By Ally Hull
Contributing Writer

Recently I had a very irritating experience in the laundry room, and I’m sure I’m not the only one this has happened to. Every time I do laundry I set an alarm on my phone to remind me to come back when the cycle is finished. I return to the laundry room immediately after the alarm goes off. I’m very punctual—I’m very aware that I’m not the only person who might be doing laundry at the time. So maybe it was naive of me to think that no one would consider touching my clothes because I wasn’t there the second the machine turned off.

The alarm goes off for my dryer. I proceed to leave my room, go down two flights of stairs and enter the laundry room. Probably takes me 30 seconds total. I do not expect to see my laundry basket already filled for me, and a stranger currently loading her own clothes into the same dryer. Awkward.
I suppose I should be grateful that at least this person put my clothes in my laundry basket. We’ve all heard the horror stories of people walking in on strangers dumping their still-wet clothes on the floor. And if I walk in on you removing my clothes from the machines, I will be giving you the eye.
There’s really no excuse for it. If the laundry room is crowded, that’s one thing. I understand that everyone has their routines and nobody likes waiting. But seriously. You can wait 30 seconds for me to leave my room, walk down the stairs, and enter the laundry room so I can take my own clothes out of the dryer? Especially when the laundry room is not busy. So my suggestion would be that the next time you’re in a hurry to do your laundry, and you see that one of the machines is almost finished, give the person the benefit of the doubt. Wait a minute or two for them to remove their own laundry. Practice proper laundry room etiquette.