In a big building? Or at a launderette?

I wait 10 to 15 minutes, and then I take their clothes out of the machine and put mine in.

If it's wet clothes, I make sure to find something to set them on or in that is clean. I will wash off the top of the washer, or maybe even put their clothes in my clothesbasket.

If it's a dryer I'm emptying, I do the "clean surface" thing, but I have also been known to fold their laundry so it won't wrinkle. And since I'm standing there, it keeps me from being bored.

I'm in an owner-occupied co-op now, and it's a small bldg, so it's not too hard to know who it is. If I were in a small rental, it would also be easy to figure out whose stuff it is. I will go call them or knock on their door. or I'll give them 20 to 30 minutes, if I have the time to spare.

Take the clothes out of the dryer.

Fold them neatly.

Place the underwear on top for all to see.

Talley Sue is nicer than I am. I wait 5 minutes, mostly because there is nothing to do while waiting in a laundry room and also because the laundry room is in the basement and is really creepy.

I also put the clothes in a clean place or in the other person's laundry basket if it's there.

I don't take clothes out of the dryer before it stops, the way someone else in my old apartment building used to do. (The dryer took 45 minutes. I would go back to my apartment and set the timer for 40 minutes. I always got back to the laundry room before the dryer shut off. So when my clothes were in a damp, soggy heap on top of the dryer, it was not because I was late getting my stuff out of the dryer.)

I come back later when the machines are empty. There is no way IÂm touching someone elseÂs underwear clean or not.

If the clothes in the dryer were dry, I would neatly fold them!!

i wait a few minutes and then take their things out.

the thing that bothers me most though, is when one person uses all the washers. I live in a 70 unit building, with only 3 washers and 3 dryers. Not enough. It drives me NUTS when someone uses all the washers at one time.

I live in a 60-unit co-op building in Manhattan. Our laundry room has only 4 washers and 4 dryers. I take their stuff out and put it on the table. I always have cleaner and paper towel in my laundry supply bag to wipe down the table, so it's going onto a clean surface. I don't wait. I'm a New Yorker. And yes, I use all 4 washers at the same time. It's insane not to; I'm supposed to leave two or three sitting empty, doubling or tripling my laundry time, in case someone HAPPENS to come in and use the washers? I don't think so.