College Essay - Bmw Mercedes

"There's a Mercedes. I hope you don't mind if I take it, rookie," said Shawn as he cut in front of me. His attitude was the last thing I needed. The sun was causing the temperature to soar, my body was aching from the tough labor, and all I had to show for my hard work was a measly twenty dollars in tips.

At the carwash, there was a trick to making more tips a day. Owners of luxury cars like BMWs or Mercedes usually tipped more. A battle among the workers over seniority always erupted, accompanied by cuss words and even shoving and pushing once one of these fabulous vehicles pulled into the tunnel. I was the victim of the "step aside new guy" rule, meaning that, since I was new, then anyone could cut in front of me in line waiting for cars. Unfortunately my co-worker, Shawn, loved using this rule and one day took a beautiful red Mercedes that I was next in line for. I visualized a twenty dollar bill floating away as he drove the car into the tunnel, thinking to myself that things could not get any worse.

Well, they did. An old, rusty Ford truck that looked as if it had been sitting outside, rusting away for forty years, drove into the car wash. The owner was dressed in ragged clothing with a frayed baseball cap and dirty worker boots. I thought to myself, "My tip will be worth just as much as this truck, nothing." The old man handed me the keys, smiled, and said, "Take care of my darling for me. She's been through tough times." I believed him, but, right then and there, decided not to work hard for a cheap tip. Usually, as I slipped into the vehicle, I would make myself comfortable by turning on the air conditioning, switching the radio to my favorite station, and reclining in the seat while waiting to use the tunnel. But this old truck didn't have any of these features. I was anxious to get out of the bucket of bolts and hurry to get my job done.

So instead of doing the job correctly, I rushed so that I could return to washing more cars. Meanwhile Shawn was not helping the situation by cracking jokes such as, "Hey, new guy, I didn't know you were an antique collector," or "I bet if you scrape the rust off he'll tip you another nickel." Shawn was caught off guard when the Mercedes owner complained about his service and only tipped him a dollar. It was my turn to laugh this time as I finished the truck with my record time of six minutes. The old man came and introduced himself to me as Danny Thomas. I pretended to put the finishing touches on the truck as if I gave it my best effort and asked if he wanted to look it over. Surprisingly, Mr. Thomas responded, "No, I trust that you did a good job" and gave me a twenty dollar bill.

My heart sank immediately. Guilt spread throughout my body like the blood pumping through my veins. As the man drove away, I felt ashamed of myself. From that day on, I vowed to take my job