Waiting rooms
GREETINGS from “one of the better auto care places in Portland.” That according to Atomic Auto’s new promotional video—a laughably modest claim for a shop that gives customers cushy loaner cars, fresh eggs, even beer while they wait). I’m hanging in the lobby while AA’s wild-man owner, whom I’m visiting, oversees the armada of Swedish vehicles crowding his shop and flowing out around the block.
I am atypically without schedule or agenda, which feels nice. As I lounge in a reappropriated Saab seat, I was just handed a 22-oz. bottle of Ninkasi IPA (“don’t drink three of those, it’ll fuck you up”; taking his word for it). For the moment at least, the trajectory of my afternoon seems clear.
I actually really like the promo video…isn’t that Frozen Ocean playing in the background? “If it says Saab” then either you have a talking car or you should pull over until you’ve sobered up.
I think the vid’s ok. It just seems… conventional. Lord know they got freak flags to fly, so why not here?