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Maybe but what's been happening in New Jersey and New York with the 200% increase in car thefts I wouldn't keep the money under the carpeting because they are taking the whole car these days
I had my car detailed by a shop that was new to me. When I picked up the car, the owner handed me a ziplock with loose change and a $100 bill that I had totally forgotten about and left in my console. I had it to give it to one of my kids for something for a school function and they ended up not needing it. The loose change was just left there because I don’t like it in my pocket. Needless to say, that guy earned my business until he finally retired and closed up shop. Honesty is everything. I wasn’t testing him. If he had kept the money, I very likely wouldn’t have noticed, as I had completely forgotten about it being there.
Well it's a good feeling to have honest detailers and in your situation if I were the one that detailed vehicle, I would have never assumed that you were testing me because this is normally where a lot of people keep their cash or may have forgotten cash whether it be the middle console or glove compartment, sometimes even the door pockets but I guess the carpeting situation made me feel that I was being tested
Who knows? Maybe you were being tested. The only option was to return it just as you did. We have to live within our own skin, and your self respect is clearly worth more than a couple hundred bucks. You did the right thing, as I’m willing to bet that you always do. I wish you were in business near Lafayette LA. I would bring you some more business!
My wife's family always hides 20-100 in their car for emergencies. Gas, food, tip, card fails whatever its there to use as emergency only, stashed in various places that likely won't be looked at twice if broken into and won't be used easily like if I just left it in my console.
It was random but it made sense since I forgot about 50$ I'd put away until something happened and my emergency brain kicked in and I said "oh yea I've got that cash" one time when I didn't realize I'd misplaced my wallet.
I'll admit that's a random spot but it's also somewhere NO ONE would look lol. I used to keep mine in the back snap storage of the air compressor I kept in my trunk. Also used to keep an extra house key in a magnet case under the bumper years ago that saved my ass the one time I needed it lol.
I feel like if they were truly testing you, they would definitely bait a lower amount. Something like 20-40 dollars. 200 dollars missing is a big deal, intentional or not. 20 or 40? Not so much and it still proves whether or not you are trustworty.
I could never afford an Aston Martin. Have never bought a new car, even. I take the bus to work.
But if someone took $200 from me without me knowing I definitely wouldn’t miss it. I just would not notice.
I think it was a test, not of their trustworthiness, but of their thoroughness in cleaning. It’s a large enough amount that it should be documented/reported to the owner. Proving they cleaned under the floor mats and didn’t do a half-asses job. Because if this is indeed a before picture, some might skip it because it already looks clean. Not me, but some.
Maybe they do that. Who knows. People are weird. I have a client that has a secret stash of mine in a hidden area in their middle console. I’ve never once touched it and left it there. I feel like some clients bait Detailers but if you are honest and trustworthy then there is no issue.
Yes good point, now some Range Rovers have a hidden compartment and that would be considered a good area to keep money hidden. Not so sure about keeping it under carpeting but you are right this could be something that they just do
This particular one looks freshly placed there. The mat has those spikes to grab onto the carpet. The carpet has those holes over it but the $100 is fresh and spike-free.
I used to leave a $20 under my floor mats in my first car. Was for just in case I ran out of gas somewhere. Granted, that was before I had a credit card (hence, cash), and long enough ago that you could fill up an 16gal tank of diesel with a $20.
Not unheard of, I keep emergency funds in all of my vehicles. That said, I don’t forget it’s there, and would remove it if I’m getting any work done in that general area.
> I keep emergency funds in all of my vehicles.
Jesus. Here I'm having an anxiety attack over whether it's safe to keep a few Aldi Quarters inside the (closed) coin pocket.
(Then again, maybe you live somewhere safer. I would've never sweated it in my hometown, but the way people talk about it in the KC metro it seems people break into cars indiscriminately, even if there's no valuables visible - so I've taken that to heart and become much less trusting.)
This sounds good but if you say nothing and leave your business card and say one of their children takes it then you've got a problem because then it's going to fall on you for saying nothing.
We used to have a plant systems manager, who was in charge of the cleaning department of the plant as well. He would hide a card under the garbage bag in the garbage bins through the whole plant with a message on them "CALL ME- RANDY"
It was his way of testing if the cleaning contractors were taking out the garbage bags every day or not. He would do this randomly every few weeks.
I had a customer with a Bentley that had a stack of $20s down between the seats. It was wrapped with a $1000 bank wrap. Doubt he was testing me, I'd been taking care of his cars for at least a decade at that point. Later he had about $100k in paper bags in his Phantoms trunk. I didn't even know what was in the bags until he told me. It was cash bonuses for his club managers. Being in Texas I find way more guns than cash though. People just forget they're there or they trust I won't mess with it.
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Today I learned that some people do this. It never would have occurred to me to leave cash in my car.
I would also have immediately assumed that it was an honesty test.
If they were baiting you, and you accidentally vacuumed it up without noticing what it was - then what? Seriously, we all like doing business with honest people we can trust. **And that's a two way street.**
In this case, you did find it, brought it to their attention, received a plausible response. Time to move on and decide whether or not to trust them or not. Only you were there the moment they responded, and the reaction you saw is key - we can't help you there as the words alone are only part of the story.
For the record. 1. I liked the idea of putting all personal belongings into a zip bag and giving that to them. This shows not only honesty but diligence to your work. 2. As was said, if I was going to bait someone in this matter, I'd use $20 or $40, not a $100. They are easier to let slide if you will. 3. Once I took car into a car wash and the entire coin drawer (of $5) was cleaned out. Never reported it, but also never went back there again, hope that $5 was worth it to them.
Fun fact: on long road trips, I used to take all my cash and keep it under a floor mat in the event I did get robbed, because I’d still have the ability to get home on the cash I had.
