Have you ever had a night mare about being stuck in a car wash, with water gushing down the windows, while the big evil brushes eat away your car, refusing to stop, and you can’t get out?
Well, that’s pretty much what happened to me this morning. After having taken the BMW to the airfield over the week-end I wanted to quickly rinse off the dust before putting my cover on in the parking lot to protect from the brutal heat in the parking lot.
So I swiped my credit card and drove in – right into hell:..
The buzzer sounded, the water started, and the big evil brushes started cleaning. The cleaned the hood, the front wheels the doors and then just hung there – water still running, brushes still rolling – blocking the doors. After 10s I suspected something was wrong, but nothing was happening – the brushes just kept brushing. The car wash version of a blue screen!
I calmed myself, checked if my cell phone had reception – which it did – the brushes still rotating – now with me having night mares about my paint being sanded away! I decided to wait some longer – maybe this was just a fluke and the car wash computer would wake up again and continue to go about its business. No such luck. Thoughts about the software design of this contraption were flying around in my head – there must be a watchdog timer! The EPA probably mandates it! There must be! Just when I got ready to dial 311 everything suddenly stopped. I could see again the end of the car wash, no more foam coming down on me and most importantly no more ear numbing brushes banging on my car! – SILENCE.
I waited for maybe a minute and then decided to back out of the car wash, since I was still fully soaked in foam.
I walked over to the service station, reported my malady, and got a refund for the car wash. Any attempt by the service person to revive the car wash failed. So he finally offered to hose off the car himself, before sending me on my way. So much for the “Express” car wash – the whole experience took 35min!