I'm Down With AARP.......

......yeah you know me! Well not yet but one day soon I will probably be.

I made a visit to the local laundromat today to wash an old comforter we use in Cochise's kennel and the pillow top thingamajig that goes on top of our matress. While moving the items from the washer to the dryer, this elderly couple comes in with a box of clothes. I had the dryer doors nearest to me open so the wife asks if those were mine, I replied yes ma'am. She then strikes up a convo with me while loading her clothes into the dryer about how long it had been since she had been to a laundromat and that she was there because her dryer at home had broken. We continued on with me telling her how the same thing had happened to me the year before last. We went on with this and about how things are just not made how they used to be for about another couple of minutes.

As I went to go and reload my card....hmmmm let me stop here and explain the card thing to you. I'm not sure if this is the protocol for all laundromats as this is the only one I go to if I ever have problems with the set we have at home but the machines in this place do not take money. There is a machine that spits out these little cards after you put money on them. You in turn take the card, insert it into the machine, and it deducts money from the card. Got it? Good.

So I'm at the machine, and realize that I only have $5 bills. Well, it only costs $0.30 for each dry cycle and I wasn't about to stick five bucks in there for something that would only require like an extra dollar so I go to grab my purse to drive down to the gas station. As I'm walking to the table where my purse is sitting, the wife calls me over to help her.

AARP lady: Ma'am could you help me for just a second?
Me: Sure
AARP lady: Well, I just stuck my dime in the machine and pressed start but nothing happened. Do you know what I should do next?
Me: *me groaning* Oh no, a dime?
AARP lady: Was that not the right thing to do?
Me: Weeeeellll, the machines no longer take money. What you have to do is go to this machine *points in the direction of that machine* and put enough money in to go on a card. After that, it spits a card out and then you have to put the card in the dryer so you can dry your clothes.
AARP lady: Oh my! Well what do you think I should do?
Me: The attendant is over there so I would just let him know. *smiles*
AARP lady: Oh well you're so sweet, thanks dear. I told you it's been a looooooooooong time since I've been in a laundromat. I hope they are able to get that dime out.
Me: You're welcome. They should be able to.

So I grab my purse to go down to the gas station so I can make change and immediately pick up my phone to call my friend. Between her laughter she asked, "AR Gal, I can understand her not knowing about the money not going in the machine but what in the hell was she going to dry with ten cents??". lol lol lol I was wondering the same thing but she took the words right out of my mouth. The elderly....gotta love 'em!