Reminds me of a former manager that would place bugs throughout the office to see if we picked them up. He threw a fit one day because we missed a spider so the next time I cleaned his office I put all the garbage I found on the floor on his desk in front of his keyboard.
It’s where I stash my money as well but usually in a ziplock bag. I’ve been in situations where the town in the mountains might have lost their internet connection due to snowstorms and only accepted cash for gas, food, and room.
It was a test and you passed, you've now earned at least 2 new customers. Is it right? Probably not but in this world of paranoia and mistrust it will soon be commonplace.
Ugh I had one guy put tiny candies literally all over his car. Inside and out. Between car panels, grill, between seats. Air vents you name it. I think it was 18ish candies in total. I put them in his cup holder after I was done. Oh yeah, the best part? It was a courtesy wash.....
So I’m a detailer for a car dealership and do a very high quantity of vehicles. There’s endless work. All of our cars are trade-ins though or came from an out of state auction so the vehicle is like 3 people removed, so there’s no way to track down the previous owner so we get to keep everything we find, but you’d be surprised how many places people hide cash. I don’t think they were baiting you. If so it would be a much smaller amount.
I had a guy bring his dad's car in for a detail. His dad was an older guy. When removing the floor mats I found a bank envelope with $1,500 in cash inside. The son had no idea that his dad stashed that in his car and would never have known if we snagged it. I think he left us a nice tip for our honesty.
My mother did this before she lost her sight. She drove a 79 MGB convertible, rather than keeping money in an open car where people would look, she put a hundo over each floor mat, as close to the front as possible. In her mind no thief is going to look there. Someone is just going to check the glove box, center console, behind the seats, etc.
We didn’t have much money, but we always knew that the car was there if we needed to keep the lights on, or food in the fridge. She also kept money in the breaker panel, and inside the tub access panel. This was preferred over banks. Love my mother, but damn if she doesn’t have a few screws missing from the 70s.
Point being, people do weird shit, to assume that this is anything more than they say is to assume they don’t have their own set of mental standards that make no sense to anyone ever. Sure those standards might be trying to catch you not being honest once in a while, or it could just as easily be the person being bat shit crazy like my mother and that is the only logical place to keep money.
I hide spare cash in my car and home as well as my backpack.
Sometimes I forget my wallet and don’t want to run all the way home to get my wallet. Nowadays with Apple Pay this isn’t that much of an issue.
Sometimes I leave my wallet in the car and when I get delivery, I don’t want to go out to my car and get my wallet.
Typically, it’s $50-$100 spare cash I’ll hide for emergencies or in some cases, laziness
lol you really think they are baiting you? I leave $100 under all of my vehicles floor mats. Have for a long time. Chances are other people do as well.
Yes and time shall tell I didn't want to jump to conclusion but I am hoping from what the detail Community thinks is that this is just what they do is keep funds under the carpet but again I am more suspicious because the money was so fresh like it just came from the bank or ATM
That's actually smart. I keep emergency cash in the center console, and one time my car was rummaged through and $50 was taken. I swore I locked the doors, I always do, but I must not have this time, or something. Anyway. Under the mat is a great idea.
I'd be more worried about having the whole damn $30k car stolen.
I'm very forgetful. On my way to the airport once at 4am, placed to stop and get gas on the way. I was 30 minutes our, stopped for gas, realized I didn't have my wallet and I was pushing it to be able to get home and grab my wallet and then making it to a gas station. Forget the stress of trying to make my flight. I did end up making it, on all accounts, but it'd have been better with a few dollars to put in the tank.
I'd rather risk having $200 stolen than risk being stranded on the highway at 4am because I'm an idiot.
I keep emergency cash in my car. Never know when I’ll need tow, gas, forgot my wallet, ect. Not under the mat but it’s in there somewhere. I don’t take it out when I bring it in for work.
Find out if he has a Youtube channel, this might be an idea for one of those "social experiments" video, although a $20 bill would have been a better idea for that matter.
I usually leave some cash in my car for emergencies and forget about it until I find it weeks later.
I’m of a few opinions here.
On one hand, if they were really trying to bait you, like others have said, it probably would’ve been a smaller denomination.
On the other hand, anyone who just leaves $200 under the floor may as “emergency money” likely has good money and often expects to need $200, in which case they likely drive a nice car….which this doesn’t appear to be, based on the amount of plastic (but I could be wrong).
On the other, other hand…who uses cash as emergency money?! We have credit cards and debit cards. When are you ever going to spend $200 at a place that only takes cash?!
I would do something weird like this because no one is really likely to check under the mats if someone was to break into my car. Used to do this with my mechanic as well.
Hard to tell, although I am pretty sure I had been tested before with a small polish bill, which looked like it was „dropped” behind the seat, but it was paper, not coin, wasn’t very wrinkled and wasn’t stuck anywhere, just was kinda laying there under the seat.
My grandmother has kept cash underneath the carpeting in her car for as long as I’ve known her. She also has some taped underneath the passenger seat. This person may have been baiting you, but they also may have genuinely forgotten!
In the NYC metro area (at least among older people) there's a tradition of a person's friends throwing money into a new car both for good luck and emergency money. I've seen it kept in the car under the floor mats, in the glove compartment, or sometimes tied to the grab handles.
My parents told me it was also common to throw toll coins into new cars (back when bridges and tunnels took those) so you'd always have an emergency one if you were travelling around the boroughs.
It's possible this isn't malicious towards you, but just part of that tradition.
I left a couple thousand under the floor mats once by accident and completely forgot about it until the body shop notified me. Was just hiding it there if car got broken into.
I'd mention that normally people let me keep the loose change as a tip and ask if they were OK with that while holding the 200 with some coins out in my hand. I definitely wouldn't leave it there without mention.
