I work in a white-collar office that sits on top of a blue-collar warehouse. The parking lot is huge, and I usually park near the back. On any particular day there are $500 clunkers parked next to $80,000 German luxury sedans. Every make, model, condition and price range are covered, as are most of the years between 1967 and 2003.
How clean people keep their cars seems to depend most on what type of personality they have and what type of lifestyle. No matter a person's economic status, if he or she virtually "lives in" the car, that car is going to be a rolling junk pit. If someone's a neat freak, you can rest assured the seats have been recently steam-cleaned. I've seen a fairly new Mercedes totally junked out, and a mid-80s model Honda Accord with a minty fresh interior.
I don't snoop intentionally, I just notice things in cars as I pass by. Here are the most common things I see:
1. Beverage containers. (Coffee cups, mugs, water bottles, soda cans).
2. A week's worth of newspapers.
3. Fast-food bags.
4. A spare change of clothes. Or a month's worth of dry cleaning. Or gym clothes.
5. Luggage.
6. CD and cassette cases.
7. Flowers (A fake one in at least two VW Beetles, which come with a bud vase).
8. People. (Many of the warehouse workers take breaks in their cars).
9. Spare change.
10. Kites. (You never know when the wind will pick up and you'll drive by an open field).
I've nearly always kept my vehicles fairly clean, even when I drive crappy cars (like now). It was a pride of ownership thing. The family truckster is often decorated with wadded up napkins, half-eaten crackers, toys and other child-related flotsam. But I drive the other vehicle during the week, so it's all good.
What's in your car?
Have a great weekend! I've got a job interview this evening ... wish me luck!
Good luck with the interview.
I know what you're saying about child-related flotsam. The wife's taxi is a rolling junk pile that reeks. I'm gonna have to spend 9 hours in that thing next week enroute to Mississippi.
Hope it's something really great. Life is way too short to spend in a job that is less than stellar. Sigh. Obi Wan Kenobi here, yeah right. The things we were going to accomplish when we tossed that mortarboard into the air. Where does time go? Good Luck, T-bone! May the Force be with you.
Junk mail, fast food bags, books, water bottles, and tons of CD's. I try to keep it all on the bottom floor behind my seat, though :)
Good luck on the interview!
In my Truck (97 Chevy Blazer)
My truck is so very clean you can eat from the floor.
Alpine CD/MP3/AM/FM/XM Head unit
2 1000 Watt Amplifiers
4 sets of Infinity Component speakers
Delphi SkyFi XM satelite reciever
Blizsafe XM satelite antenna
12 12" sony Xplod sub woofers
Radar detector
Pilot Driving lights
Pilot Fog lights
Blue Neon
Transpass reciever (tolls)
HAPPY FRIDAY!
-dew
2 subs not 12
I don't drive a car anymore, since it's not needed in NYC. But when I had a car (my 1998 Toyota Corolla) I was a student, so it was filled with law books. Ahh, I miss my car.
Good luck with that interview!!
A basketball, an extra pair of Chucks, and a lot of spare change.
I see a lot of interesting stuff in people's cars when I'm driving big trucks. Prosthetic limbs, dirty magazines, and more than a few people touching themselves in ways they would probably never dream of touching themselves if they knew someone could see them.
Good times... good times. And good luck!
T - THANK YOU for the works of fiction this week. I've been crazed at work and didn't comment on the stories - but they were greatly appreciated! THNX!
As you know, I don't have a car. But when I did, I kept all of my basics handy:
1. Clothes - uniforms, work clothes, play clothes, beach clothes, costumes.
2. Cassettes in the glove box - music for any mood.
3. Lots of loose change for the bothersome $.35 toll over Mt. Hope Bridge.
That said, I always kept the car clean. The clothes were usually in the hatchback and in some semblance of order, the change was always in the ashtray and the casettes always in the glove compartment.
Good Luck with the Interview!!!!
good luck, break a leg on the interview!
i was in absolute horror of how much junk i carted around when i had to pay a hundred bucks to pick it all up from the repo lot in the summer... so i've pared down significantly. (as in, i no longer am carrying the box of stuff that used to what was at my desk when i had an office job over two years ago...i could never bring it upstairs for the life of me!) so, now, what's in my car?
a pair of shoes that give me blisters
tons of cds
maps--folded or mapquest maps
empty bottles
boxes of raw ceramics
mail i've opened
books
surfaces in need of cleaning...
i've kind of learned my lesson. sometimes when i put something in my car i ask myself: "how will it feel to have to go pick this up at a repo lot if my car is taken away again?" what a sad life...
