Wednesday, March 18, 2009

It has happened - our own Swiss Laundry Nightmare

I returned home last night from an awesome night out in Zurich to find a letter from one of our neighbors regarding the state in which we supposedly left the laundry room.

I read about the dreaded laundry issues of many other expats and was hoping this day would never come, but alas, we have screwed up in the eyes of our neighbors and they are threatening to go to management if we don't get our act in gear.

While I got the letter at 10 pm last night and didn't want to wake anyone, I kindly wrote back a letter and pasted it to their door at 11 pm, saying that we did not mean to cause them any upset and that I will come by tonight to discuss the situation and ways in which we can do better to keep the laundry room clean. I am hoping to avoid any further confrontations with the neighbor, as although we are not sure whether we actually dirtied the place or not, we don't need or want any neighborly strite...

Ahh, the joys of a shared laundry room in the immaculately clean Switzerland.

Stay tuned... I hope that the rest of this story is rather uneventful, but you never know, do you, when it comes to the Swiss and their laundry.

10 comments:

Tina said...

I sympathize! Truely.

Do you not have a concierge of the building to clean the room once a week?

I didn't realize cleaning the laundry room was such a big deal. There's not much to it.... lint balls must terrify them!

Jessica said...

Thanks.

I thought we were doing a fine job of removing the lint trap and making sure all the filters and things were cleaned and properly placed outside of the machines for the next person to use...

Jace and I are going to ask the neighbor to show us what needs to be cleaned better, then we are going to take photos of the maschine after each wash to prove that we are following the recommended cleaning guidelines.

So stressful...

And yes, we do have someone that cleans the room!!!

So, so stressful...

Anonymous said...

when you want revenge on him.....i know some really funny things...

;)

ask me :)

M'dame Jo said...

"I thought we were doing a fine job of removing the lint trap and making sure all the filters and things were cleaned and properly placed outside of the machines for the next person to use..."

That's all you're supposed to do... and the concierge does the rest (floor and all) unless you flood the room or something.

No matter what you did (or didn't do), I think it's quite rude from your neighbor to give you an "it's enough" letter. First, anyone may have used the room in the meantime, and second, you first kindly request or warn, without directly accusing and threatening, don't you?

So, it won't help your relationship with your neighbors, but... I think the guy is an ass.

Z said...

I'm sure things will get sorted out, though I can well imagine how shaken up you must feel.

Well, you want to hear our freak story? Don't ask me how this happened, but we are one of the neatest and cleanest users of our laundry room. I've had to clean up (very unhappily) after Swiss and Germans, so that just goes to show ya! PS. We have no Hauswart, but that's another story. PPS. The aforementioned people are now cleaning up well after themselves or I've learnt to not do laundry right after they've used the machines.

Jessica said...

thanks Jo and Z... I agree with it all, especially the ass part.

What really gets me is that 1) I have never met or seen this neighbor, as far as I knew it was only a woman and a child... now the husband makes his presense known. He has never met us and writes us this letter as his introduction. NICE

And yeah, no forewarning or anything. I found out from the Management company today that they have already complained abou the messiness of the laundry but I never heard anything about it... and it could have been anyone.

Anyway, what a joy to come home to! I relate to all the neighbor horror stories now.

Chantal said...

Yep. I've been there. In fact, I was so amazed over the whole Swiss laundry experience I wrote a whole essay about it for Swiss News. If anyone needs more laundry woes to make themselves feel better, check my blog's sidebar for "My Very Own Critic". And get well soon.

M'dame Jo said...

I'm glad I have a washing machine in my apartment (and not to live in a small swiss german town)

:-P

Young Traveler said...

Oh man, have I been there. I am the queen of forgetting to take my clothes out of the dryer. You can imagine the frenzy this works my Swiss neighbors into.

Best of luck!

naechstehaltestelle said...

Hate...doing...laundry...in... Switzerland. Many a time I have found all my stuff on top of the washer at 5:05 when I had the washer until 5.

 

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