Me vs. The Customer

[Red Baron]

Sometimes it seems that way with some people. lol

I put orange traffic cones in front of the bay when it's closed, and a laminated sign over the coin slot that says we're closed due to weather or maintenance. Lo and behold some idiot will drive over the cone as though its meaning is not universal, then untape the sign and put quarters in the slot to see if I forgot to actually turn off the pump. Then, invariably the doofus will drag my cone 12 blocks away.

I caught one lady movign my cone at my IBA and try to enter while I was shutting it down but still had the power on to blow down the lines. I was a little annoyed so I told her: "Ma'am, the orange cones means we're closed whether or not te ACW is still on. Had you entered you might have ruined a $5,000 pump." I wanted her to be as wound up as I was...

I'm thinking about filling my cones with concrete so they know when they hit them and/or get high-centered.

 

[ProCarWashes]

I'm a bit old fashion. I hang a sign out that states that we are open 24 hrs. a day unless the bay is blocked and we are temporally closed due to cold weather. This works for me now. Before, I too use to just put a cone out but people would move them or drive over them. I had small cones. I bought the biggest ones I could find.

 

[Red Baron]

Before I hang, bolt, or glue anything at the car wash it has to pass the idiot test. I ask myself it it's even remotely possible for some idiot to hang by it, swing on it, or tightrope walk it - because if there is any possibility of anyone tearing something up or getting hurt on it, someone will find a way.

 

[Jim L.]

I gave up on signs a while back…my customers don’t read.

 

[Waxman]

I just turn off the breaker to my entry door. Problem solved the waxman way.

 

[bigleo48]

The cement cone reminds me of when I was 19 and came out of a bar in the wee hours of the morning having had a little too much. Anyway my buddy and I spot this cone in the distance and race each other to it. I lost the race and he broke his foot on the cement filled cone

I only close when its so cold that the steam of the wash bay when the door opens overwhelms the customer to the point that they can't see anything (usually below -10F). At that point I have a sign on my big cone saying "Too cold to wash, so were temporarily closed. Sorry for the inconvinience" Then I switch my machine into maintenance mode. That takes the Wash Select II out of service.

Big

 

[Sequoia]

Cones

As part of my daily routine, I used my PC to check the cameras at the wash and see if anything *interesting* had happened.

The first thing I noticed was that some idiot had driven right over the orange traffic cones that were placed at the front and rear of the oversized bay. Upon reviewing the history, I found it was ..... the driver of the large trash truck who needs to go through the oversized bay to get to the dumpster. So much for being a professional driver, eh?

Just for fun, I watched the video of him dumping the trash and .... aha .... witnessed him backing into and hitting my combo vac. Punched a hole in the stainless door, lifted it off the concrete by 1 inch, and more. Had this idiot not driven over the cones to catch my attention there is probably no possible way I would have ever discovered who it was that ruined the vacuum.

Now the trash company is chewing on a $6,000 insurance claim. Muhaha.