So new valet fun,

I went to the grocery store - the one where I go has free valet as parking is tight a good deal of the time.
The valets are mostly older guys - a couple of them I know have two jobs, working for the city at parking garages in the day and valet in the evening, and generally they are pretty cool and I've met a couple of their kids over the years. I tip and give holiday gifts- but not top dollar - but I'm a regular so it's income for them and they know me.

It's the holidays and I know I should have put everything in the trunk, and I've been going there for about nine years with no trouble.

They know me - I know them, so it's all copacetic.

I go in with the new 5 and I get the "skinny goober kid", out of all of them he's not got his head on very straight, he takes my car and it has comfort access - I tell him be careful and lock it... he's really unsure of himself and acts confused a lot.

I come back after shopping, and all the windows are completely down, and the car is sitting there - my briefcase on the front seat my leather jacket on the back seat, and my wife's present in a fairly nice size Tiffany's bag --- they can't find my key - it's in the "ignition" ------ WTF ------ luckily I'm blocked in by a Porsche, A Merc and a few other cars...

Fast forward a few more days - I go again with the wife, and this time I get one of the older guys - as I'm leaving I look back and see the "skinny goober kid" moving my car to a space - just my luck :-)....

We come back after shopping and they can't find the key - the older attendants are going nuts and I say to the kid - "Did you put my key under the windshield wiper?' ............

"skinny goober kid" answers yes.. - I had set the car to lock - I walk up and the car opens to the touch... hmm -----
Older attendant say - pop the hood - he starts feeling abound and finds the key wedged on the drivers side in the gap between the firewall and whatever the box is in front of it on the drivers side.....


So I guess I need to get a bigger key... or a F'ing staple gun and staple the key to the valet's forehead :-) :-)

 

 

Do you live in Dubai? Even grocery stores in Beverly Hills don't have valet!

If I was forced to use valet at that store, then I'd tip one of the older guys a bit more to make sure he was the one taking care of my car. Or else, I'd goto another grocery store. Good luck!

 

get some menzerna, they are some of the best paint correction polish.

 

Try Dr. Color Chip (google it).
It works great on deeper scratches and chips (it does not work well on very fine scratches).
If done correctly, you will get a perfect finish (can't tell that anything was there).

 

I also have some valet damage - a valet parked my car too close to the concrete parking place stopper, and when he pulled out, he dragged the air dam over it. See below:



Sadly, my car was dirty that night, and I left, and did not notice this until I washed it a week later. By that time I had no ability to go back on the valet.

But, as you can also see, my air dam is pretty beaten up from road gravel and needs some attention anyway. So I decided to get over the valet damage and use it as an excuse to get the thing repainted.