Gravity is interesting in this case because that initial load of laundry will draw additional missing socks, boxers and a T-shirt or two.

Every laundry room I have ever been associated with has been a contradiction of fundamentals. Dirty clothes are taken out of a clean bedroom and whisked away to a filthy dungeon from which they emerge unsoiled.

It requires a fairly small effort to maintain the cleanliness of a space whose primary inputs and outputs include hot water, soap, fabric softener, dryer sheets and clean clothes — however that is not the case.

The primary driver is the laziness of tenants who share this common space.

To say the least is to say that there are a few different timelines converging to form these places.

The washing machines and dryers all seem to have been from the Sears’ museum line, shoddy lighting, decrepit walls (and windows if applicable), pipes — both vertical and horizontal — that seem to be doing something important, a table that spit could improve, enough spider webs to end insects as we know them, a floor that makes Buffalo Bill’s basement look state of the art, and mice.

There is a definite commonality to cement the laziness. Initially, the only time another tenant’s clothes are seen is if those clothes are waiting in either the washing machine or dryer.

I’m never sure what to do when it is the dryer because the cycle is over and the clothes are dry, but I’ll wait. I remove and place the clothes on the table if they are not out of the dryer after the arbitrary probationary period. This seems like the modus operandi because it has happened to me when I forget about a load.

I will collect my clothes at some point because they are, in fact, my clothes and I have enjoyed wearing them in the past and will again.

But every year someone will just never reclaim a full load of laundry. Bastardized clothes will decorate the table until the lease expires. Gravity is interesting in this case because that initial load of laundry will draw additional missing socks, boxers and a T-shirt or two.

What is the motivation behind someone writing-off their own clothes? I have to believe that this person has indeed come back to the laundry room to do other loads for several reasons.

First and foremost, I have never witnessed anyone walking around naked in any of my apartment buildings. This means someone has gone to the laundry room with other clothes in need of a washing and seen his or her own clothes and turned his or her head the other way.

Perhaps the most entertaining part is the fact that at some point the conglomeration will start to diminish. Which means either the owner finally became motivated to reclaim his or her property or someone else has developed a love for some foreign pieces of clothing.

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