Today I visited the local Shell garage to use the car wash (no petrol bought). So I park the car at the side of the forecourt and queue (for ages, due to a problematic chip 'n' pin reader and even more problematic customer) to get my ticket. Lucky the car wash was empty, I thought, as otherwise a quick wash would have taken ages...
So, I go out to the car, ticket in hand, and drive around to the car wash, only to find someone (turned out to be a female but that's probably irrelevant) had parked her car at the start of the car wash while she went and queued for her ticket. By the time she had completed queuing and used the car wash (full cycle, including spin) it must have taken me ten minutes extra...
I got over it quickly enough but what a thoughtless thing to do... or was it??
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I may be wrong, but I dont imagine she did it with the intention of Q jumping - sounds like she thought that as nobody was around then she could just leave her car there while she paid - or even just though she could pay at the car wash, and it wasnt until she got there she found that not to be the case.
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Maybe not intentional, but quite thoughtless. I've seen this happen to others a couple of times and thought it a bit cheeky to say the least.
On saying that a mate of mine always buys a token for the local jet wash when he fuels, but doesn't necessarily wash the car on the same visit., especially if there's a queue for the wash bay. He's had abuse when he's returned to wash, pulled straight onto the bay armed with his token and started to wash the car, then someone who was on site before him paying for fuel has come out to find the formerly empty wash bay in use. Not sure what I think of that really. Cheeky or just well organised?!
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I don't get this at all! I detest queue jumping but it wouldn't occur to me to do anything other than join the line of cars (or stop ready to enter the empty car wash) and then go and get the token. Neither has it occurred to be that anyone else has been acting unreasonably when they have done this while I am at the pump. In fact there's nowhere else to park anyway at my local station, other than blocking a pump (which *is* annoying)!
It's a bit disconcerting when you find everyone else is out of step ;-)
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Absolutely agree, Manatee. I always do that. The British love to queue - and part of the devotion is to hurl insults at people who've given the matter a bit of thought instead of mindlessly getting in line.
Patience is a greatly overrated virtue! :)
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Agree with Avant and Manatee.
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The problem is there are two queues - one of cars, waiting to enter the wash, one of people, waiting to buy their tokens. It's a stupid system, bound to cause arguments as to priority.
The rule should be, get your token first. The same as buying petrol - you don't bag a pump first, then go off to the bank to get some money.
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>>The rule should be, get your token first. The same as buying petrol - you don't bag a pump first, then go off to the bank to get some money.
I have seen this several times-park car adjacent to fuel pump walk across to cash machine withdraw or check balance then fill with petrol, and while they are in the shop do the weeks shopping.Or even just use the fuel pump space as a convenient car park .The rest of us waiting like lemmons who just want fuel.
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rustbucket (the original)
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I have seen this several times-park car adjacent to fuel pump walk across to cash machine withdraw or check balance then fill with petrol, and while they are in the shop do the weeks shopping.Or even just use the fuel pump space as a convenient car park .The rest of us waiting like lemmons who just want fuel. -- rustbucket (the original)
Don't forget the ones who,having paid,get in the car,spend five minutes finding the Werther's Originals in the glove box,polishing the rear view mirror,untwisting the seatbelt before donning it and finally driving off,completely oblivious to the cars waiting to fillup. Pull away then sort yourself out if there's a queue.
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Cheeky or just well organised?!
Well organised. There's nothing wrong with that method at all. There are no end of things you can pay for in advance.
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L\'escargot.
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On saying that a mate of mine always buys a token for the local jet wash when he fuels, but doesn't necessarily wash the car on the same visit., especially if there's a queue for the wash bay. He's had abuse when he's returned to wash, pulled straight onto the bay armed with his token and started to wash the car, then someone who was on site before him paying for fuel has come out to find the formerly empty wash bay in use.
If you buy the token/ticket in advance what do the people who are queueing to buy theirs expect you to do? Do they expect you to join the queue and not conduct a transaction and then wash your car after the person who's in front of you in the queue? The queue for washing starts at the wash bay.
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L\'escargot.
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Interesting dilemma.
It's only possible to play fairly by the rules when the rules are known by all and unambiguous.
Surely the problem here is that there are two entry points to the queue:
(1) The car-wash start point
(2) The pay-point in the shop
In so far as this is a problem at all, it is a problem of the way the car-wash is managed. The queueing rules could be clarified by placing a sign at the entrance to the car-wash saying "Obtain token BEFORE queueiog", or the rules could stated to people when they bought the token "Here's your token luv but that gentleman is before you", or the physical design or procedure could be changed to remove the ambiguity.