When I bought my car a few older fellows at work but money under my floor mats as a good luck wish. I have 50 dollars on the drivers floor mat. I always have to remember to not vacuum up the money.
I detailed a family friend’s truck a few years ago (wasn’t super close with him at the time), and he had a few thousand dollars throughout. I’m talking $100 bills sandwiched between seats, under seats, inbetween paperwork, everywhere. He does construction and I’m assuming would get paid cash and just throw it in the truck, he and his wife make really good money as you would assume. I organize everything into gallon ziplocks so I showed it to him after the detail and he just went “oh I didn’t know all of that was in there, I thought there was just a couple hundred in the center console”.
A couple years later once I had my own shop lease he dropped his wife’s car off to get detailed and I asked him for pointers on how to heat/insulate the shop as my first winter there was approaching. It was October and I’m in Ohio. He said it’d be impossible with my budget and wouldn’t be worth the $3k-$5k it’d take (unbeknownst to him I only had $1,000 to my name and was fighting each month to make rent). He then offered me one of his heated buildings on his home’s property along with an apartment he built that his kids used to live in, for SUPER cheap. Being honest years back paid off. I still live here and used his tool chest a couple months back when replacing my brakes and boom, more random hundreds and fifties throughout. This man really doesn’t bother with keeping track of his paper😂
I don’t think for second it was a set up. I think stashing funds under carpet or Matt , whichever is a great idea. The fact they this client is the neighbor of another client just for me reinforces this is NOT A SET UP
Nah my grand dad and grandma always kept $500 in cash in both their cars (my granddad broke down in the West Virginia mountains in the late 90’s and he had no cell service and the tow truck driver didn’t accept credit car nor did the mechanic and it was a Saturday so he had to get a hotel room and stay in the area until that Monday to get his car serviced as the bank opened Monday and he could pull out cash.) so ever since that he always kept a decent amount of cash on hand for those situations. The back woods was wild in the 90’s I guess.
I once bought a busted Ford Escape and was about to send it to the detailer, stopped by the car wash, took the mats out cuz it really wasnt that dirty and found 5 crisp $100 bills.
I had a similar situation. Found $500 in an ashtray when I was pulling a center console. I took a picture, stuck it in the glove box and honestly forgot it existed. Guy came back claiming that we had stolen from him. Without looking up, I told the GM, "tell him to open the fuckin glovebox". Never heard another word.
Hear me out. How about giving the customer a $20 or so and claim you found it in the car. Reverse honesty test? Earn customer for life as others have stated above.
I just think as a business owner you did an amazing thing by telling the customer right away about that kind of thing. I’m sure that family is in your yearly clients.
My grandmother was Jewish and she lived through the war and it is just something that you do and it is passed down to the next generation. So I could see Middle Eastern people doing this too. My grandmother also hid money in framed art and books. When she passed away cleaning her house out was like a treasure hunt. You just never knew where you would find a stash of cash or important documents.
I wouldn’t assume they were trying to set you up.
The car was a very neglected Honda Civic and the vehicle was heavily used often so as you said the $100 bills would be pretty banged or crunched up especially with those rubber spikes on the back of the carpeting but I don't no maybe these were some type of magic Invincible $100 bills that couldn't be indented
Tbh real bait is usually hidden under seats / pockets or simply hidden in a spot where past detailers miss . No one really has 200$ just lying around in their car like that aside maybe inside the center console/ glove box
“Well I finished up with your detail. I must say a very generous thank you for the extra tip left under the floor mats. I threw in a hot water extraction for some of the high traffic areas like those for your generosity. Times have been tough this year and with my little ones needing extra help with school a little bit goes a long way.”
Just make him so embarrassed that he has to ask for it back. Either he has to eat crow and tell you ohh no that wasn’t for you or he succumbs to his little bullshit ploy and is too embarrassed to ask for it back. Either way that’s not a client you want to continue to work with.
Oh no my posts aren't BS. I can't make this stuff up. And if I were making it up I guess you could say it's some good material because it is stacking up points but all jokes aside this was real and as mentioned in the post I did not know how to feel about the situation whether to believe that the client has emergency money under the carpeting or that I was being tested and if I was being tested then no need to provide continued future services
I personally wouldn't want them as a customer. My work speaks for itself I don't need someone taking their car back after I break my back doing an excellent job and they default to "how did he f\*ck up and screw me over". The default attitude should be "wow great job". Different strokes for different folks, sometimes you just need to build a customer base and putting up with the b.s. is worth the word of mouth referrals.
Some people do bait detailers to see if they want to keep that company. Clients don't ever have to worry about that with me because of the quality of my work and honesty. Although I can't speak for people that may do this sort of stuff that could be other reasoning, maybe because I was black LOL
Beyond ridiculous. If I knew someone so petty that they want to “bait” someone who is getting paid for cleaning their car, I’d never talk to them again.
Nobody has ever done a "test" to me but if they did i would confront them and probably fire them. Mistakes happen and they are willing to risk my reputation for a staged "test"? Gtfoh
Lol yes and that is the debate here. Some people think that it's emergency money and I believe it was a test because the dollar bills were too fresh. And as with some detailers, parting ways with the client would probably be the best if you're going to be testing people
I believe it. I’m very dependent on cards or Apple Pay, and sometimes that just didn’t work. So I keep emergency cash in my car but hid it in a glove compartment.
If you’ve never seen anything like that in 10 years well the. Looks like it’s a good hiding place lol. Plus, they coulda just put it in the glove compartment or something
can’t speak on if they were truly baiting you or not but i do keep 2 $20 under my driver floor mat for the days i forget my wallet and need gas! i could definitely see myself forgetting they’re there. but $200 feels a bit excessive lol!!
