Friday 1 February 2013

The Great Laundry Adventure in the USA

There I was - Little Miss Know-it-all - who left early from work to do laundry. I came home...well the hotel, actually, but my home for 10 days...and I painstakingly found a bag to put my used clothes in. I called the front desk and confirmed that I could get quarters there. I went down to purchase quarters, and I realised I had only 2 dollars on me. Well, you need at least 4 dollars for one load of washing and drying and 1 more dollar to buy detergent. So I traipsed back to my room, got the money, went back down, and purchased the quarters. The next step was to find the laundry room. I could see the breakfast counter (with no breakfast served at this time of the day), then there was a door that said "Employees Only", and another mysteriously locked door. I looked helplessly at the front desk assistant, who immediately came out to help me. She took me through the mysterious door, and there I was in the excersize and the laundry room.

Here came the interesting part. I had to use my quarters and buy detergent. Excellent. But how? Having never done this before (yes I was in the USA before, and no, I have never bought detergent from a detergent dispenser, because I have always bought it at the grocers) I was at a loss about how to use the detergent dispenser. I saw a wall-mounted machine that had pictures of a detergent, bleach, and a softener. These pictures had slots for quarters below them. I put in the quarters in the correct slots and waited. Nothing happened. Then I banged the machine. The coins slightly moved. Then I looked for a handle like how I have seen on TV in casinos. Nothing. Then I scratched my head. Again, nothing. I bent down and examined the bottom of the machine. Yep it was clean. And nope nothing happened. Then I took out the quarters. I was going to turn back, disappointed and slightly embarrased, and suddenly I thought of trying to push the slot itself. Bingo! Gleefully I put the quarters back, and pushed the slot. It came right back outside. I pushed harder with full vengeance. And i got my manna!

Next, I put in the clothes in the washer, put in the detergent in the correct slot, put in the quarters in the correct slot and started the machine. Thankfully, I had used this machine before. So I could still think of myself as Miss Know-it-all.

While my clothes were in the washer, I went for a walk, and then did some treadmill. The time had come to put the clothes in the dryer. I took them out of the washer, and put them in the dryer. I put in the quarters in the machine and was about to start the cycle. That's when I realised something was not quite right. Things seemed too easy! Ah there it was...I had put the clothes in one dryer and paid for a drying cycle in another dryer! Sigh. I moved the clothes again to the correct dryer and first prayed. Then I started the dryer. And I said my thanks to Him for giving me the knowlege and insight to wash and dry my clothes.

1 comment:

Peeves said...

Hahaha! Too funny! Awesome hota. Kay majja...I could see you literally scratching your head in the that room full of machines. :)