Bad Luck

Once every few months, I'll get a text from April that says, "I'm in a car wash. Can't help but laugh at you..." I smile as I read her text, but shudder thinking of the meaning behind that text.

You see, I have a lot of strange stories. I'm not an accident prone person, per say, but I just have the weirdest stuff happen to me. Sometimes it's because my mind is running a mile and minute and I tend to get frazzled. Sometimes it's because I react before thinking through the consequences. Sometimes it's just because bad things happen to me.

I have bad luck with car washes, and it all began about five years ago. To this day, I am terrified to get a car wash. Not only does the motion of the sprayers make me car sick (I have to close my eyes or I get nauseous), but I am scared to death that I will never get out of the thing alive.

My story begins (and ends) with a car wash. I was hired by Enterprise Rent a Car five years ago. I was warned I would have to wash cars, and I was OK with that. And wash cars I did! By hand, nonetheless, but it was also a welcomed time to get out of the office and relax for a few minutes. I was elated when I moved offices and my new office had an automatic car wash! All I had to do was punch in the code, drive forward, put it in park and relax while the sprayers did the work.

It was my first day at this new office, and they sent me to wash a car. I punched in the code, the door opened, I drove forward, I put the car in park, the doors shut, the sprayers started, and I sat back and relaxed. I had to shut my eyes to keep from getting sick, and since they were closed, I decided to enjoy a tiny little nap. It was dark in the wash, as all the doors were shut. I let the noise and shaking of the car soothe my stressed out nerves. I didn't fall asleep, but I was so relaxed that I decided to take a moment longer after the wash was done before heading back into the office.

Little did I realize that the garage door had opened to let me out. And little did I know that it was on a timer and I only had a few seconds to exit before the door shut again. So as I was enjoying my moment of relaxation in the car wash, the door opened...and the door closed. And I was in a car trapped in the car wash!

The realization of what had happened slowly began to sink in. I knew that I was going to embarrassed, but I knew what had to be done. All I had to do was call someone in the office and they could come punch in the code to get me out. I reached for my phone.

Where is my phone? Ah, it was in the office where I had left it. That's when I kind of began to panic. No phone, no one would hear me if I yelled, and I was trapped in a car wash. I really had no other option than to sit there and wait until someone else had to wash a car.

I sat there and waited...and waited...and waited...

Finally, about ten minutes later, a car pulled up behind me. This guy, who worked for the car dealership, punched in his code. Much to his surprise, there I was trapped in the bay. I rolled down my window and peeked out at him.

"Um, I'm sorry, but I've been trapped in this wash for a while now. Can you move your car so I can reverse?"

He was none too pleased, but he reversed. I then reversed, and he just shook his head at me as I came out backwards. I quickly drove away so I wouldn't have to explain myself. Once inside my Enterprise office, the rest of the team was wondering what happened to me. I didn't give them the "full" story, but I told them I had been trapped inside the wash bay.

With that memory still in mind, I went to get my car washed this week. I paid my money, pulled into the bay, put it in park, and set back to relax. Actually, I had a book (New Moon), so I eagerly picked up my book to read while the car wash did its thing. I was so absorbed in my book that I didn't realize until five minutes later that the wash hadn't started. Oops. I'm sure the guy waiting behind me was a little bit annoyed at me. I looked up and the arrow was pointing me to move forward. So I pulled forward. Still no wash. I reversed. Still no wash. Forward, backward, forward, backward. Still no wash!

Gosh, I sure do have bad luck in these things. I finally pulled all the way out and went into the gas station to tell them it had taken my money but I hadn't received the wash. The man working behind the counter was from another country and barely spoke English. I tried to explain what happened, but he didn't believe me (or couldn't understand me). His manager came out, and I explained to him what happened. After a few minutes of speaking to each other in another language, they agreed to give me my money back.

So here I am. Still with a dirty car. Still with bad memories of washing my car. Still with bad luck following me wherever I go.