Reboot?

It hadn’t struck me how much our society has really become dependent of computers and information technology. Today for instance, I am doing my laundry. My building has a prepaid card system which you stick into the machine and select a cycle of your choice. I was doing three loads. I put detergent in all three and put my card into the first washing machine. It read “hold”. I held. I held a little bit longer. And then I held a little bit longer than that. Finally it was clear that the machine wouldn’t be done holding for a while. I tried to select a cycle. It was futile. I couldn’t even tell if it had started to fill up yet or it was just vibrating for no reason. I waited for a little bit longer. I glanced at the instructions for using the machine on the wall. No instruction for a never-ending hold sign. Finally I opened it gingerly, preparing myself for a flood of fresh laundry water that might sweep out at me. There was none. The machine hadn’t even started. I shut it, to see if that would do any good. It did not. Finally I started the other two washers, and went back to the first. It still read “hold”. The only thing I could think was “reboot-reboot-reboot”. But this is no computer. It was a computerized washing machine. What did one do when a washing machine freezes? There is no control-alt-delete button. There is no “restart” (well not one that I could find.) There is no tech support or Washing Machine helpdesk. The instructions were of no use whatsoever. What did one do? Where did one go for complaints about an issue? Or any issue regarding a computerized machine not a computer. Sounds like a funny thing to think about but there has to be something? I did not know. All I knew is I wanted my third load of laundry done today. I sighed and looked back at the defiant machine that stared back at me. And with that…I gave up. I finally opened it again, and started putting the laundry back into my laundry bag. I glanced up at the machine. “Hold” was gone.