Car Wash

Not so long ago during the most recent tax season (Jan - April 2010) I, Jennifer worked for my brother in law, Matt Franklin and his dad John at their CPA firm. The work wasn't glamorous, but I had such a great feeling of accomplishment as I moved 'To-Do' work from one stack, to a 'Done' stack and left each day feeling like I actually achieved and completed a task. This feeling is hard to come by as a full-time mom, in case you were wondering.
As April 15th arrived, Matt called to say that there were donuts and an 'envelope' waiting for me to pick up as the team was celebrating the completion of another successful tax-year. I graciously declined the offer for doughnuts, as I had just that day made a pact to cut out sugar from my diet, but I still needed to swing by to pick up the envelope. Upon leaving the office Matt 'forced' me to take a donut and I obliged, wrapping it in a napkin with every intention to give it to Kayna when I picked her up from preschool.
We were leaving for TN later that day so my 'To-Do' list included gassing up the car and going through the car wash.
Here begins the reason for this blog entry: After filling the car with gas, I chose the option for the mid-grade car wash. You know, the one that isn't as frugal as just water and suds, but not as high class as the Ultimate option with wax and double washing. I pulled up to the teller where I entered the code from my receipt. The automated voice was responding to me as it acknowledged what option I had selected. It told me to enter the car wash so I began the journey, all the while trying to listen to whatever else 'he' was telling me to do. All of a sudden his instructive voice disappeared as I realized that I was being jet-blasted in the face with a forceful flow of pre-wash. I was so intent on paying attention to the detailed instructions that I forgot to close my window!! I was driving our 5-speed so the shock caused me to stop instantly. I did not stall out but I could not think of what to do other than try to roll up my window as fast as I could, all while the water continued to blast into my face and into the car. The automatic window seemed to take 5 minutes to close completely but when it did I was able to put the car back in 1st gear and completely enter the wash. As I put the car in park I was out of breath and looked around to see what had happened. Water instantly poured off the top of my hat and into my already soaked lap. I looked over in the passenger seat to see a single soggy napkin clutching a damp donut. This was the only napkin in the whole car. I decided to eat the donut, for the single purpose of having something to wipe my face off with afterwards, even though the napkin was already wet. I started laughing at the entire situation as I realized that the shock caused me to unnecessarily stop at the flow of water that was not moving. If I had driven just a few inches further I would not have been pummeled in the face with jet-blasted water for a full 20 seconds. It was simply a stationary 'rainbow' - a forceful rainbow - of water that you're supposed to drive through to saturate your car before the wash actually begins.
Lesson learned: Well, I'm still not sure. I keep coming back to the fact that I was trying to obey the instructions given to me. Maybe the teller should first encourage the innocent listener to roll up their window before entering the wash.
I wonder how many people this happens to? I bet the guy who worked that day chuckled as he added a tic to his list of unsuspecting-teller-obeying-water-blasted customers.