I can't get over how complicated laundry is in Switzerland. While I am happy to have moved up in the world to a building where I can sign up for laundry time, there are still more hurdles to cross.
No laundry after 10 pm. A friend of mine had the washer literally turn off at 10 pm, with her wash still in it. As we speak, it is 10.04, and I'm really hoping that this doesn't happen to me. I'm running late on my wash, for reasons to be discussed.
No laundry on Sundays. Doing laundry on Sundays makes you a rebel against the system. And might earn you a good chewing out in Swiss German, depending on if you're lucky or not.
Once you have been so lucky as to sign up for a time and get yourself, your detergent, your weird laundry-key-card-plastic-lego thing, your laundry and any other accouterments downstairs to the washing room, there's still more.
The weird laundry-key-card-plastic-lego thing (I would take a picture, but mine is currently in use keeping my now-illegal wash running...) must be placed into a socket to even turn the machines on.
However, first, the individual circuits must be flipped for power to even have the possibility of reaching the washer or tumbler. Why these must be turned off when the machines don't operate without the key-thing is beyond me...
At this point, one must also re-assemble the machines. Lint traps and detergent holders are usually removed and cleaned after you're done with the wash, so you've got to reassemble everything and hope you get it right.
Then, one must attempt to understand the heiroglyphics that are intended to illustrate the functions of the machine. I still have no idea what a box with a line under it means. Or a circle with a drop of water? At least I know enough to chose the temperature of my wash, at which point the screen registers 1 05. And then I leave and return 1 hour and 5 minutes later to move my wash along.
Only tonight, I returned to a wash that didn't run! I was so confused. I re-checked everything and re-started, only to have the same thing happen. The screen was flashing error message A 9. Fantastic!
I then had to hunt down the owner's manual for the washer, find error message A 9, and try to read the information, which was in Italian. Based on my super Italian skills, I determined that something was not right with the water pressure into the machine.
I attempted to clear the error and re-start the machine, and then I finally realized that there was no water flowing into the washer at all. I traced back to the water line and found a turn-knob that had been closed, shutting off the water to the washing machine. Who shuts the water off to the washing machine!?! The washing machine is used every day, all day! Why is it necessary to shut off the water for the 30 minutes that the machine is not in use!?! Why is it necessary to shut off the water at all!?! It's a washing machine! Water is pretty essential to its function!
Yet another thing about Switzerland that I don't quite get. I talked with my roommates about it, and they just thought I was weird for not just knowing this. I guess I learn something new every day.
Anyways, as a result of this laundry hiccup, I am now breaking Swiss rules and doing laundry after 10 pm. That's assuming that those Swiss rules haven't shut off my machine...
