Last Thursday (5/15/03) I began a long road trip from Arizona to Oregon to see my niece graduation from University. Wednesday evening I gave the car a good wash and made everything shiny. Being the clean freak I've become since owning the MINI, I packed car detailing supplies for the trip, with exception of a hose. Thursday at 2:30AM my wife and I left Phoenix headed for our first stop, my Grandfather's house in Dublin, CA. We checked the dealership guide in the glove compartment and found that East Bay MINI in Pleasanton is across the freeway from Dublin. I wanted the MINI to look very clean for my grandpa, so we decided to stop to check on using a hose to clean off some brake dust from the wheels. The rest of the car I could clean using the detailing supplies we transported with us.

It was just after 5PM, my wife and I went in and were greeted by Daniel the MM manager. I quickly explained to him that we arrived from Phoenix and were headed to see my grandpa. I asked if I could borrow a hose to rinse off my wheels. Daniel disappeared for a quick second, then came back and told us to pull the MINI around side to the service department.

The red-headed MINI service manager (sorry, forgot his name) appeared and directed us to the back lot. He grabbed a pressure washer hose and began rinsing off the wheels himself! Wow. Here's the service manager out spraying my wheels, and all I wanted was access to a hose. I got out my simple green, sponge and towel and began wiping the brake dust ridden wheels. On my second wheel, I saw him in front of the car getting the hundreds of bugs off the front grill with the hose. He then paused with a peculiar look and then asked for my keys. He pulled my MINI around the corner to the detailers and had them put me at the front of the line.

Needless to say these guys went way out of their way to make me feel special. I wonder what it'd be like if we had actually bought the car from them!