I helped her empty the machine and we filled two garbage bags with clothes and towels, leaving about a normal load.

Just before she could plug the machine back in, she saw my upstairs neighbor entering the building. She called him over and asked him if the clothes in the machine were his. He said yes and he asked why she took them out of the machine, as if the smell coming from it was not a clue enough!

I don’t remember exactly what she told him, but she was practically screaming at him. It turns out he had never used a washing machine before moving out of his parents’ home, but he could have at least looked at the instructions printed on the inside of the lid that clearly explained the point to which you could fill the machine with clothes.

Many weeks after this, he was still mad at me for calling the landlord, even though he did not have to pay for any repairs because the machine worked fine after that. He even told me that it would not have been the end of the world to go to his parents’ house to get his clothes washed while the machine was broken. It clearly did not even cross his mind that it could inconvenience other people besides him.