Back in the saddle, I think.

I think I will have a silver cab to drive soon. Not a moment too soon, I'm going crazy with boredom. Joe invited me into his office and asked what happened, so I told him and he asked if the management of the red and whites are crazy, letting someone go after all those years for such petty BS. Well they did. Red and white used to be THE color cab to drive, but I don't think that's been true since they stopped being Dodge Diplomats.

Anyhow, I've always liked Joe, and all the people I've ever talked to who drive those silver cabs tell me they like it just fine, make decent money, and are treated well.

On some other fronts, my life is really turning for the better. My housing troubles are going to clear up in a few days. I won't have to abandon the dream of being in the portable welding business after all. And I actually feel like restarting work on that book I was trying to write. AND... After stepping back from it, I'll bet starting over will work out real well. Anybody out there got suggestions as to were to keep it on the web, let me know in a comment. I wouldn't keep it on a machine after going through all the hair pulling when this very machine had to be reformatted low level and I lost EVERYTHING. Life is improving, I want to write again!

My right hand has improved enough that I can touch type with both hands again. Again? Yeah. Funny story coming up here. I was trying to catch this cow, and I had her cornered, and I was trying to grab her halter. Say what? Really was, but don't laugh yet, it gets better. Little brown cow, not one of the huge black and white ones, jersey I think. She didn't want to get caught so she kicked me in the knee. I impulsively slammed my fist down on her rump and shattered the bone between the little finger and wrist of my right hand near the base at the wrist. Damn, did that hurt, and I mean immediately!! Fortunately for me, my health insurance was current, so following day I went and got it treated. They put on this removable 1/2 cast made out of plastic that attaches with velcro. And that was 25 days ago. It took about 10 days to basically knit back together, and I've been able to use that finger to type with for around 24 hours now. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to wipe yourself in the john with the wrong hand? Nightmare!!) I see a doctor or somebody for final time in 3 weeks, then I'm ok to return to work, if I had a job. I will though. I'll load trucks.

Load trucks? Yeah. I used to load moving trucks for a living. I'm not in that great a shape, so it will be like going to the gym and getting paid for it. I was stacking stuff in my storage unit this afternoon, and it wasn't that easy with that cast on, but it was do-able. I can still do it just fine. Loading trucks is kind of like a 3 dimensional tetris game, there's a learning curve to it. And there's a busy season to it too. God, was today (Wed 6/30) a good day.

While I'm rambling about random stuff, I've been looking at chain mail again and thinking to myself, everyone needs a hobby. My dad didn't like me sitting and knitting with my mother when I was 7. Well making one of those chain mail head covers that drapes over over somebody's shoulders looks like a cool similar thing. Only instead of yarn and knitting needles it's wire and pliers, why not, great way to kill time at the airport waiting for a plane to come down, right?

Paper shuffling

Most people think the company is in business to provide rides. I don't think that's been the case for quite a while. It's true that you can get a ride, but the money is in the administrative charge for filling out a charge slip. I'm not sure how much it is these days, but it's non trivial.

When I started driving, a delivery cost a buck more than a passenger for the same ride. I really liked deliveries, and I think all drivers did. Over time, the administrative charge for processing that slip increased. They say that the reason deliveries have declined is because of the color fax, and digital photography. Perhaps. Was any effort made to find anything to fill that void? I sure didn't see it. Did that processing charge deter people? I think so, but they'll argue it didn't.

The charge rides for people, used to be competitive, then it wasn't, now it is again. The issue is mostly drug testing. In order to get the BIG contract, you have to drug test. I always said I'd never pee in a cup unless it was to drive a big truck. So, I drove big trucks, acquiesced to drug testing, and started doing it at the cab company. I prostituted myself, and I should not have done it. It was never worth it, which is why the other cab companies in town don't.

Poor post............... Really poor quality, oh well. Sorry bout that.

this is a really great quote

I share a great quote:

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
Ben Franklin

My new career, unsuccessful writer, heh heh.

I've been writing, I just haven't been writing much here. So.......... What I'm going to do is post some of the things that I've written elsewhere, and see if y'all like them. This is mostly cab stuff, only perhaps fictionalized or polished or what ever.

This first one is about what is sometimes called, 'A heavy load'

Eleven (Former title - A Few - )