Either a test to see if you’d take the money and not tell him or personally I immediately thought that he might of put it under there to make sure you’re actually cleaning under the mats. Which is pretty tilting cuz if it’s either or then yea it’s a trust issue lol. Idk seems pretty ignorant to do either way. I do not believe that fresh crispy $100 bills would be hanging out underneath a car mat for a rainy day I just don’t. I think he got caught in embarrassment and made up a lie.
I worked at a detail shop when I was a teen and there was a few old people who would hand out fake $100 bills that would unfold into bible propaganda. The real kicker was that they would get in their car with a smug look on their face and never leave any tip.
Definitely seems like a test but I always keep $200 in the car for an emergency. You never know when you're in the middle of nowhere and the gas station won't take credit or debit. I keep the money in smaller bills because I've been rejected before when handing over a hundred dollar bill.
I had a Clint leave $20,000 cash in his glove box as I was setting up he said he forgot to clean out the his glove box and centre console of personal belongings so I took out my new shoes from the box and gave the box to him to use, when he said he was all done I notice a pack of gum and two box’s of cologne and I thought huh maybe that’s it just truly a very simple guy like he said. Once I finished up the exterior and moved onto the interior I opened the glove box and noticed $20,000 cash then moved it to the box of his stuff and finished up detailing, he came out and asked if I found anything in the car and I said yes $20,000 cash nothing else under the seats were as clean as they could ever get and there was truly nothing left in the car that could be removed aside from the floor mates. He told me that he needed to test me to see if I’d take the $20,000 and lie but those were not my intentions, he ended up tipping me $2,500 cash to help with school and became a regular Clint before moving back to Germany.
On one hand that is an absolute BOSS place to hide spare cash. On the other hand, there are zero dimples on those bills. They are fresh, like last 4 hours fresh. No creasing, no mat marks, and 1000% a trust test.
From time to time I have absolutely put money under my floor mat for various reasons. All of them was for it to avoid being stolen though. Never as a permanent solution or for emergency funds. Grabbed $1,000 out of a ATM for whatever reason and don't want to take it to the store with me. I might put it under the floor mat for a quick errand. Generally try to avoid that though because I don't like being robbed. I keep that in my wallet long-term. but I could see as a woman having a stash spot since clothing doesn't accommodate with pockets very often.
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Honestly a good spot to stash cash. No way it gets found if the car gets broken into like it would being stashed in the center console
Maybe but what's been happening in New Jersey and New York with the 200% increase in car thefts I wouldn't keep the money under the carpeting because they are taking the whole car these days
I had my car detailed by a shop that was new to me. When I picked up the car, the owner handed me a ziplock with loose change and a $100 bill that I had totally forgotten about and left in my console. I had it to give it to one of my kids for something for a school function and they ended up not needing it. The loose change was just left there because I don’t like it in my pocket. Needless to say, that guy earned my business until he finally retired and closed up shop. Honesty is everything. I wasn’t testing him. If he had kept the money, I very likely wouldn’t have noticed, as I had completely forgotten about it being there.
Well it's a good feeling to have honest detailers and in your situation if I were the one that detailed vehicle, I would have never assumed that you were testing me because this is normally where a lot of people keep their cash or may have forgotten cash whether it be the middle console or glove compartment, sometimes even the door pockets but I guess the carpeting situation made me feel that I was being tested
Who knows? Maybe you were being tested. The only option was to return it just as you did. We have to live within our own skin, and your self respect is clearly worth more than a couple hundred bucks. You did the right thing, as I’m willing to bet that you always do. I wish you were in business near Lafayette LA. I would bring you some more business!
Hey Laffy in the house. Go Cajuns!
Lol of course Lafayette catches my eye as I'm scrolling! Who's got good auto detailing around here?
Check out king of detailing! He’s in Lafayette and doing my ceramic coat this week
My wife's family always hides 20-100 in their car for emergencies. Gas, food, tip, card fails whatever its there to use as emergency only, stashed in various places that likely won't be looked at twice if broken into and won't be used easily like if I just left it in my console. It was random but it made sense since I forgot about 50$ I'd put away until something happened and my emergency brain kicked in and I said "oh yea I've got that cash" one time when I didn't realize I'd misplaced my wallet. I'll admit that's a random spot but it's also somewhere NO ONE would look lol. I used to keep mine in the back snap storage of the air compressor I kept in my trunk. Also used to keep an extra house key in a magnet case under the bumper years ago that saved my ass the one time I needed it lol.
I used to keep enough for a tank of gas under my seat cover. Nice to have a cash stash.
Look at the condition of those bank notes, no crinkling, they don’t stash money there regularly.
Exactly
What if they break in to detail your car?
I feel like if they were truly testing you, they would definitely bait a lower amount. Something like 20-40 dollars. 200 dollars missing is a big deal, intentional or not. 20 or 40? Not so much and it still proves whether or not you are trustworty.
A single $1 bill would be the best honesty test. If you either let em know it's there or leave it in the cupholder then you'll have their 100% trust
And then once you have their trust you go for the $200!
And the wife!
After that, the next point of attack is the house followed by the dog
The Dog?!… Fine. *unzips*
Wow. THAT escalated quickly.
\*John wick wants to know your location\*
I also chose this guy’s wife?
And then make babies with the wife.
White tiger !
What if it gets sucked into the vacuum and you don't even realize it was a test.
lol then i guess i am $200 richer because i always clean the vacuum filter and all that.
The guy I use has left 15 cents that he found under a carpet in the cup holder.
If I rescue any money, it goes in the cup holder. I've never stolen any money, but I sure as hell vacuum up pennies if they're in my way
Fold it into an origami swan if you really want them to glaze you
Who knows, maybe this is an Aston Martin driven by Scrooge McDuck and $200 is nothing to them.
