Neighbor-phobia

C

Cheetah

New member
Since I've recently become obsessed with detailing my car there are lots of products and techniques that I want to try to bring my car to it's best. However, a couple of weeks ago a neighbor of mine who I don't know but see occasionally said to me in a kind of condescending tone "don't you have any thing better to do? you're always messing with that thing." Since then I've become kind of self-conscious about working on my car. I live in a condo and my car is parked outside. There are many times when I think "Hmm... maybe I could work on this or that tonight". But then tonight comes and I don't do anything because I'm worried that people will think I'm weird.



I know this is stupid of me to think this way but still I refrain from working on the car if I had worked on it the previous 2 nights. Does anyone else have this problem? :o
 
no, i dont have that problem. next time just tell him "no, i only take your wife out on the weekends". prob not a good idea but dont worry about it. just do what you do and ignore them.
 
if you feel like working on your car then do so, who cares what your neighbors think. just make sure to be nice to them, otherwise you may come out one morning with your car keyed, egged, etc (jealousy plays a role sometimes). you got to kill people with kindness these days, a simple "hello" can break the ice to where he or she may feel stupid for making an idiotic comment without knowing you in the first place...
 
Yeah, I am paranoid too. Good suggestion on not being displaying a good attitude. Especially around the teenagers. I can just see teenagers taking on my car on a Saturday night with an egg. Yes, it happened to me on a month old new car. I immediately took the car to a wash and got a ticket from the local cop for doing 52 on a 45 - I was trying to air dry the car and took the long way home. That was a bad night - over 20 years ago.
 
I wouldve told the twit to keep the peanut gallery comments to himself.



I KNOW my neigbors think Im strange always detailing cars out front... I could care less what they think.
 
I kinda feel the same way about detailing my car. No one's made any condescending remarks, but you get the usual "when are you going to do mine?" joke. In particular, I have one neighbor who takes the dog and whole family for a stroll, and another lady who walks her little dog every single day, and sometimes it just seems like every time I run into them they see me washing or detailing my car.



I've been wanting to use an electric leaf blower that to blow dry my car, but I know people are gonna think I'm crazy using a leaf blower on a car. It's really silly to be self-conscious like this, but I've been this way for a long time and haven't been able to overcome it yet.
 
dont worry about it, i know people think im wierd but who cares ?



wait till you are out there with a torch looking for swirls and taking strange pics of the paint for message boards lol
 
steveo3002 said:
dont worry about it, i know people think im wierd but who cares ?



wait till you are out there with a torch looking for swirls and taking strange pics of the paint for message boards lol
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In the USA, that means walking around with a big flaming stick, a la Dracula.
 
I suppose my neighbors may think I'm obsessed with detailing. But I know I'm obsessed and really don't care what others think. So no worries here. And one neighbor clued in to what was going on, asked for a detail, and now I'm more than happy to detail their benz for a nominal fee.



If anyone were to make a snide comment to me, I'd brush it off. No reason to take someone else's issue with my hobby and personalize it. Let them own their issue and go home with it, and I'll continue doing what makes me happy.
 
Jeez



I know exactly what you guys mean.

Last weekend i decided to do a full clay on the car and start the following day polishing and waxing. So i start in the evening claying the car and have a small audience 5minutes into it.

Comments like the usual - what you doing?/whats that in your hand? Some comments like you spend too much time washing /cleaning car and then. Want to say something nasty but hell these are the people i see every day.



Linx
 
Cheetah said:
Since I've recently become obsessed with detailing my car there are lots of products and techniques that I want to try to bring my car to it's best. However, a couple of weeks ago a neighbor of mine who I don't know but see occasionally said to me in a kind of condescending tone "don't you have any thing better to do? you're always messing with that thing." Since then I've become kind of self-conscious about working on my car. I live in a condo and my car is parked outside. There are many times when I think "Hmm... maybe I could work on this or that tonight". But then tonight comes and I don't do anything because I'm worried that people will think I'm weird.



I know this is stupid of me to think this way but still I refrain from working on the car if I had worked on it the previous 2 nights. Does anyone else have this problem? :o
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Its all about how you spin the facts. Take the intended insult as a compliment and say "thanks for noticing" and go on to your heart's delight. My neighbor also comments on how often I am out there detailing and I tell them that I'm offering detailing classes at $49.99 and ask if they'd like to enroll because reservations are going fast. Personally, I don't give a crap what anyone else thinks just as I'm sure they don't give a crap about my opinion on how dirty/filthy their car looks. As the Stones once put it -- Different strokes for different folks.
 
My old, poor, ignorant, hick of a neighbor used to make comments when I was washing my Cayenne. I told her if I wasn't driving a piece of sh** like her and her husband do, I'd let is get filthy like their cars.



I recently moved because I thought the people in the area were stuck in a vacuum, quite possibly the most ignorant beings on the earth.
 
me and a friend of mine are always washing our cars at his house. One day we were outside washing his moms minivan when his neighbor came over and asked if we live around here and how we know what to do when washing cars-just trying to find out more about it. So he tells us to come over his house after we're done. This guy just moved in so we didn't know what to expect. Turns out as soon as he saw our work he wanted us to detail his cars every week!! He has five cars including a Dodge Viper and a Lamborghini Diablo. I almost fell on the floor right there looking at it. That was about 5 months ago and we've washed all his cars bunches of times since then.



This goes to show that some neighbors might be very interested in what you have to do and if you do a good job you just might be able to keep them as customers for a very long time.
 
When I was a kid, all the neighborhood guys were always in their garages. They were either working on their car, dirt bike, building something, whatever. Now, I don't really see that anymore. I think that's something we can help bring back, and that's a good thing.
 
It's a hobby.



Some people build model airplanes, some people garden, some people paint..it's no different than that. It's better than spending all your time on the sofa rotting your mind with TV.



It's not for anyone else to judge.



Now, if you had 2 foot tall grass in your front yard...they might have an argument :D
 
I think I get more people tapping their brakes in the Winter going past my house looking at me wash my car than in the summer. Granted I don't live in a subdivision so cars just pass my house and luckily I dont get some of the comments you guys have to deal with because I hate it when people ask "So when are you going to do my car (for free)". But if I look up I am more than likely going to see someone looking into my driveway or tapping their brakes as they drive by...So who knows what they are thinking when they see me outside everyday.



I look at it as a way to get myself out of the house and doing something I love and have a passion for. Most people's hobbies are something that looks more like relaxation and a pleasure or luxury. While most people don't see doing the actual work of detailing as relaxing/luxury they just don't understand the pride we get out of having our vehicles clean and achieving those results on our own. My mom likes to knit, and I obviously don't see that as something relaxing, my dad likes to work with wood and make things, I find it very frustrating and a hassle. Everyone has different things they love to do, and some people don't realize that it is okay to enjoy different things. :nixweiss To each their own...
 
Life is really a lot easier when you stop worrying about what other people think. As long as you're not intruding on your neighbors (or other people, in a more general sense) by being loud, messing with their stuff, etc., you're good. Always be civil and courteous, for the reasons mentioned previously. This is a crowded world, and it's only going to get more crowded...too crowded to have enemies (that's not to say you have to be friends with your neighbors), and life's too short to not do what you want to do (detailing your car every day) because of what the neighbors or anybody else thinks.
 
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