So last night, I did my laundry. I put two loads in the washing machines and went back up to my apartment to put dinner together. When I finished my dinner, I walked back downstairs to put my clothes in the dryer. Then I went upstairs and snuggled with the kitten and watched an episode of Numb3rs. I figured 40 minutes is the about right time for a dryer cycle. So when the show was over, I tromped back downstairs to fold my laundry.
When I walked into the laundry room (which you have to have a key to get into), there was a girl standing by the dryers. All of my clothes were on top of the dryers. This didn't strike me as weird at all, because I had myself just moved someone's wash out of the washing machine so I could use it. The girl kind of started when I walked in and said, "Oh, is this yours?" I replied in the affirmative and assured that it was cool, I know how it is when you need to use the machine. She mumbled something about bringing stuff over from a storage unit and beat a hasty retreat. I told her to have a good night because I'm super polite like that & I started to fold my clothes.
I'm not sure when exactly I realized that I was missing things. I think the first thing I noticed that was missing was a pair of running tights. The ones I wore on my 11 mile run yesterday. I frowned, looked through the pile of stuff. Then I realized the hot pink workout tank I'd ALSO worn yesterday on my run was gone. And as I was pawing through my clothes, noticed that my Doctor Who tshirt from Threadless was not present.
Let me back up again real quick. So, here's the deal with the laundry room in my new building. One of the washing machines is $1.50/load, the other is $1.75. I don't know why. There are three dryers and two of them are $1.25/load and one of them is $1.50. Obviously people all want to use the cheaper machines, myself included. Before I realized that my clothes were missing, I was perturbed because someone had removed my load of darks from the dryer before they were dry. My jeans & a maxi dress & my uniform dress were all still really damp. So I was pissed because I thought someone had taken my stuff out & put their stuff in, on my money. That machine was done. So when I saw that my clothes were gone, my immediate thought was that the rude person who stole my machine out from under me had been in a big hurry and hadn't gotten all of my clothes out before s/he put his/her clothes in. Well, I found a pair of stretch pants that I hadn't noticed yet were missing. But that was it. Plus, the Doctor Who shirt was in with the loads of lights, which had been in the other machine.
So I opened the other machine, the machine that I remember the girl from earlier closing. It was empty. So then I started to get that bad feeling. I only interacted with that girl for maybe 20 seconds, but the whole thing had been weird to me. If she had needed the machine, why were the clothes in one of the machines already done and why were the other two empty? I'm pretty sure that she had been going through my clothes, picking out what she wanted. It was about this time that I realized I was ALSO missing a pair of jeans, my Express skinny jeans. Later I also noticed one of my white v-neck t-shirts was missing. I think that's all that was taken.
I put up signs all over the building, listing the things that were taken and asking whoever took them to please return them. I'm pretty sure the chances of that are slim, but this morning I noticed there was ANOTHER note next to mine, from a girl in another unit who ALSO had things stolen from her in the laundry room. So, clearly this is not an isolated incident. I'm going to file a police report and encourage the other girl to do the same, if she hasn't.
Maybe I am just incredibly lucky, but this is the first time I've had something stolen from me. I was almost pick-pocketed twice when I was studying abroad in Italy, but both times, I realized what was going on and I confronted the pick-pocketer. My mom loves to tell the story of the time it happened with her. She says she's never seen me get so angry so fast. But you know, these are MY things. No one else has a right to take them. And I just feel so violated. At first I thought I was over-reacting to five items being taken from me, but I've since decided that, No. I am not over-reacting. Someone took things that didn't belong to him/her. And s/he's done it before. And s/he will do it again. And if I don't file a police report and if I don't go to the management company, nothing will ever come of it. And maybe nothing will come of it still, but at least I've acted.
Now let's all take a moment of silence for the items that will probably never grace this blog again.
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