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What was your worst customer?

dbcknghm

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Too many stories that are unbelievable to most .... from the guy who was so drunk he hit the building/door 8 times to get in and out in a single visit - destroyed his vehicle - we didnt do so good either .... to the woman who dropped her only car key in the main pit, didnt want to wait until I got there to help her so she had her 2 small boys strip down to underwear n socks and wiggle into a rural 18 yard full pit and swim around for 12 minutes .... key was never found ..... oh there is more ... another time ... starting to post some of the real winners now online but where do you start ....
 

JMMUSTANG

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Back in 1979 I had a lady drop her 3 caret diamond ring in the pit.
She could not remember which one though.
I told her she would have to pay the company I use to clean the bays. She said that was fine.
They found it in the last (8) bay in the last corner of the pit In the mud.
She was so happy when she paid the cleanup bill she gave each guy a $100 tip.
 

Mchas

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Had an “eco-friendly bee removal service” bring trash bags full of trapped bees and dump them in our trash cans. The bees were gassed when they removed them but as they woke up and holes ended up in the bags the bees would be extra pissed off and swarm all around the trash cans. They did it multiple times and finally caught them on camera with their company logo on the side of the truck and had a lawyer send them a strongly worded letter. Called the police first but they didn’t do anything about it.
 

wrightwash

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I had a customer walk up to me while I was cleaning up an absolute mud mess in a bay. He asked some general questions about owning a car wash and commented on how disrespectful people are to the property and left with, "Boy, do people leave messes like this often?" I finish up the bay I was working in and move to the bay he was washing in only to find 4" of clay caked across the entire floor.
 

n00bie

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A couple dumped a cooler of cooked shrimps into the drain. The car wash smelled so bad for weeks. Customers complained how smelly and trashy the wash was and put 1 star. They did it for 2 times a week around 11pm. Caught the licese plate (thanks goodness) and sent the video to the police to have them not come to the wash. Cop contacted them they lied through their teeth that they never came to the place until the cop showed the video.
 

MEP001

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A couple dumped a cooler of cooked shrimps into the drain.
Had the same happen just once, except it was raw shrimp, probably bait shrimp. It took two pool chlorine tablets that I chopped up into powder to kill the stink.
 

MEP001

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When I first started in this business, I tried to keep floormats for about a month. Not one single person ever came back looking for them. If they leave them hanging in the bay, I watch until anyone who could have left them has gone, then I hang them on the fence by the dumpster.
 

JMMUSTANG

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Two guys pulled up to my vacuums with their truck and boat trailer (with boat) that had gasoline on the flooring, along with water. They sucked it up in the vacuum and blew it up with flames all over the place. The picture below is what the vacuums looked like before the explosion.

1690213028637.png
 

Kimberly Berg

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I was to busy trying to keep the flams from catching all the cars on fire.
Once the fire trucks got there and put it out I forgot to take pictures.
JMMUSTANG - Awesome story! I'd love to see AFTER photos from your video camera, unless it was damaged by the flames? 🔥
 

JMMUSTANG

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Kimberly I’ll ask the boss (my wife) she‘s out of town.
When she gets back home I‘ll see if she can find any after pics.
They’ll be on the old system.
 
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