Mestee Blogger

For those of you who have never visited the do-it-yourself at your local car wash, I highly recommend it. By the looks of it, my car is a enthusiastic host of both pollen and bird poop. In fact, she sports various new designs painted in both aforementioned mediums almost everyday I go out to greet her. I could probably justify washing my car every other day, but money doesn't grow on trees. Actually, even if it did, I still wouldn't go to the car wash every other day.

During my last trip to the car wash, I decided to forego the full-service drive-through wash and clean the car at the do-it-yourself bay. It was about 10 pm, so there was nobody around, which was fine with me -- who needs people around when you don't know what you're doing? Most people might like to have some people around to ask for help, actually, but I prefer to struggle in solitude and figure out things as I go.

I parked my car in the center of the wash station, which had a few hoses and brushes hanging on the surrounding walls. Once you put your $3 in the machine, you have 3 minutes to wash your car. In retrospect, I should have given myself a little mental preparation and figured out what was going on before I put in my money and started the timer. C'est la vie. I pressed the trigger on the main hose attached to the machine. Nothing. I ran over to the hose on the other side of the car and pulled down on the trigger. Again, nothing. At that point I was mad -- was I getting ripped off? I ran back to the machine as the timer continued to click down.

The instructions suggested some sort of soap option, then the Pre-Rinse, followed by the Rinse, then the SuperWash into the Triple Conditioner followed by the No Streak Gloss and the Spotless Finish. How was I supposed to fit this into 3 minutes? I just started pressing buttons, hoping something would work. I pressed the Triple Conditioner and ran over to the hose on the other side of the car. A slow stream of pink goo came out of the cleaner gun thing and I decided that, while encouraging, I would be skipping the Triple Conditioner. I was down to 1:30 on the clock -- hardly enough time to wash a car. I selected the Rinse option, pulled the trigger on the hose and WHHHOOOOSHHHH a stream of high-pressured water came gushing out. I quickly worked my way around the car, trying to beat the clock, but I was too late. Refusing to be entirely defeated and get nothing for $3, I decided to get a proper do-it-yourself carwash for $6. Plus, it is very fun to shoot high-pressured water at your car. I'm sure it's fun to shoot high-pressured water at other things, too, but my car was all I had to work with. I drove away happy that I had conquered the do-it-yourself carwash in only two tries. The next day, some new patterns of bird poop and pollen awaited me atop my car, as if to say "Please go back to the do-it-yourself carwash soon."
|