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?
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 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.
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
Because some of those angry lonely people are writers, and they have a lot of time to think.
Correct answer.
The people there are mainly bored because they are waiting. And sometimes creativity arises out of boredom.
Daydream, “lots of time to ‘daydream’”
Let’s be honest half the stuff a guy writes is about how to win a girl over and the other half is having sex with said girl.
I want to know what TV shows you are watching
Most of the stuff I watch have something bad happen in a laundromat, like getting chased by armed thugs
I feel like it’s kind of a meet-cute trope in older sitcoms
The laundromat has angry people who don’t want to be there,
I live in a college town. The laundromat nearest me has a bar.
Or maybe it’s a bar with a laundromat as lots of stains happen in bars.
I’ve seen one laundromat/bar like that, and instantly thought it was genius.
I miss Sit and Spin in downtown Seattle. Cafe in the front, bar and event venue in the back and laundry on the side.
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
Remember the Levi’s classic ad 1985, now I feel old.
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.
Wow, what kind of lame laundromats have you been visiting?
My last three laundromat visits involved anal.
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.
The scientific reason is that the 350 watt drum connected to the dryer motor vibrates at 55 hertz which stimulates the female solar plexus. This creates a chain reaction and urges males to assert dominance and proceed with a mating ritual. When you combine this with the enticingly large sums of cash at a typical laundromat, you can see this is a devastating combination. The scantily clad hot body people is a side effect, not the cause.
That reads like something out of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Yeah I’m tired of all this laundromat sexy-washing.
It’s kind of what I liked about Baby Driver, the movie acknowledges that a laundromat is kind of a weird place to hang out for a date, but the awkwardness lets the passionate feelings they have for each other shine through.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Yeah, watched it with my wife and we both said roughly WTF was that after it ended
Sorta related, enjoy…
“Anything and everything all of the time”
Bo Burnham - Welcome to the Internet
When they announced that movie won at the Oscars, I swear I thought what they were trying to say was that all the movies won.
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.
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.
Something similar in Columbus. I’ve never washed clothes there, but I have been to punk shows there
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.
It makes me wonder how many people don’t own washing machines. I mean I consider that was essential as a fridge.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Some charity events actually allow people to have community laundry day in certain cities across the US
