CutieMouse
Meticulously Flighty
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2004
- Posts
- 8,493
I swear I thought I posted to this last night...
Things are going really well...we hit the half way point of my visit tomorrow, and are both already dreading my going home. The whole thing is surreal... we just fit so damed well together...
J's yard boy is in Haiti for the next 2 weeks visiting family, so we took the car to get washed by a place up the road. Honestly it was so incredibly sad. Kid's the same age as my oldest son, running around in bare feet, and all they do 6-8 hours a day is hand wash and wax cars. They have to check supplies in and out with the guy in the office, and the place only offers washing the outside of the cars- for which the kids get paid nothing at all. They are literally working for tips, from the people who choose to have the inside detailed.
J seriously "over tips" here, because a few bucks to him isn't going to make a difference, but to them it's 3 days worth of food. So he grabbed 3 kids who have done the car in the past, tells them to do the whole thing- wash, wax, buff, sun protection, armorall the inside, vacuum, do the mats, everything and mucho fast so we won't have to wait more than necessary.
So these kids just bust ass. I mean grin at him because they know he's generous, and kill themselves to get an SUV spotless in less than an hour bust ass. They must have spent 10 minutes with stiff scrub brushes on each tire, and washed it twice before doing the wax, then buffed it, then washed again, then did a sun protection coat, buffed that, then went to work on the interior. They used freaking paint brushes to hand sweep the sand and dust off each surface, polished the joints and crevices of the door hinges, scrubbed the floor mats by hand and let them dry in the sun - everything. The car looked like it had just driven off a used car lot when they were done, and it took them the better part of an hour - working non stop.
Cost? $11, including the tips for each boy - tips that were more than three times the "normal" tip for a car wash; the actual car wash/wax cost $2.50. He said the kids will be able to get a doughnut from a street vendor to treat themselves, and still take home more money off that one hour's work, than they usually make all day.
We're in a semi-gated community (mostly snowbirds), facing the ocean... the abject poverty of the country isn't blatantly in front of your face, but it's so unbelievable how little there is here for the average person...
Things are going really well...we hit the half way point of my visit tomorrow, and are both already dreading my going home. The whole thing is surreal... we just fit so damed well together...
J's yard boy is in Haiti for the next 2 weeks visiting family, so we took the car to get washed by a place up the road. Honestly it was so incredibly sad. Kid's the same age as my oldest son, running around in bare feet, and all they do 6-8 hours a day is hand wash and wax cars. They have to check supplies in and out with the guy in the office, and the place only offers washing the outside of the cars- for which the kids get paid nothing at all. They are literally working for tips, from the people who choose to have the inside detailed.
J seriously "over tips" here, because a few bucks to him isn't going to make a difference, but to them it's 3 days worth of food. So he grabbed 3 kids who have done the car in the past, tells them to do the whole thing- wash, wax, buff, sun protection, armorall the inside, vacuum, do the mats, everything and mucho fast so we won't have to wait more than necessary.
So these kids just bust ass. I mean grin at him because they know he's generous, and kill themselves to get an SUV spotless in less than an hour bust ass. They must have spent 10 minutes with stiff scrub brushes on each tire, and washed it twice before doing the wax, then buffed it, then washed again, then did a sun protection coat, buffed that, then went to work on the interior. They used freaking paint brushes to hand sweep the sand and dust off each surface, polished the joints and crevices of the door hinges, scrubbed the floor mats by hand and let them dry in the sun - everything. The car looked like it had just driven off a used car lot when they were done, and it took them the better part of an hour - working non stop.
Cost? $11, including the tips for each boy - tips that were more than three times the "normal" tip for a car wash; the actual car wash/wax cost $2.50. He said the kids will be able to get a doughnut from a street vendor to treat themselves, and still take home more money off that one hour's work, than they usually make all day.
We're in a semi-gated community (mostly snowbirds), facing the ocean... the abject poverty of the country isn't blatantly in front of your face, but it's so unbelievable how little there is here for the average person...
Glad you're having a bang-up time!
