Someone moved my wet laundry after five minutes and left it on a folding table

The washer timer said twenty-eight minutes. I set a phone alarm for thirty and went upstairs.

When I came back, my clothes were in a damp pile on the shared folding table. Another resident's load was already running. They had not used my basket, which was sitting directly in front of the machine.

The person was still in the room. They said the washer had finished and people were waiting. I showed the alarm on my phone and said I had been gone two minutes beyond the display, not half an hour. They shrugged and told me that shared laundry means being present when the machine stops.

The posted room rules say to remove finished loads promptly. They do not define promptly or say whether residents may handle one another's clothes. I photographed the sign and asked management to clarify the building practice rather than continuing the argument between two people holding wet laundry.

I can wait in the room next time, but that does not settle whether five unattended minutes authorizes someone to put clothing on a public table. They could have placed it in the empty basket. I also understand why a line of residents does not want a machine occupied indefinitely.

My clothes are clean. I am still irritated by the shrug more than the move.