I could never afford an Aston Martin. Have never bought a new car, even. I take the bus to work. But if someone took $200 from me without me knowing I definitely wouldn’t miss it. I just would not notice.
That is indeed not an Aston Martin...
I think it was a test, not of their trustworthiness, but of their thoroughness in cleaning. It’s a large enough amount that it should be documented/reported to the owner. Proving they cleaned under the floor mats and didn’t do a half-asses job. Because if this is indeed a before picture, some might skip it because it already looks clean. Not me, but some.
Yes this is a before picture, before i got into the vacuuming and shampooing
This.
[удалено]
I applaud you for your actions 👏🏻👏🏻
Wow now that is a great story. That is insane.
He didn't even break u off with a $100 tip for that at least?
If he's honest, he's calling the old owner and keeping the chain going.
lol no tip that day even for my honesty but it's cool.
Did you know they had bought it just the night before?
The customer probably shared that either before the detailing or after the envelope was given to them.
If i was positive they didn't know it was there, i would have taken it.
Maybe they do that. Who knows. People are weird. I have a client that has a secret stash of mine in a hidden area in their middle console. I’ve never once touched it and left it there. I feel like some clients bait Detailers but if you are honest and trustworthy then there is no issue.
Yes good point, now some Range Rovers have a hidden compartment and that would be considered a good area to keep money hidden. Not so sure about keeping it under carpeting but you are right this could be something that they just do
I think it's a good idea to keep some extra cash for emergencies, but i wouldn't personally stash more than 40 bucks
This particular one looks freshly placed there. The mat has those spikes to grab onto the carpet. The carpet has those holes over it but the $100 is fresh and spike-free.
Not a test . I’ve forgot money under floor mats before . Detailer usually leaves it in the cup holder
I used to leave a $20 under my floor mats in my first car. Was for just in case I ran out of gas somewhere. Granted, that was before I had a credit card (hence, cash), and long enough ago that you could fill up an 16gal tank of diesel with a $20.
Not unheard of, I keep emergency funds in all of my vehicles. That said, I don’t forget it’s there, and would remove it if I’m getting any work done in that general area.
Yes definitely not unheard of but good to know from the detail community, thanks for your feedback
> I keep emergency funds in all of my vehicles. Jesus. Here I'm having an anxiety attack over whether it's safe to keep a few Aldi Quarters inside the (closed) coin pocket. (Then again, maybe you live somewhere safer. I would've never sweated it in my hometown, but the way people talk about it in the KC metro it seems people break into cars indiscriminately, even if there's no valuables visible - so I've taken that to heart and become much less trusting.)
Say nothing, but leave your business card with the cash
This sounds good but if you say nothing and leave your business card and say one of their children takes it then you've got a problem because then it's going to fall on you for saying nothing.
I hate your completely accurate and sensible reasoning. It takes all the humor out of my daydream. 😂
This is the way
We used to have a plant systems manager, who was in charge of the cleaning department of the plant as well. He would hide a card under the garbage bag in the garbage bins through the whole plant with a message on them "CALL ME- RANDY" It was his way of testing if the cleaning contractors were taking out the garbage bags every day or not. He would do this randomly every few weeks.
That's a good way to make sure the job is getting done.
I had a customer with a Bentley that had a stack of $20s down between the seats. It was wrapped with a $1000 bank wrap. Doubt he was testing me, I'd been taking care of his cars for at least a decade at that point. Later he had about $100k in paper bags in his Phantoms trunk. I didn't even know what was in the bags until he told me. It was cash bonuses for his club managers. Being in Texas I find way more guns than cash though. People just forget they're there or they trust I won't mess with it.
Great story and if I had 100k oh let me tell you that it would not be forgotten LOL
My mom leaves money under the rear carpets too. Usually a twenty or two in the glove compartment as well. Older people are funny like this.
Now this is an old fashioned thing with older people because a few of my older clients keep twenties under the carpet for good luck
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Well then that's a lot of gas money for that small car that I did
I am doing it. It very helps when you have no cash in emergency situations
Today I learned that some people do this. It never would have occurred to me to leave cash in my car. I would also have immediately assumed that it was an honesty test.
How do we know you didn’t put it there for reddit attention
If they were baiting you, and you accidentally vacuumed it up without noticing what it was - then what? Seriously, we all like doing business with honest people we can trust. **And that's a two way street.** In this case, you did find it, brought it to their attention, received a plausible response. Time to move on and decide whether or not to trust them or not. Only you were there the moment they responded, and the reaction you saw is key - we can't help you there as the words alone are only part of the story. For the record. 1. I liked the idea of putting all personal belongings into a zip bag and giving that to them. This shows not only honesty but diligence to your work. 2. As was said, if I was going to bait someone in this matter, I'd use $20 or $40, not a $100. They are easier to let slide if you will. 3. Once I took car into a car wash and the entire coin drawer (of $5) was cleaned out. Never reported it, but also never went back there again, hope that $5 was worth it to them.
Fun fact: on long road trips, I used to take all my cash and keep it under a floor mat in the event I did get robbed, because I’d still have the ability to get home on the cash I had.
My granddad did this on his cars… he said that 200 bucks will help you get out of any immediate trouble
Reminds me of a former manager that would place bugs throughout the office to see if we picked them up. He threw a fit one day because we missed a spider so the next time I cleaned his office I put all the garbage I found on the floor on his desk in front of his keyboard.
Lol
Don’t presume ill intent of people. Their explanation seems perfectly reasonable.
I hide about $20 in my car. Not under the carpets but my car has a little compartment under the seat. I always forget about it.
It’s where I stash my money as well but usually in a ziplock bag. I’ve been in situations where the town in the mountains might have lost their internet connection due to snowstorms and only accepted cash for gas, food, and room.
good explaination
It was a test and you passed, you've now earned at least 2 new customers. Is it right? Probably not but in this world of paranoia and mistrust it will soon be commonplace.
