[GTO]

Don't think I've shared this before. Sister is down visiting from the USA, so lots of family memories & jokes rolling out. We had a laugh on this last night.

Me & my brother have one major disagreement on road-trips. No, it's not about who will pilot the car - he's okay with me driving the entire way. Our bone of contention is the music's volume. I like it loud, he likes it soft. After lots of arguing, we finally reached mutual ground.

Without him looking (or understanding), I set the sensitivity of the 'speed sensitive volume adjustment' at the highest level.

Then I slowed the car down. We mutually agreed on a set volume.

Picked up the car to highway speeds and obviously, the sound also increased by quite a bit.

My kid brother is happy (he doesn't even know of such a function). I was happy too .

After many such trips and my eventually feeling damn bad, I told him about it. He wanted to kill me . Hahaha!

[tht'snotME]

I was reading other's heartwarming messages in this thread and it is time I write mine.

It just happened a hour back, I was taking my cousin to join a coaching class on my bike. All went well, he joined and I was returning back and ran out of petrol (this is the first time I ran out of fuel as I remember in the recent past). I blamed myself for ignoring the low fuel warning and pushing the bike(in OMR road, Chennai and as all of us know it is damn hot), suddenly a guy in his khaki factory uniform in a Bajaj bike stopped in front of me and asked "what happened?". I told him- I ran out of fuel. He tagged my bike (keeping one leg and pushing it while riding his bike) to the nearest petrol pump, it is 4 kilometers.

Here is the interesting part, when we reached the petrol bunk I stopped and got down from the bike to thank him. He just turned back in the service road and left with a big smile in his face and good & positive lesson for me.

[DragonHawk]

It happened with me yesterday.

I filled 2000 bucks diesel in Vittal Mallya road Shell bunk and gave my SBI card for payment, but transaction failed citing invalid pin. Thought I did mistake while entering pin I tried multiple times and to my shock every time it showed invalid pin. Staff looked precariously as if I have got a stolen card. I gave my citi credit card and debit card but both cards were not accepted as the visa swiping m/c had some issue. All these drama was going on for 15 mins and I was feeling embarrassed. Since I had only Rs 1000 in my purse, thought will take the money from nearby atm thinking swiping m/c of shell has some issue as it is not accepting my pin.

I went to near by Canara Bank atm just to find no cash board. Checked with the security guy about availability of any other atm. He informed that there is one which is 15 mins walk away. Area was new to me and clearly was not in a position to go on searching for atm having my car grilled inside the bunk. I was getting impatient and angry as I was stuck with no working card, no working swiping machine, no working atm and not enough cash in the wallet. Thinking what is happening with me I just glanced over my sbi card and it gave a shock of my life. The card which I was using was of my wife`s as she also hold a SBI card and both were a rupay card which visually looks almost the same. Thankfully I got hold of my card with my name embroiled in the card and did a sprint towards to shell staff, made the payment and zipped out the bunk without even looking into the face of the staffers who were witnessing the drama for past 20mins.

Important learning, have enough cash in the wallet, don`t rely completely on the plastic money and more importantly check the card which has your name before giving for the payment

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by DragonHawk

Important learning, have enough cash in the wallet, don`t rely completely on the plastic money and more importantly check the card which has your name before giving for the payment

Oh yes! Sometimes I get a mental blank on PINs, or get confused between three cards. On one occasion, I had to call a friend to come and bail me out by paying for my fuel with cash!

[skyrocket003]

Originally Posted by DragonHawk

Since I had only Rs 1000 in my purse, thought will take the money from nearby atm thinking swiping m/c of shell has some issue as it is not accepting my pin.

This has happened with me a few times at Big Bazaar when the card machine is not working or they have some network issue etc. etc. I just take out my mobile phone, add money to Paytm or Future Wallet and pay the balance in a jiffy.

Just wondering why it did not come across your mind or may be you did not have your mobile phone.

Note: I am not associated in any way with Big Bazaar, Paytm or Future wallet.

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by skyrocket003

Just wondering why I did not come across your mind or may be you did not have your mobile phone.

Note: I am not associated in any way with Big Bazaar, Paytm or Future wallet.

I still belong to pre-demonetization period as I don`t use paytm or any other wallet as such. Moreover in a situation like above your first instinct will be to do which you are always used to ie to pay via card, paytm or any other wallet will be secondary.

[DriverR]

Well, this is not really a heartwarming post, so hope it fits this thread.

In the past 6 months i have faced a unique situations twice. I drive a Nano for my office commute and often have to go for office get-together in it. On 2 occasions when i went to two different star hotels, there was a visible reluctance for taking the Nano by the Valet attendant. In one case, there were 2 attendants who for a couple of seconds appeared to be nudging each other to take my Nano, while in the second instance, with 3 attendants standing at the valet podium, i was politely directed to the car park to park the car myself (when i stopped to let the passengers alight no one came to offer to take the car for valet parking).

Now, I really do not mind parking the car myself (i actually prefer it) but at times when i am in a rush i do not mind giving the car for valet parking.

These two instances made me wonder if valet attendants discriminate against the vehicle type depending on the perceived value.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by DriverR

These two instances made me wonder if valet attendants discriminate against the vehicle type depending on the perceived value.

They probably link the car's value to the driver's tipping values!

There's a higher chance of getting a Rs. 50 tip from someone who drives a E-Class as compared to a Nano... and so forth.