What I would do is:
(1) Mention my concern to the garage manager, say how much I appreciate the car-wash service and that it could even better if this queueing issue was resolved.
(2) Think how wonderful it is to live in Britain and that I'm not queueing for petrol in Iraq.
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"Mention my concern to the garage manager"
Garage Manager???? You mean the numpty behind the counter who looks at and trteats you with the saem disdain as if you just been passed out of the rear end of a large elephant?
I cant remember the last time I went into a fuel forecort c-store and saw anyone who even remotely looked liked they cared and certainly looked like a Manager!
Sorry if you work in the fuels c-store business and you love your job, look like you give a dam etc etc but you are a very rare breed.
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Don't understand why car washes need tokens really - why can't some 'genius'
devise a system whereby you do a thing called 'putting the money in the machine
to get the product' - like chocolate machines at tube stations - save all that kerfuffle
about queue theory & washer-rage, innit?
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Woodbines, the local scrotes would be forever jemmying the machine to get the money out, quite probably in broad daylight with the sales guys watching, but unable to leave their post. Even if it was empty at night they'd still try it.
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A late entry for the "most trivial worry of 2006"...save the planet and your paint work and get a bucket and sponge and do it yourself. You'll save yourself all that worrying and burn off a couple of mince pies as you do it.
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I did point out that it wasn't a biggie to me... :-)
Nevertheless some interesting responses. I wonder if next time I go to Tesco I go and park an empty trolley in a checkout queue while I shop whether it would be seen as smart, or "thoughtless".
I would much prefer to wash it myself, in fact I usually do - never much liked car washes since an incident in one many years ago - but the hosepipe ban (!!!) makes 4 cars rather hard work...
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Yeah, I hadn't thought of that local Yokel - things these days have
to be ChavProof. Perhaps, the coin-slot on the putative system could
be micro-switched to detect greater-than-usual force , then 'solenoid-ed'
to the mains voltage as a deterrent ...mmm? maybe not, bound to be some
'humans rights' blather if it was tried. ;)
Speaking of Tesco, as I used to use their jet-wash, (£1-for-3mins & took 9mins) but found
my local garage had a much superior (..and much cheaper) jet-wash, that I can
zip round the motor for £1.50 with, and get a better result - with the added benefit
of an aerobic workout at the same time - Cristiano Ronaldo would have difficulty
doing as many 'step-overs' as me with the pressure hose!
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Local Tesco jet wash £1 in the machines slot buys you 3 minutes.
Just pick a time when no one else is around ( 10 pm onwards is a good tip ) & wash the car as you please.
Has plenty of wash programes to pick from.
Wont use one of those auto machines because the brushes ruin the paintwork & also wont do the spoiler much good.
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What is it with Shell and chip and pin cards? Every time I visit there seems to be a problem, it either takes ages to process or the system does not work at all and I have to provide a signature. Never seems to be a problem anywhere else, just Shell stations.
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What is it with Shell and chip and pin cards?
Perhaps it's because of problems earlier in the year.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=40926
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As a way of saving hastle, petrol, money, water & getting some excercise, how about "washing your own car"
A recent top-tip I've discovered since the hosepipe ban in our area, is to use rainwater from a water butt.
There's no need to leather-off or polish as there's no limescale in the water, and the car has a fantastic shine - it only takes 15 mins to do the Forester.
It's also a good opportunity to have a good look at the tyres and general state of the car, especially important in the winter.
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Jet washes are quite good exercise MVP, it's even quite good fun
working out the best way to get around (but still doing the job properly)
in the least time. One big disadvantage of hand washing, imo, when compared
to a good jet-wash, is that you can give the underneath a jolly good
clean too - especially good for a 4x4 I would have thought, and with all the
salt used in this country.
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"Nevertheless some interesting responses. I wonder if next time I go to Tesco I go and park an empty trolley in a checkout queue while I shop whether it would be seen as smart, or "thoughtless".
Not quite the same scene as a car wash really. I am ready to have my car washed so put it in queue and then pay. If you have an empty trolley in Tesco you haven't done your shopping and you aren't ready to pay - that's the difference. For a car wash,n the absence of any intructions, I think it is reasonable to park up and then pay.
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Okay, picture the scene.
You have gone to the filling station just to wash your car, you park at the entrance to the car wash, get out and start to walk over to the shop to get your token. At the same time someone who has just come out of the shop says to you "I've just got my token after filling up with fuel, I'm going to have to wait now". You see the queue is almost out of the door and it will take some time for you to complete the transaction.