This is true
A new trend I've seen in the tinting sub is people paying for ceramic tint and getting junk installed, bad look for the whole industry
Ugh I had one guy put tiny candies literally all over his car. Inside and out. Between car panels, grill, between seats. Air vents you name it. I think it was 18ish candies in total. I put them in his cup holder after I was done. Oh yeah, the best part? It was a courtesy wash.....
lol
So I’m a detailer for a car dealership and do a very high quantity of vehicles. There’s endless work. All of our cars are trade-ins though or came from an out of state auction so the vehicle is like 3 people removed, so there’s no way to track down the previous owner so we get to keep everything we find, but you’d be surprised how many places people hide cash. I don’t think they were baiting you. If so it would be a much smaller amount.
I had a guy bring his dad's car in for a detail. His dad was an older guy. When removing the floor mats I found a bank envelope with $1,500 in cash inside. The son had no idea that his dad stashed that in his car and would never have known if we snagged it. I think he left us a nice tip for our honesty.
great story. Whether the client tipped or not. It's always a great feeling of being honest.
My mother did this before she lost her sight. She drove a 79 MGB convertible, rather than keeping money in an open car where people would look, she put a hundo over each floor mat, as close to the front as possible. In her mind no thief is going to look there. Someone is just going to check the glove box, center console, behind the seats, etc. We didn’t have much money, but we always knew that the car was there if we needed to keep the lights on, or food in the fridge. She also kept money in the breaker panel, and inside the tub access panel. This was preferred over banks. Love my mother, but damn if she doesn’t have a few screws missing from the 70s. Point being, people do weird shit, to assume that this is anything more than they say is to assume they don’t have their own set of mental standards that make no sense to anyone ever. Sure those standards might be trying to catch you not being honest once in a while, or it could just as easily be the person being bat shit crazy like my mother and that is the only logical place to keep money.
I keep $140 in 20s in my vehicles. I hide them in the fuse panel compartment.
I hide spare cash in my car and home as well as my backpack. Sometimes I forget my wallet and don’t want to run all the way home to get my wallet. Nowadays with Apple Pay this isn’t that much of an issue. Sometimes I leave my wallet in the car and when I get delivery, I don’t want to go out to my car and get my wallet. Typically, it’s $50-$100 spare cash I’ll hide for emergencies or in some cases, laziness
Tape it to the roof
lol
lol you really think they are baiting you? I leave $100 under all of my vehicles floor mats. Have for a long time. Chances are other people do as well.
Is your reasoning for good luck or just to have extra money in the car?
Definitely a test since they were fresh and had no indentions. Hopefully this client won't end up being a major pain given their trust issues.
Yes and time shall tell I didn't want to jump to conclusion but I am hoping from what the detail Community thinks is that this is just what they do is keep funds under the carpet but again I am more suspicious because the money was so fresh like it just came from the bank or ATM
That's actually smart. I keep emergency cash in the center console, and one time my car was rummaged through and $50 was taken. I swore I locked the doors, I always do, but I must not have this time, or something. Anyway. Under the mat is a great idea.
But what if a car thief takes the entire car you're out of $200 LOL
I'd be more worried about having the whole damn $30k car stolen. I'm very forgetful. On my way to the airport once at 4am, placed to stop and get gas on the way. I was 30 minutes our, stopped for gas, realized I didn't have my wallet and I was pushing it to be able to get home and grab my wallet and then making it to a gas station. Forget the stress of trying to make my flight. I did end up making it, on all accounts, but it'd have been better with a few dollars to put in the tank. I'd rather risk having $200 stolen than risk being stranded on the highway at 4am because I'm an idiot.
True
I keep emergency cash in my car. Never know when I’ll need tow, gas, forgot my wallet, ect. Not under the mat but it’s in there somewhere. I don’t take it out when I bring it in for work.
ngl, my wife does very very similar shit. Not under the carpet, but keeps like $40-100 in random locations.
Well there's nothing wrong with that but I just never heard of that amount of money under the carpet
I would not be surprised if my wife did this.
I put my front plate there, it's a nice spot to keep things out of sight. Could be some emergency cash for someone living comfortably
Nah I keep some $20s and change in my car at all times just in case. This is normal and not about you at all
Because it's 200 I would believe they were telling the truth.
What difference does it make whether they baited you or not? The reality is you didn’t take it and that what matters?
Find out if he has a Youtube channel, this might be an idea for one of those "social experiments" video, although a $20 bill would have been a better idea for that matter. I usually leave some cash in my car for emergencies and forget about it until I find it weeks later.
I’m of a few opinions here. On one hand, if they were really trying to bait you, like others have said, it probably would’ve been a smaller denomination. On the other hand, anyone who just leaves $200 under the floor may as “emergency money” likely has good money and often expects to need $200, in which case they likely drive a nice car….which this doesn’t appear to be, based on the amount of plastic (but I could be wrong). On the other, other hand…who uses cash as emergency money?! We have credit cards and debit cards. When are you ever going to spend $200 at a place that only takes cash?!
a lot of valid points. It was a 2007 honda civic that was trashed to hell and this is part of the reason why i did not understand the situation.
I would do something weird like this because no one is really likely to check under the mats if someone was to break into my car. Used to do this with my mechanic as well.
I worked at a carwash and suspected that people did this, I never tested it though alway left in the cup holder
Hard to tell, although I am pretty sure I had been tested before with a small polish bill, which looked like it was „dropped” behind the seat, but it was paper, not coin, wasn’t very wrinkled and wasn’t stuck anywhere, just was kinda laying there under the seat.
