You may think that I made this up about washing my car, but I assure you that this really has happened.
(Some background first) I think at some point when my kids were young I went to a couple car washes, but I'm not sure. A couple years ago here in Colorado, I went through a car wash with the assistance of my wife. I'm used to taking a bucket out, putting some car wash in it, and filling half of it with water. Washing the car seemed always easy and the car came out pretty clean. I never felt the need to go to a car wash. Why pay for something you can do easily yourself?
Last month our son and daughter-in-law generously gave us a six month gift certificate for unlimited washes as an anniversary gift. The car wash is two miles from our house. Since our neighborhood is still being built, there is dust and dirt that is always on my car which is on the driveway. My wife has always regularly gone to car washes.
My adventure began when I arrived at the car wash to find out that our gift was not set-up yet in the system. It was ordered online and the manager let me go through and was very nice. I walked into the office and he could not find it in the system at all. I gave him more information from my son and I was told we should check with corporate.
Going in the car wash I was nervous. As I approached the area I saw these instructions above: Close all windows and shut off wipers was easy to do. Getting on the track and being waved to the right or left was a little more difficult. The kid at the car wash signaled to me and I had to put the car in neutral which I never do and I struggled doing it. Take my hands off the wheel? Are you kidding me? I'm a driver and have driven maybe a million miles in my life, where do I put my hands? I did it and then the car moved itself.
I've driven in a hurricane, a blizzard, and recently a hail storm and now the water was pouring down, soap all over, and brushes in every direction. I wanted to grip the wheel tightly, but I didn't dare touch it. As I got to the end I watched for the go light and I saw this sign in front of me which says, "Stay shiny." The sun emoji with dark glasses I used to put near my signature as The Sunshine Man years ago.
I wasn't done yet, because I could use the free vacuums. The instructions were on this but I was confused. Do I use the vacuums on the left or the right? Or do I use the large vacuum closest to the left side of my car and the smaller vacuum on my right? I don't have a clue and I've been "winging it." The first time I took the small vacuum which is supposed to be for mats and tried to use it on my car. This week I went to take the big vacuum off and it was stuck. I watched the guy next to me and I realized it wasn't the whole piece I should be grabbing. When I took it off, the vacuum was so strong that it started sucking up my shorts. No one was watching fortunately.
And just this week I took the big vacuum out and there wasn't much suction and this below came out? It was only costume jewelry, but this car wash thing is not easy.
CONCLUSION: I'm starting to get used to going to the car wash, but our gift certificate has been an adventure in itself. The manager told me the gift certificate is only for one car, but he gave me two bar codes. Their corporate office confirmed that and my wife and I decided I would use the gift certificate. Last week the code worked one day and the following day it did not. This week it did not work and I was told I could come into the office and get another barcode. I'll be ready to do that this week, it's almost like having a job!
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