I just had a quick but perhaps passive aggressive interaction with another student in one of my dorm’s shared laundry rooms and am unsure of my actions now that the moment has passed.
I’ve been working on standing up for myself and advocating now that I’m in college, and have only been able to apply it in small scenarios. I, and one other uninvolved student, were waiting in our floor’s communal laundry room watching another student empty a washing machine, reload it, and move the wet clothes to the dryer next to it. I was fine as she unloaded yet another washer with her clothes… until she started reloading it in front of the both of us. I shared an awkward side glance with the other student and spoke up. I asked her if she “really needed to use three machines at once” (for context, there are five of each machine, all with high times left but one) and she got defensive but backed off.
It’s peak time for laundry (midday towards the start of the week) and even waiting for my clothes to be done, the room is filled with people waiting for machines to open up. She snipped at me again, what she said was lost on me since it’s loud and I had music playing in one ear, but I said “it’s about being considerate and sharing the space” and turned to toss in my clothes. There are ten machines on each floor, but again, it’s peak time and I prefer using my floor’s amenities and not using the other machines unless it’s a necessity… which this wasn’t.
I realize I may have overreacted and should have waited for the single low-time machine.
AITA for calling her out? I’m honestly fine with the reality that I overreacted, it happens, you live and learn.
Update: Yeah I def overreacted and I appreciate those who called it out. I’m going to leave it alone if it happens again. I see now that it’s not really a huge deal in the long run. Many thanks to all the replies so far. What’s done is done and it’s not going to happen again.
NAH. While I personally wouldn’t be doing multiple loads of laundry across multiple machines (maybe 2 max), if shes there when the timers are up and consistently moving her stuff, she has that right. Especially if there are other options, even if they are slightly less convenient.
The only time people are assholes with laundry is when their crap just sits there.
I didn’t mind her using two machines, I’ve done it myself, it’s inevitable yk? I was just irked seeing a third machine being used without asking the people in line if they were chill with it. If she had asked I wouldn’t have cared, I’m fine to wait. Im def just going to leave it alone next time though, it’s not a huge deal and worrying over it isn’t worth it
Laundry rooms in college are first come, first served. YTA for expecting otherwise. Do your laundry at a different time. Hopefully there will be fewer “females” there as though this were in any way relevant to the story.
YTA, She was there first, she has just as much right to do her laundry.
NTA. She needed to do laundry sooner. It’s not like the laundry room or facilities belong to her. It’s one thing if no one else is doing laundry but sounds like there was a backup. She needs to learn how to live in community.
See, that was my thinking. I’m glad I didn’t overreact 😅
That same thing could be said for OP. She got there before everyone else, she used the ones that were available and didn’t make people wait for her clothes to be done. Was she supposed to wash one load at a time? Or get in the back of the line again? That’s not how that works.
OP could have went to another floor if they saw these were full.
YTA not only are washing machines first come, but you said there are 10 on every floor! Not like you couldn’t wash your clothes, you would have just had to chose between waiting or going to another floor. You bullied that girl.
YTA. Dorm laundry machines are first come first serve, and she was first come. Some people have a lot of laundry. Others have clothes that require different settings.
That’s fair, the room was insanely stuffy and I absolutely acted without thinking first. definitely will not be doing it again.
Yta. You know what’s crazy efficient? Doing all your laundry in one fell swoop. You said yourself that there were other floors to do your laundry but you don’t want to go there. You’d probably have a conniption if you went to NYC where most buildings (that you pay to live in when not in college) don’t have laundry in the building or only 3 washer driers every other floor you have to go to a Laundromat and haul that nonsense up and down 3 flights of stairs multiple times because you have delicates or knits that cannot be in the drier and you need to lay them out to dry while you’re waiting for sheets and jeans etc to dry. I would get a months worth of laundry done in an hour ish taking up 3 machines. If the machines are taking a really long time for wash cycle or especially dry, that’s the unis problem because the machines are bad and not the person doing their laundry. If you already know that midday is “peak” laundry time…why are you doing laundry at that time? Plop a load in after dinner and do homework while you’re waiting for the cycle to end.
I had bedding that needed to be done and can’t all be done at the same time since they’re bulky and the machines are tiny, so I wanted to start on the small stuff so it would all be done by night and I’d use as few machines as possible since it’s a popular laundry day. I absolutely overreacted, acting without thinking and whatnot. I’m still trying to find the line of speaking up and just overreacting. Thanks for the insight
NTA. Using three machines during peak time in a shared dorm space is pretty inconsiderate. You weren’t rude, you just pointed out something that affects everyone waiting.
Honestly, most people were probably thinking the same thing but didn’t say anything.
I shouldn’t have said the second comment, it was absolutely uncalled for. But I needed clean bedding and the other floors were bound to be busy as well. It was uncalled for but she was being kind of inconsiderate