After nearly two weeks I finally broke down and had to do some laundry. Living here at my apartment, we have an on-site laundromat. It looks like I wasn’t the only one who waited until Sunday night to do this week’s laundry. The place was packed! The more people at the laundromat, the more interesting neighbors you meet.
As I was heading to my car, I was approached by two people walking away from the building, asking me if I smoked. After stating that I didn’t they told me that they were walking to King Soopers, the closest place that sold cigarettes. They asked me if I was heading that way and if I would mind giving them a ride. I politely declined.
I felt really bad for those people. I’m blessed in my life to have never smoked a cigarette, or be addicted to tobacco (although I’ve smoke a celebratory cigar from time to time). I’ve heard from many people that quitting smoking is one the hardest things to do. I can only imagine the hold nicotine has on you, especially if it forces people to walk 1.2 miles in 12 degree weather simply to get their fix. It’s sad really.
As bad as I felt, I didn’t want to help them in their addiction. I don’t want to come off as mean – I would have gladly opened up my home if they needed a place to warm up, even serve them something warm to eat or drink. I would have been happy to give them a ride if they needed to go get food or supplies – or even a nicotine patch. It just didn’t sit right with me to aid them giving their money (and their health) to the tobacco companies. A part of me hopes that as they’re walking in the cold they’re conversation will shift to questioning why they’re doing this. It’s sad really…
I go into the laundromat and there’s a guy in there interrogating everyone about his lost hat. As I walk in he asks me if I had seen it. After responding that I didn’t he proceeds to tell everyone where he was doing his laundry, then asked me again if I had seen it. My answer hadn’t changed. After being questioned a third time he finally left. I guess that he asked the people already in there an additional three times and was just being rude about the whole thing.
What was he expecting? That on the third time I would have said “Just kidding! Here it is!”. I’m sorry the guy lost his hat, and I’m sorry if it was stolen. It’s part of the risk of doing your laundry in a public setting. The girl who had been sitting there for an hour doing crossword puzzles didn’t have any sympathy for him either. If the hat’s that important and you need to wash it, then stay with your laundry. I thought you were supposed to wash you hat in the dishwasher anyway. Maybe the smokers took it. We said that to him, so maybe the hat guy will give the smokers a ride after he tracks them down.