Do you force the person who couldn't park his car at the entrance to the carwash as they were getting petrol to wait whilst you queue up and get your token at your leisure?
I know there are far more important things to get annoyed about, but I personally think it is a tad on the thoughtless side.
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I'd fill up, move to the car wash and then pay for fuel and wash in one transaction. Standing in a long queue is not leisure - it is coping with the garage on;y having one till manned!
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Sounds like there's very much two schools of thought on this topic then!
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I agree with you Dieselboy, it seems opinion is divided on this one. IMO if you have no token then you are not ready to use the car wash, and should not park there and obstruct its use for people who already have a token. ;o)
Although I dont like it, its something I would try not to get wound up about, as many have stated! Its the same as the old holiday cliche of reserving sunloungers with towels, not the end of the world.
I now usually use ARC car washes (because IMO they give the best wash); you pay the attendant cash when you get to the front of the queue, so the problem cannot occur.
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These things go in three stages
1. Bald statement of 'fact'
2 Blunt contradiction
3. Verbal abuse!
This is the Backroom - we can agree to differ and skip 3!
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This is getting almost as good as the carpet or rubber floor mats? thread from a while back! :-)
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>>There's no need to leather-off or polish as there's no limescale in the water>>
We have hard water (although not as bad as it used to be) and I always try and wash my car just before it rains.
As a result it gets an automatic rinse and dries streak-free.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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PS
What's a hosepipe ban?
Last one we had was in 1976 - hardly surprising at the time...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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>> What is it with Shell and chip and pin cards? Perhaps it's because of problems earlier in the year.
Or it's taking them a while to skim your bank details ; )
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I too have wondered about this subject in a mildly amuzing day dream style, I do not tend to let such things bother me, however I am aware that there are some lucky people out there who's lives are so complete that such things become to matter above and beyond everything else that worries most people in the world. :o)
I did ' Q jump' once before in my local garage, much as because I was not buying fuel and there was nowhere else to park, it being a busy filling station and all, I ponderd while in the shop as to the number of dirty looks I would get upon my return to my car. There was a burgandy coloured XJ style Jag faffing around, and much to my amusement the driver reversed into the automatic car wash. As I got back to my car the driver was getting out to come up to my car to insert his voucher code. I caught his eye and with a cheerful smile indicated my amusement and how I was impressed with his resourcefulness, he too seemed amused by the incident and not a bad word or look was exchanged.
He got to the car wash with his voucher before me and therefor got his car washed before me, fair enough :o) It will be a sad day when I get grumpy about such things. Will I never " Q-jump" again.... well I would probably do the same again given the same circumstances, If he had of road raged me over the incident I would probably make a point of "Q jumping" just to get on the wick of small minded people, however at the moment I would tend to park in a free space if there was one available.
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Seems normal practice at our local garage for people to stop in the mouth of the car wash and save their place...
Blue
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Personally I go to the local 'Handi-Wash' where they control the q.
Simple.
And no stress over how to q correctly ; - )
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Perhaps you should just look at it with a "Pollyanna" view - "be glad" to use the ten minutes to clean the inside windows, dash, tidy the boot and get rid of the rubbish instead of doing it later!
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All this talk about car washing and queueing makes me think and ponder as to why, despite it now being almost Jan 2007 and winter,I cannnot still, theoretically, use my hosepipe for cleaning my car.
Thames Water still have in operation their ban even though I have, on the odd occasion, surrepticiously used mine to clean my sometimes very filthy car. If they cannot lift the ban shortly, surely they'll never do so, because I cannot imagine that they would lift the ban in early Spring just when gardeners might just about be getting ideas for watering in plants and tired lawns after winter's ravages
The whole thing is a nonsense, surely, notwithstanding aquifers and their requirements.
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Absolutely right, Oldgit. Thames Water are still losing more water through leaks than they ever did through hosepipes.
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Some people I know, fortunately for them, are able to wash their cars out of sight of passers by, for example are able to drive their cars through their garages to the rear of their houses and thus have an ideal place to carry out illicit practices.
My circumstances are, that my car (like the majority) is in on my front drive, right in view of any buses that have to stop outside my house at the bus stop and is of course viewable to any passing motorist who may be a water board official which begs the question; Would the police also take any action in these circumstances?
I've never, ever in my motoring life, of over 50 years, washed a car in an automated car wash but sometimes, now with these hosepipe restrictions feel very tempted, when I see my pride and joy looking so dirty, after relatively short journeys.
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Can always just use a bucket and sponge. My car has got used to not being washed :-(
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I can't remember the last time I washed my car.
