Auto design WTF?s.

It all started with the Pontiac Aztek (ok, maybe not, but that’s where I’m starting.)   This thing looks like the person who designed the top and the person who designed the bottom never talked.

And then there is the Toyota FJ.  Not a bad looking vehicle, but you gotta wonder why they put that huge, seemingly unnecessary, blind spot on a vehicle that already had poor visibility out the back.

Another case of one designer not talking to the other.  This time is was the left side and the right side. 

I saw this one about a week ago.  The skewompus belt line caught my eye, but I didn’t catch the make.  Today I saw one again and discovered it was a BMW.   Seriously, what’s with that back door line?  Did someone accidentally smoosh the clay model and no body wanted to fix it?

Now as you might know, I’m not a big fan of how cars are all looking the same these days, but looking different doesn’t have to look like a mistake.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

The Good:

Bizarre night at the Chevron today. It started out with unusual good. One customer returned to the store just to let us know that the wind had blown our milk crates all over the driveway on the side of the building. Even more surprising was Coppenhagen Guy. I know I've mentioned him before, but he was a really arrogant customer that kept coming in even after accusing us of lying about our backstock of Coppenhagen. He used to walk in and demand, as he walked past the counter to the drink fountain, "Give me 3 rolls of Coppenhagen pouches". Didn't matter if we were helping someone already or not. Well, today he comes in, waits in line and when his turn comes up asks, politely, "Could I get 3 rolls of Coppenhagen pouches, please." I almost plotzed. We didn't have any rolls left, so he asked about our singles. Didn't complain about their date or that we only had 4 rolls. Just said he'd take them all and then thanked me once the sale was done. I was amazed.

The Bad:

The fates that were smiling on us in the beginning of the evening quit smiling halfway through the night. There's nothing more depressing than having someone prove that there was a basis for a stereotype. Taxi Drivers. In general when they come in to the Chevron they're gruff, demanding and not very friendly. This one comes in today (City Cab #21, for the record), comes up to the counter with a soda and mumbles something. I ask him what he wanted and he mumbles again. So I lean closer to hear him better and he gets all pissy. Loudly says "Grizzly Mint" and then gets on my case about not being able to hear him because I'm so close. I tried to explain that I was close because he was being so quiet, but he just keeps going on about me not being able to hear him. I stop talking, figure if I say something it's going to be something I wouldn't want to print here, and he's a jerk so it won't help anyways, so what the hell. Take his money, give him his change, bag his crap up and hand it to him. Then he says something about how I need to go get earplugs (how the hell are earplugs supposed to make me hear better?). I look him straight in the face and say "bye" turn to the next customer, put on a big friendly smile and ask "how are you doing tonight?"

The Ugly:

Nothing specific, but there's no way we went a whole night without someone ugly coming in.