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Hello Uncle Sam! I'm sorry to hear about your health issues. Back in 2003, when my husband & I had just purchased our self-service car wash in California, we attended our first WCA Convention. Meeting you was unforgettable! I still remember your tall stature, wearing the Uncle Sam costume...

COCKROACHES!! :( The customer "complained" they came from MY vacuum island, while he was vacuuming his car mats! But, as I walked towards his car, I saw over a hundred cockroaches scurrying OUT of his car! One look at his car, and you could tell he was definitely a "HOARDER"! He had...

I have an issue with mudders too! We're not talking dirty cars here, but 4-wheelers that wash off enough mud to fill a 5-gallon bucket! When my car wash was built in 1982, they only put in 4" drains. The bay floors are made with aggregate cement NOT smooth concrete. The mud settles between...

Lol! Maybe I should have said "bees" instead of "flies". I just know that being positive, kind and respectful to all my customers has helped my business. It's not always easy. I've learned the fine art of being assertive and direct, with a BIG, HAPPY smile on my face!! :)

My pump room is VERY SMALL, and shaped like an L. If I'm out of sight, I lock the door for safety. Most of the time, I'm outside the pump room, cleaning / sweeping / emptying the garbage / talking with customers / making change / pulling weeds / doing small maintenance. I prefer to be on-site...

My NEW pet peeve is when a customer walks up to me in the pump room, holding a bucket and asks me to fill it with water so he can hand-wash his car! I've owned my SS car wash for 18 years now, and it's happening more often. I tell them they can fill their bucket in the wash bay. It's $3 to...

Finally, replace low-pressure solenoids, fittings, HP hoses and poly tubing to each bay (color coded to match the Magic Wand system), to make it easier to identify chemical, plus it looks cool & colorful in the pump room, when customers peek their head in. Also, add MORE video cameras! We...

The funny thing about owning a self serve is seeing such a striking contrast in people every day: Common sense vs Stupidity, Happy vs Depressed, Grateful vs Unthankful, Neat vs Messy, Free-spender vs Thrifty, Positive vs Negative, Introverts vs Extroverts, etc.

Just last weekend I had a young gal call me on my "car wash hotline" complaining that "nothing worked in the wash bay!" I asked her if she was using my $1 tokens and she said "yes". When I asked her what happened when she turned the knob on the rotary switch, there was a long pause, then she...

They will occasionally flip the cans and dump the trash on the ground at our place too! :( We had a couple cans stolen, so we started locking them to a vacuum stand bracket, using vinyl coated steel wire. They can still flip the cans, but at least they don't take them anymore. The wire is...

How about working with a welder to beef up the security on your vacuums? 15 years ago, I had lockbars put on my old square Doyle vacuums, with a lock. Never had another problem until a couple months ago, I arrived to find the locks were all cut! I checked my cameras and got a good visual of...

I've owned my car wash for 17 years, and definitely seeing more household garbage, homeless and tweakers in the past 4 months! I'm glad that I have 22 cameras, live nearby, accept credit cards and only dispense tokens (since January 2015). In the town next to me (bad neighborhood), they...

I think you did the right thing by NOT giving him $8. If you've got the video to prove it, you don't need customers like him!!

I have a 5-bay SS car wash and added 5 of Diskin's Super Air-Shammee II installed in December 2018, along with hour meter. Equipment cost us $10k ($2k / bay) + $5k for electric sub-panel, + $5k for installation. My Air Dryers get a TON of use and our $20k investment was paid off in ONLY 8...

The customer turns the rotary switch to "SOAP", grabs the FOAM BRUSH and complains to me, "Hey Lady, this thing is broken - NO SOAP!" when they see NO foamy soap coming out of the brush. Meanwhile, white HP Soap is spraying out of the HP gun! :O I'm seeing this more often with the younger...

I guess as long as they're paying for the Spray Fragrance they can use it anywhere they like! I haven't tried it on my tires yet, does it leave a shine? Lol!!

Good grief!! What did you use to clean up the paint? I've had very good success using Goof Off to remove paint.

Good lord Randy, I think you HAVE seen it all! I always appreciate reading your helpful advice and entertaining stories in SSCWN and CW Forum. Stay safe my friend! :)

Fortunately, when they left 3 hours later, they had cleaned up most of their mess! The gray bucket that was left behind was taken by the next customer who drove in. Not sure if it was paint or cleaner, but it was gone when I arrived! :) Although I didn't make much money in that bay overnight...

Unloaded from their Mother ship... Lol! :)