Last modified: Thursday 4/22/10 I pulled up to the green awning at The Essen Haus and counted eleven. They'd had a great time, were going to continue whooping it up at the next bar, and weren't going to be separated. Only got one cab? We'll all squeeze into it, unless you don't want to take us. All or none. If it hadn't been so slow. The money had been terrible that night. "Ok, guys, I'll take all of you, but here are the rules: Rule one, you have to promise me that when I stop, you'll get out of the cab fast. Rule two, you have to pay me in advance. If a cop sees eleven clowns rolling out of a cab, that's six bozo's too many. The ticket for extra clowns is a hundred a head. It's $4.00 for the ride, plus ten extra passengers at a buck a head. Plus tip! A big one! Who's paying?" A tall fellow with a southern accent handed me a couple of twenties and said keep it. Then he quickly announced "Shoddie!" I had to smile. Where did this guy learn how to speak Wisconsin English? He sure did say 'shottie', funny. The woman behind him immediately complained that he wasn't entitled to shotgun simply because he paid, but it was already too late. A lady around thirty jumped in the front seat first. The fellow who paid next, then the woman who had been hanging on him sat on his lap, draped her arms around him, and went back to what she'd been doing. Both rear doors opened up, and the other 8 people started piling in. I was standing outside the cab supervising. I would compare it to telling cord wood where to stack itself. A small woman hopped on the two people sitting in the center of the back seat. A sixth pushed and squeezed in directly next to the driver side door, then one of the two remaining people slammed and jammed that door into their friends. The final two people headed in through the my door. They were pulled over the seat into the back. They laid across everybody and hung their feet out the open drivers side window. It was funny to look at. The cab was filled to the ceiling and hanging out the window, the bottom pair of shoes were on the outside and pointed up, the top pair of shoes were on the inside pointing down. I stood back and admired the load for a moment. The car was all the way down on the springs. They were all laughing and giggling. I never have a camera when I need one. I was almost to The Plaza when we passed a cop going in the opposite direction on State. He turned his head looking at the feet hanging out the window, and I knew I had trouble. I looked in the mirror, and could see him pulling up to make a U turn by Paul's Club. Luck was with me, I got the light at State and Frances. I whipped around the corner, pulled up in front of The Plaza, leaped out, and ran around the cab pulling open the doors, and pulling people out. Just as the last one of them was going through the door into The Plaza, the squad car pulled up behind me with the cherries going. I reached into my pocket for my license, and held it out for the officer. Normally, they'll tell you to get back in the car, he didn't. He snatched the license out of my fingers and demanded, "How many people did you have in that cab?" "Ah, a few", I answered sheepishly. "How many is a few?", he demanded? "Well a few." "There were more than five people in that cab, now how many were there?", he again demanded. He was pissed! For some reason, he needed me to tell him how many. I stuck with a few, thinking I'd get as small a ticket as possible that way. Each time I told him a few in some small varied way, his face got a little redder, but it wasn't going anywhere. Finally he told me to get in the car and wait. Usually it takes at least 10 minutes for them to come and either hand you a ticket or tell you how lucky you are that they're not handing you a ticket. He as at my window in less than ninety seconds. "Don't ever let me catch you doing this again.", he said, "Now, get out of my sight!" I put my turn signal on, dropped it into drive, and pulled up to the stop sign at Gorham. I couldn't believe my luck! I couldn't believe that guy didn't give me a ticket. I guess he needed a number he didn't have.

Change of scenery

I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I need a new permit. I think I'll apply for 2, both the other cab companies in town. They didn't like what I said, but nobody called me a liar. So how does that work? My intention was to return to driving days and they said I couldn't.

Andre, you're right!

Comments......... And other low lifes

It was my intention to never moderate comments. So I never learned how. Regrettably, I've had to learn how. To the Chinese guy who placed comments I had to remove on my blog, I say, stop coming here. If I have to learn how to exclude you from coming here, I guess I'll have to do that too. What a waste of my time.

Last night I had these 2 lowlifes who came out of Taco Bell on State just as I was going to pull away. I tell the woman that she should call a cab when she's ready to go, not when she gets in line to buy food. She immediately goes off on me that I have an attitude, and she'll get another cab driver, and she'll call the company and complain. She wasn't waiting in line for food, she was standing inside by the TV. Watching TV instead of watching for the cab. She insists she was watching for the cab and again goes into this litany of what she's going to do to me.

Ok, out of the cab. What???? You heard me, out of the cab. I'm going to go and do something else and you're going to get another driver. When they're out, I key the mike on channel 2 and tell the phone guy about it. And guess what? Did they get a red and white to take their sorry drunk ass's home? I doubt it. If they did, they did it as flags because no call was accepted over the phone.

Sunday night

Weird weekend. And it finished weird too.

There's this hotel on Hayes rd. that I've taken women to, who struck me as prostitutes. There's nothing wrong with being a prostitute, but usually they don't tip. You'd think they'd be smart enough to want to be on the right side of everybody in their little world. Nope.

Anyway, I get this girl, she's around 21 out of this hotel and she wants a round trip to Arby's. Ok. I've also got Red Robin going to 51 & 151 to get so I tell the girl, ok I'll do her round trip but how we do it is going to depend on what the other passenger is doing. Between the motel and Red Robin her phone rings and she starts talking to this john. The waitress from Red Robin gets in, she wants to go to Walgreen's.

So I tell the girl with the phone we'll drop the waitress off before we go to Arby's. The entire time the waitress is in the cab the girl with the phone is talking to 2 different john's. 'I get $200 for this, I get $150 for that. No, you can't sleep in bed with me all night, but we can sort of work out what you want for $250.', and so on.

Waitress gets out, and I ask the kid where bozo's like the one she just finished talking to get her number from. 'Oh, places.............' I tell the kid that the cab is a public place and if I was her, I'd turn that cell phone off when I got in the cab. I also made a loud comment about a waitress not tipping, kid apparently got that, she tipped $2.00. First time any of the prostitutes tipped.

Then the guy calls back and wants directions to where she is. So I ask her where he is, she tells me HWY 14 coming into the south side of town. Ok, tell the guy to take the beltline east to I90, get off at East Washington, get on the frontage road on the north side of the street, go back toward the interstate and he'll see the place you say you want to meet him at. She had almost $35.00 in cab fare and Arby's, for a couple of combo's.

I then checked it in. Worst Sunday I've had in over a year.

Clueless people. Simply Clueless.