A New Kind of Loyalty Program

Forgive my lack of updates...we've been on vacation for the past couple of weeks.

Last Thursday we flew from KL to LA to spend a few days in California before heading to South Dakota. We picked up our rental car on Friday morning, and after we drove it for a little while, we looked in the ashtray. I opened it, glanced in, and shut it.

Wait. I opened it again. Hm. Those sure don't look like cigarette ashes. And what's with the little stems in there?

Yep, there was pot in our rental car ashtray. Welcome to California.

I immediately looked in the glove box, expecting the motherload, but no such luck. Then of course we had to capture the moment on camera for our Flickr page. We weren't pissed about it or anything. It was a tiny amount and I doubt we would have gotten in any sort of trouble with the authorities had they stopped us (plus M would have gotten say hi to them anyway - being a teenager in California apparently means being on a first name basis with all the police in the Ojai area).

When we returned the car a few days later, we couldn't resist mentioning it - we figured they needed to know, plus we thought that maybe they'd give us a "Sorry for the Weed" discount. The guy at the counter was professional looking, about 35-40, clean cut, just the sort of guy we figured would at least be somewhat apologetic, or surprised, or maybe a bit embarrassed about the doobage in their rental car. Not so much.

M: "The car was great, but we did have one problem. There was pot in the ashtray."

We prepare for the apology and discount that we are sure are coming.

Avis guy: "You're kidding?" Laughs. "Well, at Avis, we try harder! Next time we'll leave you a six pack too!"

See? Avis really does try harder, God bless 'em.