The Power of Dirty Diapers
I am going to share a tale about dirty baby diapers. I want to talk about a car that came into my detail shop smelling like an outhouse. Just like the ones at a hiking trailhead! I couldn’t figure out how a car could smell this bad – and how someone could ever drive it. It made my eyes water. The following is what we discovered.
Starting With an Interior Auto Detail
The first thing we did to this car was an interior auto detail. Mind you it was a very high-end Mercedes model. Not a car you would expect to be neglected. We went through all of the normal interior detailing steps in their correct order.
The Diaper Smell That Wouldn’t Die
After letting the car dry, we could still smell that offensive outhouse odor. It was horrible. The crew shampooed the car a second time to try to kill the smell. We even sprayed an industrial enzyme-based deodorizer on the interior. This is a product you can only get at a janitorial supply outlet – and we needed it bad.
After letting the car fully dry out for a second time, we could still smell it. We decided to treat the car with our ozone machine. These electric units produce a fog of ozone that penetrates into the materials of the interior and kills bad smells. Have you ever smelled the air after a lightening storm? This is that same fresh odor. Well, the ozone didn’t do much.
Pure Frustration After an Extreme Interior Auto Detail
At this point the crew was pretty frustrated. They had done all the normal interior auto detailing steps – but the stench wouldn’t go away. One of the guys had an idea. He grabbed a flashlight and looked under the front seats. Surprise! Stuck way up under the front seats where a dozen used baby diapers – poopy diapers. Now who would even think about doing this to a car? With gloved hands, the guys pulled out all of the diapers. They were ready to vomit. So was I. The whole shop stank. They then sprayed the industrial enzyme deodorizer up under the seats. We repeated this process three times. The guys were determined to kick this car’s butt. I think they were pissed. Probably at me.
Finally a Good Smell
Well, after letting the car dry out for about two hours it finally smelled great. I kept wondering why a person would do this to their car. Was this just sheer laziness? Did they have no sense of smell? I have had kids and never in my wildest dreams would I do this. I couldn’t even stand the smell of one dirty diaper wrapped up inside of the diaper bag. Not at home or in a car. Who wants to smell poop?
When the customer came back at the end of the day to pick up the car I told her what we had found. I got no reaction. She just stared off into space. Unlike most customers, she didn’t ask to look over the job before she paid. She just asked for her bill and left with her car. Would it have been that hard to put those used diapers in a trash bag after nature called ? I will never know.
