Kindness + Quarters= Clean Clothes. Not

Day 265


265 down, 100 to go. I thought about trying to do something exciting or at least interesting to mark this milestone in my year of living kindly. Nothing came to mind. So I have learned in the absence of an original idea, borrow one from someone else.

I have actually seen this idea in a few different places, on some websites, in a book on kindness and even on a daily calendar of kindness. Put quarters in the machine at a laundromat for someone to find. Hmm, there is even a laundromat one block from my office; this must be meant to be, I thought. I made sure to bring two dollars worth of quarters with me when I left the house this morning. Not having been in a laundromat for a while, I wasn't exactly sure how much it would cost.

It was crazy busy at work today, with a deadline hanging over my head. So after lunch I snuck out the back door, thinking I could probably complete this mission in five minutes or less and be back to finish what I needed to in the office. I practically sprinted the one block to the laundromat, then walked in casually, planning to act if I was checking my load.

The first thing I noticed was no coin slots on the machines. OK, so I guess it has been a REALLY long while since I've been in a laundromat. No worries, on the far wall from the door I spotted a machine to purchase money cards to be used in the washers and dryers. Great, I could just do that and leave the card on one of the machines with a note. Except there was a sign that said each card required a $20 deposit. And besides that it didn't take change. This was getting far more complicated than I was prepared for.

With the deadline at work weighing on my mind, my ability to think quickly and kindly diminished. I placed the eight quarters that I had dug out of our change bin this morning on a washing machine. Someone would find them and be happy. Not the presentation I was planning on. But two dollars is two dollars. It's a cup of coffee, or a pack of gum. Or a load of laundry if you can figure out how to put it onto the card.

The milestone celebration of 100 days left to the year of living kindly was more of a fizzle than a bang. Kind of disappointing, but kind none the less.