Everybody always presents laundromats in tv shows and movies as this sexy place where you meet horny singles who aren’t wearing underwear because it’s in the wash.
But in real life, that just isn’t true. The laundromat has angry people who don’t want to be there, and nobody EVER has sex, or takes their clothes off.
So why are laundromats always presented like that?
Remember the Levi’s classic ad 1985, now I feel old.
Don’t believe everything you see on TV. There’s a reason it’s called “the idiot box”.
The idiot box, now there’s a term that’s a few generations old. TVs aren’t really boxes anymore, so… The idiot panel?
Because it smells like home
In my town, junkies hang out at the laundromat begging for money. The cops show up regularly and haul them off. I saw prostitutes outside of it once, too
Oh my pearls!! Are you ok
Bud, if you’ve ever encountered an angry meth zombie trapped in an enclosed space with you, you’d know the pain.
I’m a recovering meth addict. Eat shit.
Congrats on recovering. Doesn’t give you an excuse to be a bitch though.
Congrats on being privileged to never need to go through that hell, and talking down to those who did.
I don’t need to justify myself to you, but my response to the other poster was completely valid. If he’s using terms like “meth zombies” and denigrating public facilities that allow addicts to enter because of their presence then he deserves every ounce of contempt he gets.
I’ll accept a thank you for the explanation but any other response will result in a block.
Theres a difference between addicts and junkies. Junkies have my empathy but I really understand why someone wouldn’t want to spend prolonged times in the same space with one.
It’s a fantasy. If you lived in Hollowoodland where everyone is beautiful, wouldn’t you want them all to be in their underwear, sweat glistening on their bare skin, getting all hot and bothered? It sure would beat the reality where everyone is ugly, fully clothed and just wants to get the fuck outta there ASAP.
I mean you can’t have a rags to riches romance take place where all the riches are.
In all seriousness, it’s probably the culture. A lot of countries/cities do have settings where laundromats are slightly less angry because it’s the preferred norm for getting things done.
That, sadly, does not include my local laundromat, which I’m reluctant to tend to during late hours. One could say it’s like the real Five Nights at Freddy’s there.
I think it’s because they are a setting where people are there for a separate purpose to meeting a partner, which allows for romance to be portrayed as spontaneous. Also, clothes (particularly underwear, pyjamas and towels) come into contact with the body and imply intimacy.
Because people who never needed to use an annoying thing like to imagine and romantize how they would use it. Completely ignoring reality.
I hate how tv seems to be written by people who have no idea how regular people live. Like how in tv shows, people pop in on someone at home and person is fully made up and dressed, and their homes are always spotless. You pop in on me unexpected and I’m going to be in my boxer briefs, angry that I’m being disturbed, and there are kids toys and laundry all over the living room
I think it’s more that if TV was just real life nobody would watch it
I actually love shoes like Sopranos that pay attention to those details. Why is the soprano home so clean? They have a maid. Then Tony moves out into his mom’s old place and it’s a shit show, dishes, pizza boxes and beer bottles everywhere. Clothes all over the floor
I always found it funny how writers portray themselves as upper middle class in New York living in in apartment only the top 1% of writers can afford when the reality is the opposite.
Is this about My Beautiful Laundrette?
aren’t wearing underwear because it’s in the wash
??? Do these people only have one paif of underwear??
Hey everyone! Take a look at mister “I have two pairs of underwear” over here!
Sometimes, just for a lark, I wear both pairs at the same time! Hahahahaha!
I have multiple pairs of underwear but I hate h going to a laundromat, so I used to wait until I was absolutely out of everything and the clothes I was wearing were oversoiled.
I have laundry facilities at home now, but when I’m double-plus depressed, I still will wait until I have absolutely nothing to wear.
I have zero paifs of underwear.
This was the norm far longer than not. Only nobles rich enough to have washer servants would wear undergarments. The rest of us enjoyed brisk breezes betwixt our nethers.
Same
It makes me wonder how many people don’t own washing machines. I mean I consider that was essential as a fridge.
Definitely more common in suburban areas with more single family homes or places with larger apartments.
That said, having to drag all your laundry down to the laundromat or building laundry is very inconvenient and sucks up a lot of time. I don’t miss that at all.
I mean…it’s getting harder and harder to buy a house as an individual. Apartment living is very real. And if you rent in a duplex, you’re not going to buy a washer/dryer.
