A Vacuum Store Sucks Up the Camera’s Glare
There are easily a couple dozen vacuum stores in the South Bay. But it’s probably safe to call All Makes Vac & Sew in Torrance the only one with an international cult following. “For a little hole-in-the-wall vacuum cleaner shop, it’s a very strange thing,” says owner Carl Tice.
In 1996, Tice, a self-confessed computer geek, installed a Web cam in the shop. Two more soon followed. The next year, Tice instituted the wave. Wherever you may be on the globe, entering an instant message in a dialogue box on the All Makes Vac & Sew Web site when the cameras are running gets you a friendly salute on the site from Tice himself, usually holding a wipe board festooned with a smiley face, your name and such (printable) message as you may request.
During business hours, visitors can monitor live feeds of such vistas as a vacuum display, Tice working at his computer or a customer lugging in a broken Hoover. Messages prompt a beep from the computer at Tice’s desk in the middle of the shop. If he’s not with a customer, it’s “action” for your personal vacuum store buddy.
Some discover the site while trolling cyberspace for Web cams, the Internet equivalent of reality TV. Others stumble onto the scene while browsing for a new vacuum. Tice has had queries from England, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Some ask about the weather, others about the time. “Just last week I had a guy from Paris,” says Tice. “It went on for about 15 or 20 minutes. Some people have way too much time on their hands, but I’m happy to entertain.” There are occasional “inappropriate requests or comments,” some focused on hot female customers spotted on camera. There was also a crack about Tice’s “big belly” (attributable, surely, to those 10 pounds added by the camera).
Tice has few worries about being upstaged. “I think it’s pretty goofy,” says Jim Sander, Vac & Sew’s sole employee. Sander hasn’t waved a single time. “Honestly,” he says, “I’ve never been tempted.”
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All Makes Vac & Sew, (vacsew.com/cam/amcam.htm)
