2008 Woodie Awards
Laundry
Jen McLeer
Issue date: 11/3/04 Section: Perspectives
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When I think about the newfound responsibilities that go along with attending college, I cannot think of a more annoying task than having to do my laundry. It seems like whenever I want to wear something, it is dirty. Not because I am lazy and do not want to make the effort to throw a load in the machine. Not because doing laundry is a mind boggling task that takes time, effort and brain power. But because doing laundry at this school has become such a hassle that I would rather wait it out week by week until I cannot possibly go another day without clean clothes.
Now some of you might be thinking to yourself, "Suck it up. How could doing laundry be such a hassle?" And to those of you I ask this: Have you ever naively trotted down the hallway, hamper in hand, to your floor's laundry room, only to find not only both washers being used but the times 49 minutes and 57 minutes on each drier? Causing you to have to lug your 20 pounds of laundry up and down stairs until you finally reach a floor that has a washer that is ready to be used. Now we all know that it doesn't stop there. Chances are if you have found an open washer on say the 10th floor, the only open drier will inevitably be on the 3rd floor because that is just how things seem to work out in this world. Now let's recap: We have just spent say 20 minutes in search of a washer. We will now unload our clothing into the washer, insert our coins, and pray to the patron saint of laundry that the machine doesn't overflow with soap onto the floor causing you to waste the dollar that you have inserted into the machine. If all goes well, we will wait the 26 minutes for our clothes to be washed and truck back up the stairs to the 10th floor, unload our now even heavier heap of clothing into a basket, and go on yet another search, this time for an open drier. But I will stop here, as I think that you have all gotten the concept of doing laundry on a regular day.
But most days here at Manhattan College are not regular. On any given day, there are at least 3 washers or driers malfunctioning. On more than one occasion, I have stumbled into the laundry area to find washers overflowing with soap, clearly broken or washers with paper and pen signs reading: DO NOT USE: BROKEN. In fact, I have been a resident of the 4th floor in Horan Hall every single day of my attendance at this school, and for at least 2 semesters, if not more, there has only been one functioning washer. Basically, what this tells me is that for 10 months not one sole could fix or merely take a look at this washer.
Now some of you might be thinking to yourself, "Suck it up. How could doing laundry be such a hassle?" And to those of you I ask this: Have you ever naively trotted down the hallway, hamper in hand, to your floor's laundry room, only to find not only both washers being used but the times 49 minutes and 57 minutes on each drier? Causing you to have to lug your 20 pounds of laundry up and down stairs until you finally reach a floor that has a washer that is ready to be used. Now we all know that it doesn't stop there. Chances are if you have found an open washer on say the 10th floor, the only open drier will inevitably be on the 3rd floor because that is just how things seem to work out in this world. Now let's recap: We have just spent say 20 minutes in search of a washer. We will now unload our clothing into the washer, insert our coins, and pray to the patron saint of laundry that the machine doesn't overflow with soap onto the floor causing you to waste the dollar that you have inserted into the machine. If all goes well, we will wait the 26 minutes for our clothes to be washed and truck back up the stairs to the 10th floor, unload our now even heavier heap of clothing into a basket, and go on yet another search, this time for an open drier. But I will stop here, as I think that you have all gotten the concept of doing laundry on a regular day.
But most days here at Manhattan College are not regular. On any given day, there are at least 3 washers or driers malfunctioning. On more than one occasion, I have stumbled into the laundry area to find washers overflowing with soap, clearly broken or washers with paper and pen signs reading: DO NOT USE: BROKEN. In fact, I have been a resident of the 4th floor in Horan Hall every single day of my attendance at this school, and for at least 2 semesters, if not more, there has only been one functioning washer. Basically, what this tells me is that for 10 months not one sole could fix or merely take a look at this washer.