*UPDATE* I just went to the office to get a new card and the lady said I had to pay $5 to replace it.  What???  But since I didn't have exact change she just gave it to me for free.  Something seems odd about that, but... ummm, cool?

There are a lot of times when I do something that I know make people think I'm a jerk/don't like them/am just plain weird/etc.  But something in my silly little brain keeps freaking out and doing the same thing over and over again.

And then when I see someone else doing the same thing, I'm like WTF?  And then I remember I do the exact same darn thing all the time.

A while ago, my apartment switched the laundry room over from quarters to cards.  This sucks for a few reasons, including

1) The cards must be loaded with cash.  The cash machine is in the back room of the office, which can only be entered by the apartment staff.  The office is closed on Sundays.  So people like me who work all week and then space out about adding money to the card until doing their laundry on Sunday?  Kinda screwed.  I posted about a time that this happened before and my subsequent trip to the laundromat on my old blog.  For those who weren't reading it at the time, let me sum it up for you:  Mierda.

2) They recently raised the price from 75 cents to a dollar.  For no reason.  Just 'hey, guess what, we're raising the price.  Too bad for you!'

3) My laundry card is becoming demagnetized.  This happens to me all the time.  In college, I went through so many key cards to my dorm room for no other reason than they simply stopped working.  It was a huge pain in the ass to be standing at the damn door trying to get in for up to 20-30 minutes until one of my roommates showed up.  It's like I radiate a magnetic force or something.

This is what happened to me with the laundry machines this weekend.  And guess what, it's Sunday, so office =  no open.

I got all my laundry into the machines, put in the detergent, all that stuff, and then I put my card in to the card reader, which says: Error Error Error.  Over and over again.  Frustrating.  To make matters worse, two other people came in while I was doing this, so I just stood there looking like a dumbass putting the card in a million times trying to get it to work.  I knew they saw me.  I knew they probably realized it wasn't working, and I was getting frustrated.  But they just carried on without even acknowledging the fact that I even existed.

It's not that I necessarily wanted them to offer me their card or anything, but just saying something like... hey, your card isn't working?  that's a bummer.  Anything to make me feel less stupid about standing in front of the machine like a fool.  But they didn't say anything.  And I didn't either.

I do this all the time.  I see people that I could say hello to, have a conversation with, help out...and completely ignore them because I'd rather not deal with it.  These are the times when I really realize how the way I am affects me in a negative way.  Stupid little everyday things that most people wouldn't think twice about.  Things I try not to deal with because hiding and forgetting about it is a lot easier.  I really do wish things were different.  Maybe it's finally time to make a real change.  It's scary, though.