janstett - Edit button!
I'm fairly easy going when it comes to passengers in my car. Most of my passengers are quite appreciative normally of getting a lift as although I'm a generous person and will offer if they need it, I don't tend to make special journeys for other people very often. And with the puny engine in my car, more than one passenger and you start to feel the difference.
And although I look after the car like crazy (wax/polish etc) I'm not too bothered by a bit of dirt from other people - the car needs to be used after all! One of my mates got my passenger side mat muddy (but then I got mine muddy too) - yes I was annoyed but I'm not going to ruin my friendship over it. Just vacuumed it that weekend.
Luckily none of my passengers has touched my radio yet. Don't know why... what have I said?
Actually it could be that my gearstick is quite close to the radio and whenever I see someone's hand approaching the radio - if it's safe - I go to change gear. Often I don't, just leave my hand on the gear stick for a few seconds then return to wheel, but as it blocks their access to the radio, job done! And normally that's actually enough for my friends to realise their hand could actually get in the way if they tried touching the radio again...
There is one thing that really gripes me though. That is that people tend to slam the doors hard. My doors are light so I can just about understand it but it does annoy me. I have told one of my mates repeatedly to be more careful, but no.... Meh, at the end of the day my car is worth bugger all anyway. When I get a more expensive car these small annoyances from passengers may annoy me more.
My car doesn't have central locking. Even my passengers forgetting to lock the doors doesn't bother me - seeing as everyone is so used to not having to do it these days (And I can remember the days when we used to instinctively lock all the doors and the driver would proudly say "Oh no - you don't need to do that... it's got central locking!" - Grrrr... age...
)
Scratching the paintwork upsets me a hell of a lot, but so far other careless drivers have been to blame for this rather than passengers...
Sometimes passengers can be fun though as you can scare them loads, knowing full well what your car can do!
(On the other hand, another disadvantage is that for some passengers you just feel like you should drive more carefully (i.e. boringly) than usual)...
Argghh! Written a damned essay again!!! :lol:
When I got back, there were Wendy's bags and wrappers all over the place. If you're gonna ride, at least take the trash out! It may not be my car, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't respect it!