Time for some CAR WASH STORIES

Here's what there is to know about my job.

I work at a car wash from 9 AM to 6:30 PM three days a week in a row. Usually I'm on the drying team but on occasion they'll send me over to the vacuums or to the detail area. It's a pretty physical job so by the end of the day and especially by the end of the week I'm SUPER TIRED.

It doesn't require me to interact with people much, so I get to spend a lot of time in my head, which compensates some for the boring repetitive job.

The reason I am writing is because last week we had a day that was not boring and repetitive. It was scary and crazy and hectic, because the stop button was broken at the end of the tunnel.

Most of the actual car washing is done by an automated system where the cars are put in neutral and pushed forward by a conveyer under the front tire. There are emergency stops at the beginning, end, and inside, for obvious reasons. Usually there isn't a need for it because the finishing supervisor is pretty good at hopping in the car at the last second and driving it to a parking spot. But if he's running a bit late or a car won't start, we have a safeguard.

The other day they were working on the wiring. A car was coming through and getting kinda close. Supervisor J was nowhere in sight and the other employee near me looked a little frazzled. Confidently I was just like -shrug- and pushed the button and NOTHING HAPPENED NOOOOOOOOO

Supervisor J showed up and drove the car away. Whew! But I knew this button would cause problems. Especially when it's busy we use it around 3 times a day.

I'm usually very quiet at my job. Nods, short answers, straight up ignoring small talk... RUDE (i know). But this day caused me to yell "hey" one time when Supervisor J was looking the other way. This felt like a small accomplishment.

A few close calls but it was okay. But then. Disaster.
One of the trucks got locked. Supervisor J jumped back and forth a bit trying to decide if there was time to run around the building to hit the other button. There wasn't. He motioned to the people inside to shut it off from there. It wasn't working inside either. He started pushing the truck out of the way. I helped. I felt pretty kick-butt. >:D

But that didn't solve the problem, it only temporarily suspended it. The boss came out. He jumped in the next car and put the brakes on or turned it off or something so that it couldn't move even when being pushed a little. Then they managed to turn the tunnel off.

They used the kit to unlock the truck, drove it away, and started the tunnel. But all was not solved. That second car still wasn't moving!!!!!!!!!!!! oh noooooes
I tried to get another girl who I'd seen driving cars in detail to get in and move it but she wasn't supposed to or didn't understand or something. Supervisor J finally got over there and moved it in the nick of time.

After that I had such an adrenaline high. They called the electrical people and got them to come back and fix the wiring.


Okay, I realized this story probably doesn't interest many people. But it was exciting to me, so I decided to write it.  I may not be writing beautifully right now, but I want to write, at least.