Laundromat Loyalty: Wealthy Patrons Reject In-Home Machines
A Las Vegas taxi driver and a wealthy friend confess they prefer public laundry rooms despite owning private units, challenging suburban assumptions.
By Imani Donovan ·
87 pairs of unwashed underwear define the author’s college era, a number she cites to explain her aversion to public laundry facilities.
During a taxi ride in Las Vegas last weekend, the driver and a passenger in the back seat revealed a shared affection for laundromats. The author, who resides in a small suburban tract house with both a washer and dryer, expressed surprise at this preference.
The passenger, described as wealthy, admits to visiting public laundromats even though she owns a home with functioning machines. A short circuit in her dryer years ago caused a small fire, and she chose to stop using the appliance rather than call an electrician.
She enjoys the atmosphere of a room filled with students, fast-food workers, and apartment dwellers. The passenger also appreciates the strong scent of detergent and the physical act of defending her space from others. Her preferred location doubles as a bar where she can consume a margarita while waiting for her clothes.
The author contrasts this with her own experience, noting she would rather buy new underwear than stand in a room of machines hoping to have enough quarters. She recalls a scene from the 1994 sitcom “Friends” where the character Ross teaches Rachel how to use a Manhattan laundromat, a memory that aligns with her college years.
Nowadays, the author relies on local laundry services for her travel needs. She keeps enough clothing for only five days in her luggage, knowing she can find a place to wash them. She recently stayed in an apartment hotel in Madrid with a washer-dryer combo in the kitchen, but she and a friend struggled to operate the dryer and hung their clothes on the balcony instead.
She also had her clothes cleaned by Masai women on a safari in Kenya, where the garments were pounded on a rock and dried in the sun. The author maintains that laundromats are part of the college experience, similar to drinking beer from red Solo cups at parties. She invites readers to submit endings to the column via email to mfisher@scng.com.
Source: The San Bernardino Sun
