Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

         The lines in the self-serve are slow. Each quarter slotted into the machine gave a person one minute of time to select an option to clean their vehicle. No one seemed to be in a rush. Every car that pulled up, the immediate actions of each person was to get out of their vehicle. They seemed to enjoy the temperature and gaze over their vehicle thinking about how they were going to clean it.

          A young man pulls up in a red Toyota pulls up. He has three cars in front of him, and obviously a couple of minutes before it's his turn. He opens his door, steps out, wearing a black t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. The man stands up, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes to smoke. He takes his time lighting the cigarette. Walking around his car. Looking around, nodding to the person driving the slightly tanned truck that pulls up behind him. He pops his trunk to reveal he has dozens of cleaning sprays, absorbent rags and detailing polishers.

This laid-back persona and the deep compassion for a vehicle interested me. It became a pattern with the majority of guys that showed up. One man driving a marble black Honda with tinted windows then pulls up. He waited just as patiently as the others. He was wearing a UPS cap, and white graffiti t-shirt, and ended up taking over 25 minutes washing his car completely through the entire cycles: high-pressure rinse, soap, wax, rinse again and then air dry it. Once he was done hogging the station he pulls over to the parking lot and continues to take another 30 minutes hand drying his rims, handles, and windows. A small minion stuffed animal hung from his hitch and Sulley and Boo from the movie Monsters Inc. were huge stickers that were on his back window.

           Continuing the trend, two young teenagers pull-up side by side into the self-serve station. Both of their vehicles are decked out in stickers. Most were unrecognizable, but flashy symbols, I saw one of Deadpool the superhero and some brands of clothing. They were content with being in the back and seemed like they had it planned to sit and wait for hours. Their plan was imminent once you saw they were comparing radios in their trunks and the variety of supplies to also wash their cars.

          An hour into my observing the self-serve car wash suddenly became more interesting. The people waiting began to interact and help each other out. In one instance, a young guy in a slick black Jeep Cherokee decked out with orange rims pulled up and had the same aura as everyone else. Laid-back, walking around his vehicle and gazing around interested in what everyone else’s was doing with their vehicles. He began to vacuum his mats, and when he pulled up, forgot them on the ground. Mind you, he was blasting EDM music and not really paying attention to his own actions. The person behind him brought him the mats and they continued to talk with their body positioned towards their vehicles as if they were in conversation with them.