Next time keep a fat stack of cash clearly visible on your dashboard as you pull up to the entrance, and watch them fight over who gets to park the car

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by DriverR

These two instances made me wonder if valet attendants discriminate against the vehicle type depending on the perceived value.

I think its better this way, considering the number of accidents I hear being made by valets. At least you will have peace of mind when you are in the hotel . Pathetic behavior by the valets nonetheless!!

[am1m]

Originally Posted by DriverR

These two instances made me wonder if valet attendants discriminate against the vehicle type depending on the perceived value.

Almost all of us tend to make judgements about a person based on their visible possessions.

I remember meeting someone over lunch one day. Heading to the car park after, we were together in the elevator and I attempted to make some polite conversation. This guy barely answered and seem preoccupied with his phone. When we reached the basement parking, he asked me where I had parked. I pointed in the direction of my humble, much-traveled and dented Alto. There was a swanky SUV (can't remember what, Pajero I think) parked right next to my car and he thought I was pointing to that. The change in his attitude and body language had to be seen to be believed! "Wow, you drive THAT!" Of course I immediately corrected that impression, but memory of that reaction has stayed with me as a reminder.

I'm sure I too have been guilty of being that shallow, but I hope I'm more aware of that now and have changed.

[drive2eternity]

Last Friday, I was driving back from work when I noticed a small spider web near the base, where the A-Pillar meets the windshield. I felt annoyed. How could a spider build a home in my car! I am extremely particular about keeping the car clean, both inside and out. There is a strict "no-eating-in-car" policy in place too. In fact, I had just detailed my interiors about 10 days back.
I was still thinking about this web when I saw something shine behind my rear view mirror. It was another spider web thread, running from the mirror's base to the windshield. My annoyance began rising. I began scanning the top of the dash and windshield for more threads. Soon, I could count at least 10 threads, running horizontally across the windshield, and a couple on the dash. However, I could not see any spider.

"My car has been invested by spiders", I thought. Remember, while all this was happening, I was driving too.
As my blood boiled, I was thinking I would hunt for the spiders as soon as I reach home. At that very moment, a spider jumped down from the driver's sun visor. It was dangling right in front of my nose, slowly going down. I was

I quickly grabbed a cloth kept in the door pocket for cleaning the car and grabbed at the spider. I was still driving in the fast lane, doing around 50 kmph. Somehow, the spider's thread got caught in the cloth. I quickly threw the cloth in the empty passenger footwell and continued driving.

Once I reached home, I picked up the cloth but found the culprit missing. I searched for a while but could not locate it. So, I cleaned all the cobwebs and went home. Saturday morning, I went back to the car and saw this tiny fellow had worked entire night and again made webs all over the windshield and the dash. In fact, even the left rear window had not been spared.

I was furious. I started looking for it and spent around 20 minutes but could not locate it. Finally, as I was adjusting the driver side floor mat, I saw it. It was sitting in the steering tilt adjustment lever. I cannot express my feelings at that moment. All I can say is, it did not end well for the spider.

In the end, I cleaned all the webs and victorious, walked back home.

Luckily, this incident/experience did not cause any accident. Glad it wasn't my wife driving that day.

Here is a picture, showing the scene which I saw, when I was inches from becoming spider-man. It is only for illustration purposes.

[arunramaswamy]

Really appreciate you sharing your experience. Happy that your problem has been sorted out. But got to hand it out to the webster though. Have to appreciate its perseverance. I did learn a good lesson today through this. Thanks once again for sharing this small yet significant incident.

[esoticoreventon]

I was washing my car just before I drove to work, and a while later, a neighbour in the apartment was leaving for his office, and he saw me washing my car and immediately checked the sky and moved on. Another neighbour came after a while and the same process repeated! It was then that I realised what was going on. There is a running joke in the apartment that everytime I wash my car it starts to rain! Hard to believe but it has happened far too many times to call it coincidence. I never expected people to take that so seriously!

I should also point out that my dad had a similar curse on him. Everytime he watered the garden, it would rain.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by esoticoreventon

There is a running joke in the apartment that everytime I wash my car it starts to rain! Hard to believe but it has happened far too many times to call it coincidence. I never expected people to take that so seriously!

I should also point out that my dad had a similar curse on him. Everytime he watered the garden, it would rain.

Please wash your car more often. We need the rains in Chennai. If possible, wash twice a day. I am sure you would get a lot of goodwill!

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by DriverR

These two instances made me wonder if valet attendants discriminate against the vehicle type depending on the perceived value.

Apart from the valet owners and drivers, as a Nano owner for the last 6+ years, I get these questions:

From colleagues at work:
First person: Why do you bring the Nano when you have a Jazz?
Second person (behind my back): He might not be able to drive well. He is too cheap to spend on a car. And so on...

From everyone else and their neighbour and chowkidar:
First person: when you sold the older Nano why did you switch to Nano Twist? Why did you not upgrade? (erm, I thought this to be an upgrade!) Sir, why dont you park your car outside the society premises so someone else can park in your space?
Second person (behind my back): he may not have company car lease option. He may not be important enough for his company. He might have other obligations. He is too cheap to spend on a car. And the story goes on...

Originally Posted by esoticoreventon

I should also point out that my dad had a similar curse on him. Everytime he watered the garden, it would rain.

Do you have any children or siblings buddy?