A Small Dose of Humility (or Humiliation)
There's this car wash in Mesa that I go to on occasion-- it's nothing special, just your average self-serve car wash. It's a commonplace feature of suburbia, right? This particular car wash has both the get-out-and-scrub-til-you're-soaked section and one of those little automatic drive-thru car washes. However, this is Mesa, and the snowbird population is high, as I've mentioned before. Apparently, this causes problems at a self-serve car wash, so this place has stationed an attendant whose job is to help you navigate the difficult terrain of the automatic car wash. I've always inwardly giggled when the guy steps up to the van window to help me press the right wash button and insert my cash.
After all, since I'm not into scrubbing my own car (especially with kids darting around) I've been frequenting this kind of car wash for years. You would think I would know exactly how to navigate this less-than-demanding situation, and I have pitied those poor souls who need help with something so simple.
So today, the first sign that I'm not so clever is that the attendant stepped up to inform me that I needed to choose my wash selection before attempting to pay. Oh, yeah, right. Then right after that little incident, I proceeded to enter the car wash and drive up onto the side rail that's supposed to guide you in the right direction. Then, while trying to correct that little misstep, somehow I managed to get my car stuck at a sideways angle, straddling those guide rails. Utterly at a loss as to how to fix this, I glanced helplessly behind me in the rear view mirror to see the attendant striding toward me, shaking his head in disbelief.
It took some serious finagling with the attendant steering my van to get that worked out. To top it all off, as soon as my wash was finished the attendant casually followed us to the dryer, leaving the car behind us to fend for themselves. No doubt he feared that I couldn't manage to drive in a straight line through the air dryer.
Maybe next time I'll just wash the van in the driveway.
After all, since I'm not into scrubbing my own car (especially with kids darting around) I've been frequenting this kind of car wash for years. You would think I would know exactly how to navigate this less-than-demanding situation, and I have pitied those poor souls who need help with something so simple.
So today, the first sign that I'm not so clever is that the attendant stepped up to inform me that I needed to choose my wash selection before attempting to pay. Oh, yeah, right. Then right after that little incident, I proceeded to enter the car wash and drive up onto the side rail that's supposed to guide you in the right direction. Then, while trying to correct that little misstep, somehow I managed to get my car stuck at a sideways angle, straddling those guide rails. Utterly at a loss as to how to fix this, I glanced helplessly behind me in the rear view mirror to see the attendant striding toward me, shaking his head in disbelief.
It took some serious finagling with the attendant steering my van to get that worked out. To top it all off, as soon as my wash was finished the attendant casually followed us to the dryer, leaving the car behind us to fend for themselves. No doubt he feared that I couldn't manage to drive in a straight line through the air dryer.
Maybe next time I'll just wash the van in the driveway.
Comments