To My Neighbor With Such Terrible Laundry Etiquette...

When I first came down to the laundry room (albeit about 5 minutes late) to move my load over and saw that you had strewn my wet clothes all over the counter and floor, I was pretty pissed at you. I understand that your laundry needs far surpass those of any others in the building, and my clothes were done. You were completely within your rights to move them. It was just so awesome that you were able to sense that I was having a bad week, and instead of exerting the extra effort to move my laundry into the available dryer directly above, just threw my wet clothes where ever they landed, so long as they were out of YOUR washing machine. What's one more annoyance?

I came back upstairs on a tear, and wailed to Ben about how inconsiderate you were. I contemplated several retaliations: perhaps trying to rush back down to the basement before you, leave your clothes on the floor, and flee before you had a chance to see me, or leaving a post-it on the door of the washer, reminding you that "YOU ARE AN ASS." I was actually rather partial to the post-it plan, and in fact, I almost did it.

But then I remembered.

I remembered a nasty note that I once received from a housemate of Ben's. She left a note on my windshield, explaining in unnecessary detail, what a bitch I was for parking incorrectly in the driveway. I think the note served its purpose- I was very careful about my parking from then on, and to this day, I cannot think about that note without feeling a little guilty. I remembered that note, and I decided that I did not want to be responsible for you feeling that way. It was just a parking space. It's just laundry.

So, I want to thank you, unknown neighbor, because your crappiness reminded me how very important it is to be kind. And when I went down to get my dry clothes, saw that your load had finished, there was another woman waiting for your machine, and that you were nowhere in sight, I resisted the urge to pull all of YOUR clothes out of the washer and fling them around the room. Instead, I moved your clothes into the readily available adjacent dryer- the same dryer that you could have used to put my wet clothes in, but couldn't be bothered to. For all I know, you've had a week that was every bit as horrific as mine, and maybe pulling my clothes out of the washer was therapeutic. Maybe my miniscule act of kindness will help turn your Friday night around.

Or at the very least, save you the trouble of moving your laundry around.

Thank you for reminding me how much better it is to be kind, even when being nasty is oh-so tempting.

Sincerely,

6D