So…yeah. I’d say not owning washer/dryer starts becoming more common if you’re under 45, and gets more common the younger you go.
I mean I get that, certainly within the context of the last five years, but laundromats were a staple of American tv since the eighties I feel (that’s at least what American tv I’ve seen).
Then again I’m almost in that age bracket you mentioned. Laundromats aren’t a common where I live, though. There’s more nowadays, due to the changes you mentioned, but it’s not nearly a common aspect of life.
laundromats were a staple of American tv since the eighties I feel (that’s at least what American tv I’ve seen).
A lot of American TV takes place in NYC, and there just isn’t room for lots of apartments to have washers and dryers in NYC. Buildings might have a laundry room, or you go to a laundromat.
Do your landlords not have any requirements to provide even a communal washing machine? In Sweden, and probably most other countries, the law says you have to have it within reasonable distance, otherwise the apartment isn’t considered “livable”.
THe owner of my laundromat claims that it’s cheaper to do your laundry there than at home. At first i thought “of course a laundromat owner would say that”, but then he argued that his machines are more efficient than the ones we buy and that they are collectively heated.
I still think he’s fulll of shit because he only argued about energy costs, not including his rent taxes or profit; but it did get me thinking that it would be cheaper and more efficient to wash our clothes collectively.
Some charity events actually allow people to have community laundry day in certain cities across the US
I had to use laundromat for several months in 2021 when my appliances were destroyed and supply chain issues left me stranded for about 6 months.
Anyways, they are expensive as fuck and more importantly, a huge time sink.
The time sink is honestly the biggest part. At least when you’re doing laundry at home, you can do other things while you wait on the laundry. At a laundromat, there’s not much to do except maybe bring an iPad or e-reader. Once you’re done folding your current load of laundry, you’re just kind of stuck waiting for the next load to be done.
It always feels a little bit like when you show up 2 hours early for your flight, but then there’s no line at security and you get to your terminal in like 5 minutes. There’s nothing to do except wait. At least at home, you could go hop on your computer and get some work done, get some other cleaning done, or boot up a game console.
If you’re washing one load at a time at the laundromat, you’re doing it wrong. The one benefit of them is that you can do a lot of loads in parallel.
Depends on how busy the laundromat is. In an ideal world, yes you’re correct. But there are some days where you’re lucky to grab a single washer and dryer.
He’s also ignoring the cost of your time. At home I can do other chores or whatever I want as the washer and dryer go. At the laundromat I’m sitting there on my phone waiting. Also transporting the dirty clothes is a pain in the ass with a car, I’d hate it so much if I didn’t have one.
Cheap apartments sometimes don’t have them. My first apartment had neither a laundry machine nor a dishwasher (I honestly consider the latter more critical). I’ve also had in building shared washing machines which also sucked but sucked significantly less
I’ve definitely experienced romance in a laundromat, it was a place where I had basically nothing but time and was freshly out on my own. It was a place I could focus on texting someone I was falling for.
Also it’s one of those things I will struggle to avoid any chance I can get in the future because that time translated to an hour and a half long chore that’s mostly waiting where I couldn’t do much else. It fucking sucked lol.
Oh also there’s a bar with live music in a laundromat that I’ve been to, alcohol and punk music can definitely up the vibes
I used to go to this Laundromat and next door to it was a good burger joint that served beer and had great food. Inside the burger joint was a light up board with all the laundromat machines and they would light up green when your load was complete. Must have been owned by the same people and it was a great business model. I’d go have a burger and beer every other week and watch tv in the burger joint till the light told me my stuff was ready
Wow, what kind of lame laundromats have you been visiting?
My last three laundromat visits involved anal.
They did? Try cleaning out better before the anal so the bedding doesn’t get messy.
Nah, it just felt like it because it costs so much to start the machine.
Just put a few quarters in her
You’re supposed to remove your clothes from your anus before you go to the laundromat.
I won’t make that mistake again.
Seattle used to have a combination laundromat/bar that was called Sit and Spin.
Never had a chance to go. I imagine it was a very horny place. Also at the time median age in Seattle was like 23.
I lived downtown Seattle in the 90s, close enough we just walked to Sit and Spin with our laundry. Best way to do laundry ever.
Also they were reasonably priced since they made most of their money off the cafe (which had really good food).
I’ll have some of those memories for life.
Seems like a brilliant idea. There should be more laundromats with liquor licenses.
Be the change you want to see. Strip naked in the laundromat, lead by example…
