The Laundromat

The Texas winter freeze saga continues.  For lack of a better way to dull the searing pain it caused countless folks, calamities like it are equal opportunity disruptors of life.  But then, such an unforgettable experience also brings to light the many instances where and when one may find opportunities to be grateful, even thankful that life continues even in times of adversity.  "The Laundromat", a rather intriguing title if it were a TV sitcom,  is an unlikely scene for gratitude but it was and still is for me.

Like millions of other Texans who were affected by broken pipes - hence, interrupted water service - lingering effects have remained and will likely be for awhile. The good news is that there are more people now with water.  The not-so-good news is that a good majority of those only have partial access to water inside their homes.  Most of what the overworked plumbers have done, working 12-15 hours a day, was to plug broken pipes in homes that allow for water availability in sections of plumbing that were not damaged; the broken portions were merely isolated before complete repair and restoration can be undertaken at some future time after all the workload had gotten back to normal.

So, we're grateful we have water in two of the four bathrooms and most importantly in the kitchen.  However, we cannot do the weekly laundry because there is no water by the utility area where the washing machine is located.  The clothes dryer - which uses natural gas - works but what is there to dry? My wife was distraught.  She felt helpless as the pile of clothes and towels was rising to the height of a termite mound on a Kalahari desert.

The winning idea of the day came from me.  I'll do the wash at the local laundromat. We'll do the drying at home.  I had to do it in consideration of my wife's health, I knew it precluded even for her to come along.  The nearest laundromat is 25 minutes away by car, aptly named "Stop N Wash". Bringing the three baskets of laundry from the car to the laundromat's machines and back was a man's job.  That's what my gallant thought was until I realized soon enough that I was often the only guy at the laundromat doing the  chore.

Such a winning idea should have been one to count as part of the many hardships one had to endure in times like these but I did not want it to be. It was an opportunity for social exploration and an informal study of one human experience hardly discussed or often ignored.

First this.  The dry cleaning and laundry service industry in the U.S. had revenues topping 10 billion dollars in 2016.  The laundromat - a self service washing and drying business - was at about 5 billion dollars annually.  For perspective, there are 44 countries in the world with GDP (gross domestic product) under 5 billion dollars a year.  And there are a dozen countries at the lowest rung where their GDP is under a billion dollars!

It is conceivable that in the developed world many may never in their lives experience using the services of a laundromat.  Clearly, very few will recall that the laundry machines of old were coin operated. I knew that well when on the first year as new immigrants we live in an apartment complex that had for its selling point a laundry service onsite in one of its premises. I remember it like it was yesterday when during wash day my wife and I would go during weekends or evenings down the stairs through a winding path to get to the laundry "center". With a coffee can full of quarters and our own detergents.  I don't recall that there were fabric softeners then.

Photos below are just miniscule examples of how people, perhaps in half  of the world, do their laundry routinely, today.  I do not have a single reason, not even one odd miserable excuse, to feel disadvantaged or be tormented by the thought that now I had to drive 25 minutes to get to a laundromat.

When I saw the photos above, to grumble is a verb that should never be part of the lexicon in the developed and western world.  To complain about washing clothes when technically all of that is done by machines that are now equipped with so much computing power that  was not even possible for the average person during the years when the world first witnessed Neil Armstrong and others went to and landed on the moon.  Truthfully, the moon lander was designed by engineers wielding slide rules and using paper spreadsheets.

The 25 cent coin-operated machines are gone.  You can still bring quarters (25 cent coins) but the attendant will have to exchange them with paper bills for insertion to a receptacle and issues you a "Cyber Laundry Card".  You can use a debit card directly on the machines.  If you put in a ten dollar bill, you get an eleven dollar credit, or twenty-two dollars on a twenty dollar bill.  Do you know what it gives you? A whopping 10 % return on your money. What bank gives you that?  From the address, one sees that the laundromat is on another city from where we live.  But I am still not complaining about having to drive over there.

I was slow on my first attempt to operate the machines.  Although, often there were first timers too who would seek assistance on the intricacies of the system.  But it didn't take long to acquire because the machines proved to be idiot proof.

One lady came in with laundry that needed seven machines.  She was on the phone, even while interacting with the laundromat assistant. During all that time that she was loading the machines, putting on the required detergents and fabric softener and bleach, she never put the phone down.  She raised multi-tasking to another level.  How she kept the conversation going without missing the flow of the exchange was worthy of a study on how to effectively curb "attention deficit disorder".  Forgive me for eavesdropping on her but what was there to do besides watching the machine spin, rinse and spin even more furiously to a crescendo until, "Cycle is Done, Thank you" prompts you to go ahead and open the latch.

One other time, it was last Saturday, there was only one car in the parking spaces in front of the laundromat before I eased mine in.  As I entered I heard two people in a very animated conversation at one corner lined with tables for folding laundry.  I did my routine - looking like I really knew what I was doing, clearly far from the novice that I was on my first day.  Although I wish there was someone with me to hold a conversation with while doing the mundane task. Two people talking continued with nary an interruption.  I needed to go to the restroom, so I had to go through the area where the two were talking.  To my surprise, there was only one lady there busily but neatly organizing her laundry in well-ordered stacks. Her phone was on speaker and her conversant companion was obviously, wirelessly somewhere else.  Technology put to such work as to make work go by quickly.  For her, anyway.

Now the modern laundromats look like these.  I took these photos of "Stop N Wash".  But there is more to be said.

 

It is clean, well lit, and even the rest room is clean.

Contrast the last three photos to the above.  How on earth can anyone drive himself or herself to whine or groan over going to the laundromat?  I know I will be going again next week until we get our plumbing fixed completely.  

A dose of perspective is always the best motivator.  I always say, that no matter how bad your situation might be, somehow there is always one other worse than what you have.  If you don't see one, imagine there is one  because somewhere in one spot of the world, someone there wishes he or she has your problems.