An innocuous encounter reminded me of an incident a few years back. Having filled my car up with fuel, on the spur of the moment, I decided to wash it, also. (We’d had some bad weather, but a period of nice weather was now predicted, and it was filthy.)

The automatic car wash was out of order, so I pulled into the bay for the self-service jet wash. I chose the cheapest option as I knew it gave me just enough time to give the car a basic wash, and off I started.

Midway through, I was approached by a lady who ignored the fact I was in the middle of washing my car and, holding out a piece of paper, asked me for directions. I politely asked her to wait a couple of minutes until my time ran out. I had to raise my voice a little as I hadn’t stopped my task and the jet wash was a bit noisy.

I certainly did not speak in anger, and I thought I smiled. But this lady obviously took it the wrong way and went off on me, shouting that I was rude, that there had been no reason for me to shout at her, that she was a lady in distress, etc. I was flabbergasted but, mindful of my time, I just kept going, intending to try and clarify my response once I was done — which would be in less than forty-five seconds now according to the large digital countdown clock.

Before I ran out of time, the lady finished her rant, and stomped off to her car, throwing a “Thanks for nothing” comment over her shoulder, and peeled out of the forecourt.

When I was done, I just stood there for a long moment trying to comprehend what had been going through that lady’s mind. If I’d stopped, I would have had a half-washed car, and I’m sure she wasn’t going to stump up for more time!

Doubly bizarre was that within ten metres was a full forecourt of other people who could have helped, as could the attendants in the station itself.

The incident that brought this to mind? I was approached again and asked a question today whilst washing my car at a different car wash. Before I could even reply, the lady realised and said, “Oh, sorry. It can wait until you’re finished.” And she did wait. Once done, I helped her, she said thanks, and off we both went on our way

A few years ago, I was working a couple of days a week in a car wash in my city. The work was backbreaking, and the pay was minimal, but at least I had fun with most of the colleagues there.

This car wash was part of a big national chain and sold store cards on which customers could put money. Using this card would net you a small discount.

One day, I was manning the POS [Point Of Sale], greeting customers, and taking their orders. Usually, this is a pretty straightforward process. You tell me what program you want, I punch it in on the register, you pay by cash, card, or store card, and you can drive on into the washing area. Most people purchased a wash program at the register and went through the program without issue. This person, though, was just… special.

Me: “Good day, sir. Which program would you like?”

The man in question didn’t even look at me when he said what program he wanted and held his store card out for me to take. I punched in his program and scanned his card.

Me: “I’m sorry sir, it seems there isn’t enough credit on this card left to purchase any of our programs.”

The customer still wasn’t looking at me.

Customer: “Scan it again.”

I scanned it fine the first time, but I scanned it again just for show. Of course, there was still not enough credit on it.

Me: “I’m afraid there’s not enough credit on the card. Would you like to put some money on it now?”

He finally looked at me.

Customer: “There’s a couple hundred euros on there!”

Me: “Well, the system says there isn’t. Maybe that was on a different card?”

It’s not that unusual for customers to have multiple different cards with us — for example, one for personal use and one for company use.

Customer: *Raising his voice* “I’ve put loads of cash on that card. Are you calling me a liar?”

Me: “No, sir, I’m simply telling you what our system says is on your card. I can’t process your order without any credit. You could pay some other way if you want.”

Customer: “I’ve put hundreds of euros on that card, and you lot stole it from me!

I simply didn’t know what to say against this absurd accusation.

Customer: “This whole chain stinks! Don’t you know who I am? I could buy this whole garbage heap in a heartbeat if I wanted to!”

At this point, for some reason, the customer flipped open his sun visor. Another store card fell out of it into his lap. He stopped ranting and handed it to me without looking at me. To my satisfaction, his face turned very red.

I took his card and scanned it. Lo and behold, THIS card indeed had hundreds of euros of store credit on it. I processed his order and handed it back to him with the biggest, smuggest smile I could muster.

Me: “There you go! Have a nice day!”

The customer then drove off without so much as a word.

Some part of me wished that I could do more to chastise his entitled a**, but my supervisor always said to “kill ’em with kindness” and I think I give it the old college try.

Customer: “I want a refund on your car wash!”

Me: “Did it not clean your car, ma’am?”

Customer: “Only the outside! But the inside is still filthy!”

Me: “The car wash only cleans the outside of your car, ma’am. The inside is up to you. We don’t do car detailing here.”

Customer: “That’s false advertising! You advertised a car wash, and I didn’t get a car wash!”

Me: “Ma’am, the general understanding is that a car wash is just for the exterior. Drivers are usually responsible for keeping the interior of their cars clean.”

Customer: “Well, what about those who aren’t responsible?! What about them?”

Me: “I can’t really answer that honestly to your satisfaction, ma’am.” 

She ended up complaining to my manager and was given directions to a car detailing service. From what I saw, the inside of her car was filthy and full of trash.

I work at a car wash at a gas station. We have some of those vacuums that you put quarters in. A customer comes up to me and complains.

Customer: “The vacuum isn’t working! I put a dollar in, and it won’t start.”

I go to check out the problem.

Me: “Oh, it looks like someone has blocked the coin slot with something.”

Customer: “You mean the money slot? That was me! It won’t take my money!”

She had tried putting a dollar bill in the coin slot; she had folded it up a bunch of times to try and get it in.

We’re washing this lady’s car, and it’s just gotten out of the tunnel, so we still have to hand dry it, shine the tires, clean the rims and jambs of the doors and tires, wash the windows and wipe down the dashboard.

We drive the car into the bay to do that stuff, and the lady comes in with her daughter and gets into the car.

Lady: “I’m in a hurry; you don’t need to do all that stuff.”

She then notices the hard water on her hood – we don’t have hard water, and hard water treatment is kind of risky in terms of peeling paint, so we don’t offer it.

Lady: “You didn’t dry my car fast enough! Now you’ve stained the paint with water spots!”

We tried to continue drying (we always hand-dry the car after it goes through the blowers, just to make it super dry) but she swats at us.

Lady: “That won’t fix it! You need to do something better!”

Me: “We can take the car through the tunnel again.”

Lady: “No! I’m in too much of a hurry!”

She then chewed out my manager and drove off. Very strange.