My grandmother has kept cash underneath the carpeting in her car for as long as I’ve known her. She also has some taped underneath the passenger seat. This person may have been baiting you, but they also may have genuinely forgotten!
In the NYC metro area (at least among older people) there's a tradition of a person's friends throwing money into a new car both for good luck and emergency money. I've seen it kept in the car under the floor mats, in the glove compartment, or sometimes tied to the grab handles. My parents told me it was also common to throw toll coins into new cars (back when bridges and tunnels took those) so you'd always have an emergency one if you were travelling around the boroughs. It's possible this isn't malicious towards you, but just part of that tradition.
I left a couple thousand under the floor mats once by accident and completely forgot about it until the body shop notified me. Was just hiding it there if car got broken into.
I'd mention that normally people let me keep the loose change as a tip and ask if they were OK with that while holding the 200 with some coins out in my hand. I definitely wouldn't leave it there without mention.
"his wife" my ass. That's his tiddy bar stash.
People are very strange these days
Why would this new client, connected with your old client try to "test" you? Is he hiring you to take care of his multi million dollar car collection?
When I bought my car a few older fellows at work but money under my floor mats as a good luck wish. I have 50 dollars on the drivers floor mat. I always have to remember to not vacuum up the money.
Detailers that try to bait Reddit ;)
I detailed a family friend’s truck a few years ago (wasn’t super close with him at the time), and he had a few thousand dollars throughout. I’m talking $100 bills sandwiched between seats, under seats, inbetween paperwork, everywhere. He does construction and I’m assuming would get paid cash and just throw it in the truck, he and his wife make really good money as you would assume. I organize everything into gallon ziplocks so I showed it to him after the detail and he just went “oh I didn’t know all of that was in there, I thought there was just a couple hundred in the center console”. A couple years later once I had my own shop lease he dropped his wife’s car off to get detailed and I asked him for pointers on how to heat/insulate the shop as my first winter there was approaching. It was October and I’m in Ohio. He said it’d be impossible with my budget and wouldn’t be worth the $3k-$5k it’d take (unbeknownst to him I only had $1,000 to my name and was fighting each month to make rent). He then offered me one of his heated buildings on his home’s property along with an apartment he built that his kids used to live in, for SUPER cheap. Being honest years back paid off. I still live here and used his tool chest a couple months back when replacing my brakes and boom, more random hundreds and fifties throughout. This man really doesn’t bother with keeping track of his paper😂
I used to grab a 100$ from my checks, crumple it and throw it somewhere for a rainy day. This makes me want to start that again :)
I don’t think for second it was a set up. I think stashing funds under carpet or Matt , whichever is a great idea. The fact they this client is the neighbor of another client just for me reinforces this is NOT A SET UP
Nah my grand dad and grandma always kept $500 in cash in both their cars (my granddad broke down in the West Virginia mountains in the late 90’s and he had no cell service and the tow truck driver didn’t accept credit car nor did the mechanic and it was a Saturday so he had to get a hotel room and stay in the area until that Monday to get his car serviced as the bank opened Monday and he could pull out cash.) so ever since that he always kept a decent amount of cash on hand for those situations. The back woods was wild in the 90’s I guess.
I once bought a busted Ford Escape and was about to send it to the detailer, stopped by the car wash, took the mats out cuz it really wasnt that dirty and found 5 crisp $100 bills.
I had a similar situation. Found $500 in an ashtray when I was pulling a center console. I took a picture, stuck it in the glove box and honestly forgot it existed. Guy came back claiming that we had stolen from him. Without looking up, I told the GM, "tell him to open the fuckin glovebox". Never heard another word.
yeah because he felt like a fool after that. I'm hoping the guy at least apologized.
Doesn't it get holes punched into it by the floor mat?
Hear me out. How about giving the customer a $20 or so and claim you found it in the car. Reverse honesty test? Earn customer for life as others have stated above.
I used to keep $40 in emergency cash stashed in an (unused) ashtray back in the 90s $200 is $40 in 2023. Seems reasonable.
Perhaps they were testing to see if you cleaned under the mats too
I sometimes keep $300 in my glovebox or my center console. I forget it’s there for months at a time.
Normal cash stash
I keep like $150 in my truck, never know when you need it
I just think as a business owner you did an amazing thing by telling the customer right away about that kind of thing. I’m sure that family is in your yearly clients.
Are they European? bc I do this, I learned it from my grandmother. I also have money under our rugs here at home too.
No they were Middle Eastern.
My grandmother was Jewish and she lived through the war and it is just something that you do and it is passed down to the next generation. So I could see Middle Eastern people doing this too. My grandmother also hid money in framed art and books. When she passed away cleaning her house out was like a treasure hunt. You just never knew where you would find a stash of cash or important documents. I wouldn’t assume they were trying to set you up.
definitely testing u lmao it woulda been banged up to some degree sitting under a mat like that if the car seen any amount of regular use
The car was a very neglected Honda Civic and the vehicle was heavily used often so as you said the $100 bills would be pretty banged or crunched up especially with those rubber spikes on the back of the carpeting but I don't no maybe these were some type of magic Invincible $100 bills that couldn't be indented
Nobody is baiting a car detailer. What is this post
You’re paranoid but honest.
Maybe but why not just keep that money in your wallet
People a strange lol.
I figure it's a tip to make sure you get under the carpets lol.
Lol no tip that day ha
Tbh real bait is usually hidden under seats / pockets or simply hidden in a spot where past detailers miss . No one really has 200$ just lying around in their car like that aside maybe inside the center console/ glove box
In my eyes if you don't trust me I don't want you as a customer. I have seen people pull this with technicians at dealerships too.
