Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles

Full-timing in an Airstream is truly a unique way to live.  For some, it means constant travel from place to place.  In my case it was travel for a while, and now it’s a stationary life.

When you’re on the road you develop a system for packing and unpacking, being ready to hitch up at a moment’s notice, and keeping needed things available while keeping infrequently used items packed away.  Unfortunately, once you settle in for a while you can really “spread out.”  That’s what happened here.  The creep of items from their normal storage spots outward, and all over.

Since I’ve been parked so many months day to day living has taken over.  A small printer permanently on the table, paperwork here and there, and an accumulation of tech books that you wouldn’t believe.  And I’ve spent a good part of today, reorganizing and preparing to head off to Anza-Borrego.

My morning was spent in the laundry room, at Wal-Mart getting storage crates, rounding up some needed supplies, and repacking the Airstream.  In addition, a new tempurpedic mattress topper was added to the bed (I hope that helps my sleep).  Definitely a busy morning!

With the Airstream’s organization coming back into travel mode I concentrated on the truck.  Climbing gear has been stored under the Airstream, and needed to find its way back into the truck bed.  That took a little while to get all squared away as well.  Whew!

In addition to getting the truck ready and packed, I also decided it was time to get a wash for the truck.  It’s been looking a little dirty to say the least.  Time to get a good wash and hand polish!

I stopped by my favorite wash service across town, Ponderosa Carwash, and settled in for a short wait.  Amazingly enough, there was a long line at 1 in the afternoon.  Who would have expected that?  Not me.

The car in front of me was a little Mazda Miata.  When it came time for the owner to pull up and exit the vehicle I noted the owner was slightly over dressed for the car wash.  A woman easily in her late 40’s or early 50’s, poofy perm, and white frilly shirt stepped out of the little car.  She went over what she wanted with an attendant and made her way into the building with her ticket……  And she returned moments later waving the ticket at the attendant and began yelling at him.  She didn’t like what she was signed up for, and wanted a lower end wash apparently.  Ah well….

Once it was my turn I pulled up and asked for the 4 star wash.  Didn’t have time for the 5 star you know.  They really do a great job detailing.  I asked the attendant how his day was, and he said, “It was good until the last customer…she blew up over a $3 addition for detailing and didn’t want it.”  Well, I didn’t blow up at him, so hopefully his day picked up a bit.

Entering the building to pay I found the woman with the bad perm arguing with the clerk.  While she got her $3 off, she still wanted interior detailing and insisted that it was owed to her for the trouble she’d had so far.  Hmmm…..owed (her word).  Nice.

I paid my bill, took my change and headed out to sit on a bench and watch the cars come out.  It’s actually fun to watch how well organized the staff is.  Clockwork honestly, and every employee there has been there since I arrived in town last March.  That says something about the business in my opinion.

While sitting and waiting for my truck to come through I saw the little Miata make its way out.  The attendants began buffing it down, and then moved it to a parking spot where they continued to polish it.  Immediately the walking frown with a perm walked up to her car, and stood a few inches behind the attendant doing the work on her car.  She stuck with him for more than 15 minutes while he buffed every inch of the vehicle, and detailed the interior.  When he finished she began pointing at her door’s interior and yelling at him about the poor quality of the detailing.

It’s at this point I have to admit, I was watching and waiting since the moment I saw this clearly unhappy person argue with the attendant who filled out her slip.  I knew she’d have a bad experience no matter what.  And she clearly wanted to make everyone around her have a bad time too.  I watched the detailer closely as his customer hovered over him, and I knew whatever he did would not suit her needs.  I’m sure if someone looked at me on the bench they would have seen me snickering as she started yelling, as I knew it was coming.  She stormed into the office once more……and I watched my truck being detailed.

As my truck neared completion I watched the shop’s owner and a manager come out to inspect the Miata.  The woman was now yelling about the car’s roof not being glossy (it’s a soft top dopey), and about the interior detailing.  I looked off to my right and saw my detailer coming toward me, as he was done with my truck.  I handed him my receipt and a tip and asked, “Are you glad I’m your customer?”  He laughed really hard, thanked me, and I hopped into my truck.

While closing up the Titan I heard the shop manager apologizing and offering to re-wash the vehicle and re-detail it.  I kept the door open a moment longer, as the woman whipped out her cell phone, called someone, and complained about how horrible her time was at the wash.  And the only reason it was such a horrible time was because she made it so, and continued doing it.  If I owned that shop I would have denied her service after getting a discount and still insisting on the higher end service.  From that point forward, a refund and request to never come to my place of business again.

But that’s just me….. 

On other notes…..

I received a note from Airstream today regarding the use of one of my photos in a recent newsletter.  I received a nice compliment regarding the blog, and an apology for using the photo without a link.  Next month’s newsletter will correct that oversight.  Nice.

See, I didn’t even need to stand over anyone, act grouchy, or get a big perm! 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 6:54 pm and is filed under Digital Photography, Notes from Gadget, Photo of the Day, airstream.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.