CDs, overdue books on their way to the library, dirty clothes on their way to the cleaners, and water bottles; some unopened, some empty, some in between. You never know when you might be stranded in the desert on 35 and need water, right? And of course, mapquest maps covered in sneaker prints.
Good luck with the interview and have a great weekend!
I have all the usual things PLUS I have a handy 'potty briefcase'. It's a traveling potty chair, but it looks like a briefcase.
Hey, you could take it to your job interview!
Good luck -- Best of luck with your interview tonight!!!
Hmmm -- an interview on a Fri night? Are you going for an exotic dancing job?
;)
Not too much in my car...
- numerous CDs (ever multiplying)
- TollPass
- Spare chg in ashtray
- Assorted sporting items in trunk (Rollerblades, softball, bat, football, frisbee)
- Jumper Cables (a girl has got to be prepared)
- Tool box
- First Aid box
I don't eat in my car -- and it's almost always "nearly just detailed clean"... (Control freak? not really -- easy to keep clean when you don't eat in the car -- and when you are the only one driving it)
Hi, my name is -d, and I admit... I live in my car and it is a pit!
-d
Good Luck!
too ashamed to tell what is in my car...will say MUCHO LUCK!! sending good vibes your way!
Good luck with that job interview - job interviews in the evening? What a thoroughly insane society you live in!
In the trunk: a blanket covered in sticky burrs, two beach chairs with pockets on the back containing towels and suntan lotion, a bat, a mit, a tennis racket, three pairs of rollerblades and a pair of skates, cleats. We hardly ever use any of this stuff, but we don't have a garage, so there you go.
Good luck with the interview! Let us know how it turns out.
Aside from the contents of my glove box (a map, my manual, insurance and registration) and my console (CDs and loose change), I don't keep anything in my car. Sixteen cars in my apartment parking garage have been broken into during the past three weeks. I don't want to take chances.
I do have a pair of rollerblades and some jumper cables in my trunk, though.
When I'm feeling better I'm going to read all of your stories. I know they'll be good.
Wait? What's in my car?
In the console I've got 1) c.d.'s (Coldplay to Sinatra), Burt's Bees raspberry lipgloss, a small red hairbrush, and a pen. In the pop-out drawer I've got Altoids, pink-bubblegum lipgloss, a free carwash card a guy gave me, and a couple of one-dollar-bills. In the glove-box are some tissues, insurance/car papers, more c.d.'s, suntan lotion, Chapstick, a Snickers Bar (in case I'm stranded in a freak snow-storm) - and - honest-to-goodness - a pair of gloves. In the secret-under-the-seat drawer are secret mix c.d.'s, a top-secret-umbrella, and a pad of paper (you never know when you'll be inspired to write something down). On the driver's visor are ten more c.d.'s (I love my music, you know.) In the back I've got an extra sweater, and the first-aid kit that came with the car.
I'm going to bed now...
I hope you nailed that job interview. You should put your blog on your resume. It represents talent, a strong work ethic, and persistence.
As for what we see in cars: flowers. I always wonder what the story is there.
let's see .. an umbrella, ice scraper and cds
Wow, a job interview? Sounds good. I hope you get it! Now, down to the nitty gritty. What do I haul around in my car? Windshield wiper fluid, baby wipes, those really cool armor-all wipes for the dashboard, lip balm, hair brush, cell phone charger and ear piece, and a little trash bucket. Not terribly interesting I'm afraid. And sorry for the lack of comments this week. I've been reading, really I have, but I have been uber busy.
Hey- good luck on the interview! Way to move on up! ;0)
I'm one of those aforementioned who live in the car. If I were to list all the things you could find in there on a given day, it would be a post in itself, so I'll go for the oddest. Tampons. Not just one, several. Because, you just never know when you'll need them. Aso, bc I throw them out of my purse at the end of the month. When I got my first car, a camaro, Dad had to sell the g.m.m.m.b. as he said it wasn't a fit work truck what with all the tampons lurking, ready to roll out at an unexpected moment! *chortle*
I hate driving in a car that looks like it carries the world's trash in it. It makes me feel dirty.
Mine has spare change, CDs, two umbrellas, the occasional medical journal, sometimes free samples from drug reps, but that is about it.
And good luck with the interview.