Lavatrice

A few days ago one of my roommates unplugged our washing machine in order to blow dry her hair and she plugged it back in afterward. She didn't realize that she had started a washing cycle. The next night my other roommate and I were making dinner and she decided to open the washing machine to see how big it is. Mistake. Gallons of stagnant putrid water came flooding out and onto the kitchen floor. It smelled like a combination of plague and death. (Almost as bad as that Easter someone left a hard boiled egg under some books on the landing of the basement stairs and we didn't find out what it was until someone straightened up the books in June.) We grabbed some extra towels and cleaned it up, then started pushing random buttons until it started again, hoping the rest of the water would drain after a cycle. Yesterday the water was still in there so we called housing to deal with it.

It turns out we had set it to the wrong letter. On the dial there are no words, not even in Italian, only letters A through H and putting it on "A" causes the water to sit there so that if you're not home your clothes won't get wrinkled before you can finish the cycle and get them out. You have to put the wheel on "F" in order to drain it. Of course if you forget to put it on "F" for 3 days, your clothes won't be wrinkled, but they'll be moldy and smell like whale breath, after its had hundreds of fish rotting in it insides for 2 weeks. Well done makers of European washers. I think I'll go put up signs that say "Set It To F" around the apartment.