Last night while I was pumping gas at my local QuickTrip, I was approached by a guy who said he was an auto detailer, giving me his business card along with his sales spiel. While I took his card and said I’d think about it, only one thought crossed my mind: “You are really in the wrong business right now, buddy.”

Gasoline is finally back down at a price where we don’t feel violated when filing our tanks. The national economy is all over the board; people are losing their jobs and homes, and this poor guy’s trying to sell me a service that really amounts to a $200 car wash. Now, I’m not saying that when done correctly the results of good auto detailing are amazing, but regardless of how good he was, I can’t imagine he’s got a waiting list for that service, at least not now. Of course, the people who would have the money to have their car detailed before are still probably doing okay, but I’m sure his numbers are way down.

It did make me wonder though, about how much time this guy probably used to spend actually doing the detailing, versus how much time he spends finding business now. I imagine approaching strangers at gas stations isn’t how he would prefer to spend his time, especially since the only reason he even says anything to you is because your car looks like crap.