Wash Your Manners in the Laundry Room

Sunbeams stream through dust-filled air. Hairballs roll across tile floors like tumbleweeds. Wanted posters plaster washing machine sides, accosting alleged tank top thieves. 

When swinging open the doors to a dorm laundry room, one might feel like they’re entering the Wild West.

Loyola laundry rooms might not be tormented by a “poop bandit” anymore, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t still making a mess of things. 

A deficiency of neighborliness plagues residence hall laundry rooms. Abandoned dryer sheets lying two feet short of the trash and wet loads marooned on washer tops demonstrate disrespect of communal space and others’ personal property.

It doesn’t eat up time or energy to empty lint traps or pick up trash. Although it may be a slight inconvenience, such two-second efforts create a more enjoyable laundry experience for your dorm neighbors.

Turning these small fixes into habit benefits the custodial staff who have to remove islands of forgotten socks, hair and lint formed by repeated negligence. 

Camping out for open machines is perhaps the most egregious laundry room faux pas. Impatient dwellers stalk their prey — finished cycles — either sitting in chairs dragged in from lounges or standing defensively, watching, waiting, wishing for the timer to drop to zero.

When “OPEN DOOR” flashes on machine displays, the most zealous residents begin hastily removing another’s clothing to make room for their own.

Others might wait a few minutes for neighbors to return for their completed loads. Then, standing close, the stocking stalker will impose a stern, watchful eye as neighbors move wet clothes across the room, one heavily-judged armful at a time.

Breathing down the necks of those shifting loads doesn’t guarantee they’ll move faster— they’ll likely just be annoyed. Some might even move slower in defiance. 

And hey, I get it. I lived in Mertz Hall and dealt with sharing a singular laundry room among 17 residential floors. I know how unfair it is for neglected loads to jam machines for hours. It can be hard to establish a chore routine when others’ forgetfulness or laxity obstructs access to already limited appliances. 

It’s understandable to want your laundry done quickly, even at the inconvenience of someone else’s time or at the risk of their property. 

The excuse of efficiency shouldn’t be applied too liberally, though — your neighbors are busy too. Everyone is learning to manage their time and live on their own. We should give our neighbors grace when they come a few minutes late to move their laundry.

There are better ways to inspire improvements in laundry room efficiency. While imposing negative sanctions — like setting someone’s underwear and ancient summer camp t-shirts in a highly visible clump — might motivate students to be more prompt with returns to laundry machines, it certainly won’t bolster a sense of community.

Trust and socialization among those who live near each other has decreased over the past 50 years, according to the Institute for Family Studies. Coupled with research demonstrating substantial decreases in social engagement among current young adult populations, the decline of neighborliness has emerged as a threat to the strength of college communities. 

As students learn to function as adults, we owe it to each other to work at being good neighbors too. We can band together to spite the individualism which characterizes American culture. 

This task isn’t as unattainable as it may sound. Cultural shifts come about through small, everyday activities. Even if it’s as simple as clearing the lint trap to allow another to use the same dryer safely, repeatedly performing these modest deeds can inspire community-wide change.

So don’t wait for someone else to toss the dryer sheet in the trash. Don’t accept an unkempt laundry room as the norm. Take the steps, as inconsequential as they may seem, to help out the people you share space with. Give your neighbors grace in their errors, and allow them to learn alongside you how compassionate communities are created.