Talk about airing your dirty laundry.
A fed-up San Francisco laundromat owner is clapping back after a Burning Man festivalgoer allegedly dumped dust-caked gear into the shop’s machines, leaving washers busted from the notoriously stubborn muck trekked home from Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.
A TikTok video posted on Wednesday by Dewi Redpath, who owns Bali Laundry, showed the grim aftermath of what happens after the playa follows Burners all the way back to the Bay Area.
After a customer came in with a “huge amount of extremely dusty laundry and rugs” and used their biggest 60 pound washing machine, “it was covered in fine dust and then the same dirt got caked inside multiple dryers.”
And this isn’t your average dirt.
Burning Man’s infamous “playa dust” comes from the dry lake bed where the nine-day festival erects its temporary Black Rock City, and its fine consistency means it can work its way into seemingly everything.
It’s also alkaline, making it especially stubborn and potentially corrosive.
Burning Man itself warns festivalgoers to wash clothing immediately after leaving the playa, and recommends adding white vinegar to a load to help break down the dust. They also caution that the dust can damage the electronics in your car, upholstery and plastics if you let it linger.
But bringing a particularly filthy haul to an unsuspecting laundromat effectively makes somebody else deal with the mess, and online commenters were quick to unleash fury on the irresponsible festival attendee.
Redpath reportedly spent hours cleaning the washers, dryers and the whole laundromat, but ultimately needed to call a technician for help inspecting the machinery.
“Burners love to talk about their enlightened community and then the do anti-social, irresponsible vandalism like this,” an angry commenter chimed in.
“They came to ruin yours so they wouldn’t ruin their own,” another added.
Some cleaning businesses closer to the desert have reportedly been long familiar with the “post-Burn” invasion and would rather not touch it.
“Sue them,” one person wrote in the comments. “All of the car wash and laundromats near burning man have a no Burners policy because of this. It’s a well known hazard.”
This year, roughly 70,000 people were expected to populate Black Rock City, where dust storms once again battered the temporary desert metropolis.
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