The discussion in class today regarding different perceptions of SUVs hearkened me back to one of my least enjoyable summer jobs...valet parking. I worked most often at one of the only posh night clubs in downtown Minneapolis and consistently felt dissonance and embarassment driving those vehicles around downtown, often for 10-15 minutes in Saturday nigh traffic getting to the parking lot.
I would characterize myself as a "Charlie Brown" driver whereas I was dealing most often with an adjacent quadrant of people who are risk averse and see their cars as toys. I most often drove Hummers, Escalades and BMWs which had all the bells and whistles including usually extremely loud stereos. I couldn't figure out why I was so embarassed to be driving these vehicles around downtown when in most cases, the windows were sufficiently tinted so that noone could see me and I wasn't actually purchasing the vehicles. It was such a strong discomfort that I was actually happy to arrive at the lot and exit the enormous plush leather seats even knowing that it meant I'd need to run the 1/2 mile back to the club on a summer night to pick up another car.
Today's discussion made me wonder if it was the dissonance with my own perspective on cars and the brands I prefer that made me uncomfortable. Perhaps it was also a subconscious recognition of the importance of these very expensive toys to our patrons and the intimidation of being trusted with their favorite toy.
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