From Pennsylvania with Cats

One Beautiful Saturday afternoon while working on the side of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in Laguna Beach, I heard car horns honking and turned to see a man in his 40s driving a navy blue Expedition 25mph (Speed Limit 50) looking left and right like he's never seen civilization.  He pulled into the restaurant parking lot, looked right at me and the huge sign that reads "Valet" and continued to park himself right in front another car completely blocking it in.  I walked over and said

 "Good afternoon, we only have valet parking because the size of the lot." 

He replied with "What is valet?  I want to park here, is that okay?" 

"I apologize, but I'll have to park your car for you if you want to stay in this lot, its a 3 dollar charge"

"Okay, I guess...."

Then I tore him off the bottom portion of the ticket and handed it to him and told him "You don't have to pay until you come back out from eating, see you shortly!"

He handed me the keys and and walked up to the restaurant.  At that time I noticed a couple more cars starting to pull in (I'm the only valet attendant on duty) so I hurried over to the SUV.  When I opened the door I was caught off guard by the horrible smell and the pile of mini bottles of shampoo and mouthwash.  There had to have been 30 tucked in the door and spread all over the drivers side floor. 

Holding my breathe, I hopped in the driving seat and before I could start the car a long haired white cat with dread locks and dingle berries jumped on my lap.  Trying to avoid gagging I pushed it aside to the passenger seat and put the key in the ignition.  At that time I noticed a cup of cat food in the cup holder along side another cup of milk that seemed to have spilled all over the carpet and dashboard days or weeks earlier.  I continued to pull the car forward then turned around to reverse it into the parking spot.  When I looked back, the back seats were tucked in so it was completely flat behind the front seats.  I had to do a double take, but covering the the carpet was huge piles of cat shit then a litter box in the back corner with small pieces of litter scattered all over the place. 

After I parked it in its spot I threw the car into park and jumped out as soon as I could to great the next customer.  A couple hours later the man returned from eating and said "Can I just grab my car myself?"  I happily replied "Yes, of course!" then he handed me a one dollar bill and headed down to pick up his smelly cat mobile.

Posting Valet Stories

I've been wanting to start this blog for some time now and never got around to doing so.  I've been a Manager of Automobile Placement (aka Valet Attendant) at multiple places including restaurants and an assisted living home.  During my time spent parking cars I came across some pretty interesting people and cars.  I didn't want to keep all these amusing stories to myself or close friends, so I'm sharing them with the anyone who cares.  I know a lot of valet attendants can relate to some of my stories, which is why I encourage others to write me their own stories for me to publish on this blog.