There are several hand car washes locally (Esher, Surrey); all it seems, operated by Poles.
They charge £6-8 for a wash and leather with wheels cleaned.
Add interior vacuumed, tyres blacked etc and it comes to £11-12 (from memory)
At that sort of money it's not worth messing around with buckets, although it is a bit tricky getting a receipt out of them - I wonder why?
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Thames water have previously said that you can use a hosepipe to fill a bucket or watering can, so why not do that instead?
www.thames-water.com/UK/region/en_gb/content/FAQ/F...p
Q. Can I wash my car using a hosepipe?
A. No, the ban restricts the washing of private motorcars with hosepipes.
N.B. You may still use a bucket.
Q. Can I use a short length of hosepipe to fill containers?
A. Yes, if to fill a container, e.g. watering can or bucket.
I think Thames Water's main worry is people who chuck a running hose pipe down in between soaking - washing - and rinsing the car, instead of turning it off when not being used. Fortunately I'm not on Thames Water, but still use one of those spray guns on the end of the hose that automatically shuts the water off when you let go of the trigger.
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I get my mother to wash my Hiroof van. She is quite happy with a quarter of spice as payment, although sometimes I feel guilty because the next door neighbours have to help her down from the top of the ladder!
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It takes me 10 mins to do the pick up and fifteen for the van, no chance of scratching. Why use a car wash.
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I have a grey car.
'nuff said.
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I was with my brother in law the other day as he parked at a pump, paid for his petrol then went to the little cafe bit and sat down for a hotdog and a cup of coffee. Didn't even enter his mind that he might be being a teensy bit selfish. A good twenty minutes we were sat there.
Poles enjoy a good old queue, the supermarkets were particularly bad this year. I don't mind the people who park their trolley in a queue then rush off to finish their shopping but I do get irked by the family of four who station one different person in four different queues then drag a full trolley over two the one who looks like he'll get served first.
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Further to BBDave's Polish experience, i remember the Russian art of queing: you got the person to save you a space in the bread queue, then saved another space in the milk queue, and another one in the cheese. That way you queued simultaneously in each queue!
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To digress slightly, and this has probably been discussed before, why do people insist on queueing in filling stations for pumps just because the filler cap is on 'that' side of the car. There was a heck of a queue at the local Tesco petrol station a couple of weeks ago, and I'd have joined it, until I noticed that all the cars queueing had their filler caps on the drivers side and were waiting for the corresponding pumps, I pulled up on the opposite side, right next to the pump island and the nozzle reached across fine. I suppose I could have turned around and reversed up next to the pump on the correct side, there's no signs saying you can't.......
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To digress slightly, and this has probably been discussed before, why do people insist on queueing in filling stations for pumps just because the filler cap is on 'that' side of the car.
Guilty as charged. It's easier, simple as that
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Re: Petrol pumps
1. hose would not reach on present or previous car - despite disbelief and frustration of husband!
2. I use two local stations mainly - one does not have the room for the suggested manouvre and in the second one you would have to repeat the moves to get out of the station - more trouble than it is worth.
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Guilty as charged. It's easier, simple as that
Easier to wait in a queue, moving forward as each car in turn fills up? Surely it's easier just to pull more pipe out of the reel?
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To digress even further...
Here in the Land of Sunshine, we have gentlemen of sombre hue who rush out, fill your car, wipe the windscreen, check the oil/water/tyres and collect the money. They get a salary and tips.
BUT some morons sit in their car, wtch all this going on pay and THEN amble into the shop to buy cigarettes/sweets/drinks/newspapers - effectively blocking the pump lane for 10 minutes.
These morons normally do this trick during rush hour...
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"> Thames Water are still losing more water through leaks than they ever did through hosepipes.<"
There is no water shortage problem in the UK; however, there is a serious water management problem.
I wash my day-to-day car in the rain because I'm too lazy to unreel the hose and I refuse to queue to allow a motley collection of ne'er-do-wells the privilege of adding scratches to the pristine bodywork of my cherished vehicle :-0
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Get Token 1st
Purely because if you park in the car wash and it breaks down and there is a few more cars behind who have got their token 1st you may sheepishly have to ask them to reverse to let you out !
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Learn to chill out and queue.
Reminds me of a story some years ago when someone went into the garage early one morning to buy a token for a car wash machine. An impatient driver pulled up at the car wash machine and then went and bought a token. Unfortunately overnight some scroates had tied nuts in the brushes of the car wash and did a lot of damage to the car's bodywork. So the patient driver had the last laugh.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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