I took a few minutes out of my extremely busy day (of doing absolutely nothing) yesterday to wash my car. That's not terribly exciting you say? You're absolutely right, but it needed it. Badly. I haven't washed it in nearly two months even though it should have been done as soon as I came back from visiting my family for Christmas. It's funny how driving through a couple of snow storms can really dirty things up.
There are multiple reasons why I haven't washed it. First, I've been busy. Second, every time it crossed my mind it was too cold to do it. Third, and probably most important, I wanted to leave it dirty.
You see, I have a friend who is a bit of a perfectionist. If you move a pencil on his desk while he is gone, he will straighten it as soon as he returns. He usually doesn't even realize that he's doing it. He likes things to be clean. He needs things to be clean. He needed my car to be clean and he wasn't afraid to make that clear. The crazy thing was that I already knew that my car was dirty. I didn't need him to tell me that.
If you want your stuff to be in order, that's fine. If you want my stuff to be in order, that's fine too. If you come and move my stuff around so that it fits your idea of what is acceptable, that's not fine (and yes, he has taken it upon himself to straighten out my things on multiple occasions). If it pains you too much to ride around in my dirty car, well, maybe I'm going to cause you some pain.
I was actually thinking about washing my car on the way home that day, but since he felt so strongly that something needed to be said, I left it dirty. I did this simply because I knew it was killing him not to bring it up again. Finally, a few weeks later he told me that I should wash it so that the salt wouldn't start eroding the paint, but he wasn't really worried about that, he just wanted all to be right in his world. I still didn't clean it. At least not until yesterday. But that was because I wanted it done.
Don't ever mistake me for someone who isn't petty and juvenile, for I will do things (or not do them) simply out of spite.
There are multiple reasons why I haven't washed it. First, I've been busy. Second, every time it crossed my mind it was too cold to do it. Third, and probably most important, I wanted to leave it dirty.
You see, I have a friend who is a bit of a perfectionist. If you move a pencil on his desk while he is gone, he will straighten it as soon as he returns. He usually doesn't even realize that he's doing it. He likes things to be clean. He needs things to be clean. He needed my car to be clean and he wasn't afraid to make that clear. The crazy thing was that I already knew that my car was dirty. I didn't need him to tell me that.
If you want your stuff to be in order, that's fine. If you want my stuff to be in order, that's fine too. If you come and move my stuff around so that it fits your idea of what is acceptable, that's not fine (and yes, he has taken it upon himself to straighten out my things on multiple occasions). If it pains you too much to ride around in my dirty car, well, maybe I'm going to cause you some pain.
I was actually thinking about washing my car on the way home that day, but since he felt so strongly that something needed to be said, I left it dirty. I did this simply because I knew it was killing him not to bring it up again. Finally, a few weeks later he told me that I should wash it so that the salt wouldn't start eroding the paint, but he wasn't really worried about that, he just wanted all to be right in his world. I still didn't clean it. At least not until yesterday. But that was because I wanted it done.
Don't ever mistake me for someone who isn't petty and juvenile, for I will do things (or not do them) simply out of spite.
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7 comments:
Did you get before and after pictures????
I did, and I've obviously added them now. I didn't originally because the pics pretty much suck, plus that would show you how much of a dork I really am, but I guess it's too late for that now.
It's not as bad as I thought...
My before and after pictures are so much worse...
I ought to blog about my interior before/after.
:)
I'm shamelessly spiteful...not one of my better traits so I completely understand.
The vehicles around here (Indiana) mostly all look like your before pic. It's hard to keep clean from all the snow, salt, and general crap.
I'm a little bit of a perfectionist myself, however - I also appreciate the fact you didn't wash your car out of pure spite.
That leaves people like myself in a very precarious position where counseling won't even make a dent.
That was a good post.
I thought he didn't wash his car 'because' of the spite..sheesh..too much wine...
You're a dork... :) PI
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