10.09.2006

tiny bubbles

at the suds n' duds this weekend, some guy overfilled his washer with detergent. and by overfilled, i mean totally disregarded the big signs on each washer with the accompany garden gnome that says "do not use more than 1/4 cup of detergent or this whole place will wash away in one big fell swoop and all that will remain will be your soapy clothes." right, so the guy put in his quarters, soap, and left. 10 minutes later, soap starts busting out of every crevice, down the washer, and onto the floor. i kept waiting for them to all spring together and create some kind of soapy terminator or frothy ectoplasm thing from ghostbusters because of course that always happens at the laundromat when there's an excess of bubbles and imagination.

the whole over-suds event reminded me of a sleepover i had when i was little (6th grade, maybe?), where someone (and it very likely could have been me) had loaded the dishwasher with lots of grubby pots, pans, plates, and most likely regular soap instead of dishwasher soap, and 20 minutes later my slumber party had turned into a slip-n-slide kitchen fiasco. but hey, at least we were 15 clean tweens livin' it up on a saturday night.

so when the guy finally returned, he looked at his washer full of bubbles, shrugged his shoulders, put more quarters into the coin slot, and walked out of the lovely establishment, as if this always happens to him and everyone else all the time. buddy, soapy, sopping, sudsy sweaters are not the norm here. now, personally, i would have taken my foaming garments and put them into a different washer as that seems simple enough. or even asked someone else "hey, what happened?" 'cause then hopefully some nice, kind, attentive neighbor would have said "you over-detergented (new verb here!) your load!" (and totally in reference to the laundry) but the guy just ran the cycle and left. so why would i feel inclined to hobble after him, two crutches, an immobile leg, and one semi-working one, yelling "you really should switch washers, sir! here, let me help you learn how to perform this basic weekly (hopefully) chore." instead, i felt like maybe i deserved a good chuckle. and of course, a few minutes later, the same thing happened. suds suds suds suds suds. out the detergent slot and the door and onto the floor. at least we now know of one corner in the laundromat that's clean enough to eat off of now.

another bonus from this whole event: when we got home from our cleansing afternoon, we saw the detroit tigers eliminate the yankees from the playoffs. which means we're going to the tuesday a's home game! whoopee!

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