I have this problem with a sock disappearing when I do laundry. The first time it happened, I didn't consider where it might be, and later that week, I got dressed and went to the Evil Day Job (EDJ). As I'm walking down the aisle to my cube about mid-morning, one of my guys asks me, Is that your sock?
No, I say, I'm wearing my socks. He insists. Then it dawns on me--it's my missing sock! It had been stuck in my pants leg and had worked its way loose as I walked around the office. Oops. That was embarrassing.
After this, whenever a sock vanished, I'd shake out my clothes and the sock would always turn up. If it didn't, it was because it was stuck in an item I forgot to check.
Then three weeks ago I had a sock disappear. I shook out all the clothes that had been in the washer and dryer with the socks. Nothing. I checked the items that had gone in the washer/dryer in the next load, thinking that maybe I'd missed pulling it out with the rest of the dark clothes. Nothing. I checked my clothes again. Still nothing. Where could this sock be?
I entertained the idea that maybe the sock had gotten stuck in my pants leg, and that despite my checking for it, that I'd somehow missed it. That it had fallen out as I walked across the parking lot at the EDJ, and that since it was dark and I was running late, that I didn't notice. I checked the lot the next time I walked through it, but didn't spot any black socks.
Now I'm mystified. Were aliens and a UFO involved? Had it gotten sucked up the dryer vent somehow? Had it washed over the top of the barrel in the washing machine even though I had the water set for a small load? Where else could it be?
I'd hoped it would turn up the next time I washed. It didn't. The mystery deepened and I was starting to become obsessed. Where was my sock?
Last Saturday, I had a sudden thought. There's almost no room between my washer/dryer and the wall/cabinets, but there's a little bit. I checked on the left side of the washer and low and behold, there was a black lump. It required a yard stick to get it out because the space was so narrow, but I'd found my sock!
I guess I'd gotten a little enthusiastic tossing stuff in the washing machine that weekend and didn't notice the sock flying over the side and onto the floor. Mystery solved, but that crushed my alien conspiracy theory.
