I live in a 13-floor apartment building with a shared laundry room that has 6 washers and dryers. There’s kind of an unwritten rule: come back on time for your clothes, clean the lint trap when you’re done, and just be respectful.
Lately, people will throw their clothes in the washer or dryer and then disappear. They come back whenever they feel like it and think that’s totally fine, especially late at night, when they assume fewer people will be around. Why should I have to wait an extra 20–40 minutes for someone to finally show up and remove their clothes just so I can do my laundry?
If a dryer is done and the clothes have been sitting there for a while, I’ll take them out and place them on top of the dryer so I can use it. Then the owner shows up and gets angry that I touched their stuff. Sorry, but I’ve got things to do too. Don’t leave your laundry sitting there forever and expect everyone else to work around you.
Follow the rules on the posted sign.
If there is no sign then get one posted.
NTA, follow the rules if you don’t want other people touching your stuff
NTA I do that also in my apartment building. If people don’t want anyone touching their laundry then they should set a timer for their laundry and actually go get it promptly. I’d just rude to not.
NTA.
The “angry” tenant can pound sand. Simply tell them if they don’t want their laundry touched to watch it until the cycle ends. It’s just rude not to do this.
Time for a WRITTEN rule – make the building management put up notices that unattended laundry will be removed from the washers and dryers.
It’s absolutely insane to expect someone not to set a timer for when their laundry cycle completes.
NTA, I’ll usually give a 5 to 10-minute grace period in communal laundry areas because they might have been in the middle of something when their timer went off, assuming they set one, but these are communal areas not one person’s personal laundry room. Set a timer and move your stuff or it will be moved.
NTA. I thought you were removing wet clothes after 20 mins running. . But if they are dry NTA
NTA
They should get back and get their clothes. Leaving them in the machine when they are already dry is selfish.
NTA. If they’re dry their owner should be there. It’s not like you’re going shopping in their clean laundry.
NTA. In shared laundry rooms, courtesy goes both ways. Leaving clothes sitting for 30–40 minutes holds up everyone else, especially late at night. You handled it in the least disruptive way possible
I always kept a basket on top.of machine in case I didn’t make it down in time. Just common sense.
I have a similar situation, just had this happen.
I get the clothes out but I don’t leave clothes wadded up so that they need redone. I shake them out & lay them flat.
Never had anyone get upset with me yet but I am sure some AH will eventually
NTA.Tbh I don’t always remember when my clothes are in the dryer and when I come down and see someone has placed my (dry!) clothes on top of the dryer I am sorry they had to inconvenience themselves but am glad they didn’t let my carelessness get in the way of their laundry,
Honestly, if you know that you’re prone to forgetting that your stuff is in the dryer, you should be setting an alarm to remind you.
NTA. If the machine is finished, you can remove the clothes. (It should go without saying that removing someone’s items midcycle would be TA).
When I had to use a community laundry room, I avoided this by taking a book and waiting there while my clothes were in the machines. If you left unattended items, the other students would always find your underwear and dump it on the floor first.