jaleengrove

In Which Bad Customer Service, Selfish Property Owners, the Kindness of Strangers, and an Oncoming Train all Play a Part.


Landlords here are very spoilt. Among other versions of Truth my landlady relayed when I called about the apartment, I was told the laundromat was just around the corner. She gave to understand it was about a block away. It is, as the crow flies. But it is a 20-minute walk involving a highway with no sidewalk, a hill, and Long Island drivers who are so unused to pedestrians that they forget to yield to them. Or, a 10 minute walk with hill, indeterminate wait, and 2 minute bus ride for one stop, on a bus line that only goes once an hour.

The first load of laundry I did by hand in the bathtub and dried laid out on the lawn in the back yard. Meanwhile, I regularly hear the landlady do her laundry in washing machines on the other side of my bathroom wall.

Not having time to hand wash everything, the second load I bundled into my carry-on rolling suitcase and trundled up said highway to the laundromat in what is basically a huge long U-turn: down my street, turn right for a short distance that takes me under the railroad tracks via a 1-car wide underpass with no sidewalk, turn right again and keep walking back, parallel to the street I live on. I intended to double up grocery shopping and take a cab home, for about $7. On the way I passed by a dense wilderness, fenced in, that is presumably owned by Renaissance Technologies, whose entrance finally appears just before I get to the shopping centre and laundromat.

Google Renaissance Tech and you'll find they are Evil. They are worth billions, more than many a small poor country. They make money by employing computers and fancy number-crunching in order to diddle the stock market. Frankly, I'm surprised they're legal - but I'm sure all the heads of state have investments with them. Really, "Feudal Technologies" would be a better name.

Looking on a satellite map, I could theoretically slip out the back yard of my home, trot down the tracks (or through the bush beside them), and then shortcut through RT's groomed lawns and tennis courts and be at the laundromat in about 7 minutes. It would give me great pleasure to trespass with dirty laundry under the noses of RT personnel, who presumably have their noses in martini glasses of pearls dissolved in vinegar or whatever it is they have for apertifs there.

It irks me in an outraged, moralistic way that this entire community is intentionally designed to discourage walking. A big long suburban crescent such as the one my dingy basement apartment is one ought to have a public right of way to neighbouring crescents and the local shops.

I get to the laundromat, which is staffed by about 5 older Asian women who are crouched on the floor, backs against humming machines, eating noodles and rice. They are friendly, and I get down to doing the laundry and nipping over to the food stores as loads cycle. I bring my groceries back and as the last load finishes, call the local cab. They say they'll come get me.

I wait.

Half an hour.

Then I call to see if they're coming. THIS is when they tell me they're very busy and they will be a little bit longer!

I wait.

Another half hour.

Groceries thoroughly warm, meat and all.

I go in the laundromat where the ladies express shock: "STILL no taxi?!" they exclaim. They offer me the use of thier phone, since I was out of quarters. I call - automatically put on hold. Try another 2 companies - all busy, but at least THEY had the courtesy to tell me so. I ask the laundry ladies if one of them could give me a ride - I offer $10. "Sorry... our boss drops us off - no car."

An aside - who is this pimp of a boss?? The laundromat's hours are 8am - 9pm!

I stand outside, having to pee, anxious, distressed. A lady comes out - "Why don't you ask the other customer? She's very nice." She leads me inside, and asks this customer - who turns out to be a fellow student. She does indeed drive me home, a five minute trip, tops. I give her $10, which she takes without hesitation. This surprised me a bit - in her shoes, fellow student and all, I'd have refused. But this is Long Island - people have absolutely no clue what it is like to be without a car. So, 1hr 40 mins to do chores, not including walking, and 1 hr 40 mins waiting for a ride. Shoulda just hand washed again.

That was yesterday. Today, I went through a gap in the fence to see about breaking a trail to the laundromat. First obstacle - the bush here is prickly!! There are these big trees that resemble roses by the leaves and trailing stems, but are built like serious trees. They have SPIKES, not thorns. Also, Himalayan blackberries. And another thorny sparse shrub that looks vaguely like Mountain Ash by its leaves. It took me 15 minutes to clear may way to the railroad tracks, a distance of about two meters.

I got to the tracks, flagged my spot so I could find it again. And began wandering down the tracks to where I know RT's back lawn almost comes right up. Now, the train here goes unevenly, but about twice an hour on Sundays. It is short - only about 2-3 cars plus the engine, or two engines if it is a bigger train, and moves VERY fast. But I've been around trains - I figured I could hear it coming.

Well, I can't. For all that it is thunderingly noisy, like a badly tuned tractor trailer using engine brakes, one CANNOT hear it coming in advance. The tracks began the characteristic squealing that they do when the train is 10 seconds away - and I turned, and was amazed that I could already see it, triple-bulbed headlight blazing toward me. I jumped off the tracks into the bushes, luckily avoiding prickles, and pulled a branch in front of me in hopes of not being spotted. Too late. Before I had even settled, the conductor began sounding the whistle at me angrily.

The train crackled by about 7 seconds later. I emerge, a little unnerved. I decide that's enough illegal activity, and head back home, only 40 seconds away. Didn't get far. I think I am resigned to forgoing the shortcut, no matter how righteous it would be to make one. Probably good - I could be deported for such things.

But what about the laundry? I find the situation untenable. I'm going to have to look into getting an apartment size washing machine - which galls me, as it means participating in the consumerist society that Renaissance Technologies preys upon.

Jerks!