The other night, I stopped to get gas. My windows were filthy, so I used the station’s courtesy window cleaner/squeegee. After sopping up the back window, I noticed a distinct smell - gasoline. Someone had poured a significant amount of gas into the window cleaner.
I was pretty pissed. I went in to the store, got an attendant, who got the manager. She said there wasn’t much they could do, short of handing me a bottle of windex.
“That’s it?”
“What?”
“All you’re going to do is give me some windex?”
“What else can I do?”
Frankly, I was just stunned. But I didn’t want to be the jackass demanding a full car detailing or anything like that. The station didn’t have a car wash - that would have been an easy solution. So I just went to the car, and sprayed pretty much the entire bottle onto the back end of my car, hoping to dilute it as much as possible.
Seriously. Even if you squeeged with 100% gasoline, you aren’t going to hurt the glass. At all.
I’d wipe any spill or runoff off the painted surfaces of the car & call it good. If your car is routinely waxed, that area should be rewaxed soon. If not, not.
I’d have notified the clerk so they could remove the contaminated liquid, but more for concern over the the unexpected fire hazard than any worry about my car or anyone else’s.
Their offer of some fresh Windex is appropriate both technologically and in customer service terms. To expect more or different, given that they didn’t have a car wash, is silly.
A free car wash would be overkill technologically speaking, but might also be sound customer service if they were a particularly service quality-oriented business. Which most gas station / convenience stores are not.
I spent 4 years owning & operating what amounted to a hot rod conversion shop. I have some experience around gasoline beyond just pumping it. It isn’t a toy, nor is is safe to drink. But it isn’t nitroglycerin or sulfuric acid either.