Another skin crawling moment for ocd

DogRescuer

DogRescuer

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I went over to my neighbor who was getting ready to wash her pretty nice new Chevy Malibu white, now she's told me several times "I need you to wash n wax my car" ( if I had a dollar for every time someone said that well I'd have a ton of dollars ). I asked what you using as soap she said any " detergent I have laying around" that hurt. Then I asked what wash media you using she said "any rag I have laying around ", OUCH. Well I went home and sobbed and no I didn't offer my services to her, my wife says that I need to stop pestering people about jobs. My wife says offer 1 time and leave it in their hands, which is tuff because I want and need the money (work ) bad. Thanks for listening.
 
Was she using dish washing soap, I had a pretty full bottle of Meg's OTC car soap that has sat for years so I donated it to him.
 
tpr1634 said:
Was she using dish washing soap, I had a pretty full bottle of Meg's OTC car soap that has sat for years so I donated it to him.
Click to expand...

It sounded like she was using um laundry detergent
 
All of my neighbors who had an interest in what i do are now customers. I will clarify that to say of the maybe 8-10 close neighbors i know, i do 4 of them regularly. Let me explain...

I have approached every one of them washing their cars and in a very friendly and polite way inquired as to their "process". I then, very carefully and amicably, gauge their interest in it as a beautification step or a chore to simply complete. The results over the years range from what you experienced ("oh, any soap i have layin' around"!) to an actual interest into how to do it right. Those that had an interest are now customers. I still visit with those neighbors who have no clue nor any interest in doing it to AG standards and we now talk about sports, the weather or the Grecian banking system.
 
DogRescuer said:
It sounded like she was using um laundry detergent
Click to expand...

The granular stuff too, with no water, right?

That's a tough one with the neighbor. You don't want to be like the family member that fixes computers; every time someone can't log in, they are calling you at all hours.

I don't see any harm in getting paid to fix it up, then showing her proper technique and donating an older wash mitt and some soap you don't use any more, or a few ounces from a gallon. With amazon, there's no excuse for someone not to get a decent soap, you can have a 16 oz bottle of mr. pink at your house in 2 days for less than $10, that 16 oz should take care of a non-geek for at least a year.
 
Was she doing the car wash like the lady in cool hand luke ...Im the MAN
 
Did she at least look good while she was washing the car? Maybe that is a redeeming quality?
 
Cool thing happened to me today. I was leaving Publix and a Silver Nissan Rogue identical year was parked next to mine and the couple were leaving at the same time as me. I'd say they were retired and in their late 60's. Now remember mine is white, not very much of a show color right. I heard the wife say to the husband, that's a real "pretty" color. I said thank you and told them it's all in the detail and got in my Rogue and left. :buffing:
 
I'm glad I hadn't just put a drink of beer in my mouth when I read Bob's post. I would have had to chide him for causing me to abuse alcohol (aka spitting out good beer). I suppose my screen and keyboard would have been disinfected though.
 
Using that soap may not be as bad as the lady my partner and I watched at the gas station go through their little drive through car wash then dry the whole car with the paper towels they have by the gas pumps. Not the soft paper towels either. The stiff off white ones. She also used the window washer squeagy thing to remove some dirt on the paint that didn't come off in the wash. It was funnier than when clients show us a hard to remove dirt spot on their car by using their finger to wipe as hard as they can to remove it.

I always wondered if it would be taken as a nice gesture or nosy if we told people we saw doing things the wrong way how to do it right? With our client's I always tell them when we are done what to do and not do, but not sure about strangers.

At a car show last weekend I saw so many guys wiping their cars down with the towels all scrunched up. Wanted to tell them how to fold them. LOL But I didn't.
 
When i see Porche or BMW owners doing dumb things like that, i walk up, open their door, and take their keys and throw them in the weeds.
 
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