The scene: a technician has come to my home to fix my dryer.
Dryer Technician (D.T.): What seems to be the problem?
Me: Well, it gets hot, but it doesn’t rotate. And it makes a noise.
D.T.: (turns dryer on)
Dryer: (works perfectly)
D.T.: Maybe it was a glitch?
D.T.: (tries various things)
Dryer: (works perfectly)
D.T.: How do you know it wasn’t rotating? It stops when you open the door, you know. (He somehow manages to say this without sounding condescending).
Me: There’s still some motion when you open the door, though. It doesn’t come to a complete stop immediately.
Me: (doubts own sanity)
Me: And it was making a noise.
D.T.: What kind of noise?
Me: Um, like, a, um, friction noise? I thought a belt had come loose, or something.
Future me: The word is “scraping”. A scraping noise. This isn’t difficult.
D.T.: Well, since I’m here, I might as well take a look inside.
D.T.: (removes drum and points at some stuff that looks like black gritty dust on the bottom of the dryer)
D.T.: Well, the belt is definitely worn. All that came off the belt. Oh, and see this part of the belt that’s jutting out? Something was definitely pulling on it there.
Me: Oh! I was drying a load of towels. They were heavy.
Me: (convinces self that dryer was only working today because there was no laundry weighing it down. Regains faith in own sanity).
D.T.: (fixes dryer)
Me: (lives happily ever after)
Unlikely Explanations 
Laundry is tough :)
Sounds like a visit with the sex therapist: it gets hot but it doesn’t rotate, and it makes a noise.
great tale, it made me chuckle
Recently had an experience like this. Only as soon as technician was gone, the problem was back.