How to Survive Life in the Suburbs

The War Against The Italian Washing Machine

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Do you have any idea what’s going on here?  What those symbols or words might mean?

Here’s a hint.

The words are in Italian.

It’s the dial on a washer/dryer combo in Italy!

Now take whatever information you can glean from this “super easy to read dial” and do your worst.  I say your worst because that is exactly what I did, my worst, when I attempted to wash our unmentionables on our trip to Italy this summer.  Here’s what happened.  It should have been an easy task.  Gather the undies and dirty T-shirts.  Throw them in the washing machine.  If the dial’s not clear you can always follow the provided instruction manual, you know, the one that should be quite easy to understand.  It was only 20 pages long.  End up with clean undies and T’s for the rest of your trip.

What really happened?  Got the washer started.  It ran for ohhh 2 hours?  Checked it, everything was still SOAKING wet.  Set the dryer function again.  But oh no I really didn’t.  I just started the cycle all over again.  Opps!  Let it run again…for another 2 hours.  Check it.  Still freaking wet.  Gah.  Try a different setting for the dryer?  Let out a little scream as the machine fills with water and washes your undies for a third time.  For the love of Pete!  Check it again…3 hours later.  STILL SOAKING WET.  Stomp your feet and call for back-up.  Ask SassyHubby to pick a dial, any dial.  Which one makes the damn thing dry.  Watch the machine fill with water AGAIN.  OMG.  Throw your hands in the air and go drink some wine.

Once wine is gone.  Laugh at how ridiculous you are.  Throw your hands in the air and admit defeat.  String T-Shirts and undies all over the villa and let those suckers air dry.  Marvel at the cleanest underwear you have ever had.  I mean, it must be right.  You washed the damn things four times.

Then never, ever touch that cursed laundry machine again.

    • Comments

    7. Oh gosh! I would have air dried everything too! The washing machines really do just take so much longer in europe though than we are used to here.

      • At one point we did wonder…is this just as dry as it gets? But they were still dripping, so clearly we had to be doing something wrong. Not my best moment. LOL

    9. Laundry duty for me takes a long time, but not this long! :S

      I love my washing machine. It’s a samsung top load. I would have put the words on the dials on a translator to see what it means.

      • The worst part was, we “thought” we know what we were doing. We just kept hitting the wrong button. It just wasn’t meant to be!

    10. lol…I would of had no clue either how to use it. Memories made trying to wash your undies on holidays 🙂

    11. Ha ha 🙂 My parents dial is in German. And, no, they don’t speak or understand German, nor do they live in Germany. That “centrifuga” thing is what you would need to get your tshirts dry – it’s a “Spin”.

      • I’m not sure I would have gone commando for that last week in August in Italy. (It was HOT) LOL But we were considering buying all new skivvies! 🙂

    13. Reminds me of my Italian-made oven – in my apartment in Canada. Have been trying to figure the darn thing out since last April. Finally figured out “bake” setting in September. Haven’t figured out anything else. It’s all pictures, and Celsius (every other oven I’ve ever had had Fahrenheit, and all my hand-me-down recipes are Fahrenheit). I know there’s a timer there somewhere, but it was just far easier to go to Dollarama and buy a digital timer. Don’t even ask about the manual…I think it was written by the person who does Ikea instructions.

      • Whahaha All manual writers must be in a secret club together. The “let’s see how dumb we can make them feel” club!

    15. Hahaha! I love it 🙂 I ASSUME the left side would be to dry and right to wash, but I am also assuming I would have ended up washing my skivvies 4 times 🙂