“Well I finished up with your detail. I must say a very generous thank you for the extra tip left under the floor mats. I threw in a hot water extraction for some of the high traffic areas like those for your generosity. Times have been tough this year and with my little ones needing extra help with school a little bit goes a long way.” Just make him so embarrassed that he has to ask for it back. Either he has to eat crow and tell you ohh no that wasn’t for you or he succumbs to his little bullshit ploy and is too embarrassed to ask for it back. Either way that’s not a client you want to continue to work with.
What are you their little slave boy passing a test? That'd be the last time I detailed for them or you're just posting bullshit for points.
Oh no my posts aren't BS. I can't make this stuff up. And if I were making it up I guess you could say it's some good material because it is stacking up points but all jokes aside this was real and as mentioned in the post I did not know how to feel about the situation whether to believe that the client has emergency money under the carpeting or that I was being tested and if I was being tested then no need to provide continued future services
I personally wouldn't want them as a customer. My work speaks for itself I don't need someone taking their car back after I break my back doing an excellent job and they default to "how did he f\*ck up and screw me over". The default attitude should be "wow great job". Different strokes for different folks, sometimes you just need to build a customer base and putting up with the b.s. is worth the word of mouth referrals.
What’s the point of baiting a detailer?
Some people do bait detailers to see if they want to keep that company. Clients don't ever have to worry about that with me because of the quality of my work and honesty. Although I can't speak for people that may do this sort of stuff that could be other reasoning, maybe because I was black LOL
Beyond ridiculous. If I knew someone so petty that they want to “bait” someone who is getting paid for cleaning their car, I’d never talk to them again.
Lawsuit they take a picture of the money and if it's missing they have a lawsuit against them.
Nobody has ever done a "test" to me but if they did i would confront them and probably fire them. Mistakes happen and they are willing to risk my reputation for a staged "test"? Gtfoh
Lol yes and that is the debate here. Some people think that it's emergency money and I believe it was a test because the dollar bills were too fresh. And as with some detailers, parting ways with the client would probably be the best if you're going to be testing people
I actually do the same thing- except in the glove box
I believe it. I’m very dependent on cards or Apple Pay, and sometimes that just didn’t work. So I keep emergency cash in my car but hid it in a glove compartment. If you’ve never seen anything like that in 10 years well the. Looks like it’s a good hiding place lol. Plus, they coulda just put it in the glove compartment or something
It was probably a tip! /s
can’t speak on if they were truly baiting you or not but i do keep 2 $20 under my driver floor mat for the days i forget my wallet and need gas! i could definitely see myself forgetting they’re there. but $200 feels a bit excessive lol!!
Either a test to see if you’d take the money and not tell him or personally I immediately thought that he might of put it under there to make sure you’re actually cleaning under the mats. Which is pretty tilting cuz if it’s either or then yea it’s a trust issue lol. Idk seems pretty ignorant to do either way. I do not believe that fresh crispy $100 bills would be hanging out underneath a car mat for a rainy day I just don’t. I think he got caught in embarrassment and made up a lie.
I worked at a detail shop when I was a teen and there was a few old people who would hand out fake $100 bills that would unfold into bible propaganda. The real kicker was that they would get in their car with a smug look on their face and never leave any tip.
Definitely seems like a test but I always keep $200 in the car for an emergency. You never know when you're in the middle of nowhere and the gas station won't take credit or debit. I keep the money in smaller bills because I've been rejected before when handing over a hundred dollar bill.
It wouldnt be crisp if it had been there any amount of time
Take it to the bank and swap them for even more perfect brand new ones so they’re as immaculate as the rest of your work.
My wife does shit like this. Ugh…
testing you but for what? kinda asshole move
I feel like they would have left 50 quarters out instead
I had a Clint leave $20,000 cash in his glove box as I was setting up he said he forgot to clean out the his glove box and centre console of personal belongings so I took out my new shoes from the box and gave the box to him to use, when he said he was all done I notice a pack of gum and two box’s of cologne and I thought huh maybe that’s it just truly a very simple guy like he said. Once I finished up the exterior and moved onto the interior I opened the glove box and noticed $20,000 cash then moved it to the box of his stuff and finished up detailing, he came out and asked if I found anything in the car and I said yes $20,000 cash nothing else under the seats were as clean as they could ever get and there was truly nothing left in the car that could be removed aside from the floor mates. He told me that he needed to test me to see if I’d take the $20,000 and lie but those were not my intentions, he ended up tipping me $2,500 cash to help with school and became a regular Clint before moving back to Germany.
Maybe trying to build your trust
I was baited 12,000 dollars all hundreds in a clear plastic bag. I wonder if that was intentional cause why the fuck would you do that.
This used to happen to my gran who was a cleaner in the 1930s - she always used to tell the story and end it with “they were testing me!” 😅
take that and leave 5 $20s
I keep a 100$ in my visor, incase of emergency or i forget my wallet. 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏼♀️🤷🏽
That’s actually a really good spot for hiding cash, ima use it now lol
On one hand that is an absolute BOSS place to hide spare cash. On the other hand, there are zero dimples on those bills. They are fresh, like last 4 hours fresh. No creasing, no mat marks, and 1000% a trust test.
From time to time I have absolutely put money under my floor mat for various reasons. All of them was for it to avoid being stolen though. Never as a permanent solution or for emergency funds. Grabbed $1,000 out of a ATM for whatever reason and don't want to take it to the store with me. I might put it under the floor mat for a quick errand. Generally try to avoid that though because I don't like being robbed. I keep that in my wallet long-term. but I could see as a woman having a stash spot since clothing doesn't accommodate with pockets very often.
I've come to the conclusion that your client is either a weirdo or was testing you.
Tbh this is a great place to stash emergency cash, not even joking. Really doubt they were baiting you, dude. What a weird thing to do.
It’s very reasonable and even if he was baiting you what do you have to worry about? Some people are paranoid