I did not receive the memo, but yesterday was a city-wide drive-like-an-asshole night. Having no prior knowledge of this, I was unprepared and became quickly frustrated by the antics of the driving population. When you organize a big event like this, you will always have people who show up and perform half-assed. I remember the zombie walk night in the city, and a lot of so-called zombies were just people with a ripped shirt and some ketchup....and that's how the asshole driving night. Some people were lazy and were content with simply driving in the middle of two lanes or driving a little too slow. Other drivers, however, brought their A-game.
I was impressed with how much an asshole some drivers could be. While trying to turn left onto Idylwyld I had to wait until the light turned amber before I could cross as traffic was heavy. At these busy streets, it is expected that people will run the amber so usually I have to wait until the light is actually red before I can scoot across the intersection. With the light red, I thought it safe to cross as surely no one would cut it this late. I was wrong though, and one of the evening's participants not only cut through very late, but gave me the finger for being into the intersection myself. Well played, sir, well played.
Another driver got the best of me when I was traveling down a twisting back road. The snow was piled high and therefore I could not see what was around the corner. As I approached the corner a speeding car stared me dead in the eyes as he drove on the wrong side of the road. Too ensure a good placement in the evening's event, he was sure to swerve out of the way only a mere 15 metres in front of me. My customer got quite the scare, but I comforted her by telling her it was just a game for the evening. I then congratulated my fellow night driver for having pulled off such a ballsy and asshole move.
As the evening progressed I became more and more frustrated with other drivers but managed to keep my cool. The roads were very icy and on one particular road I had to go quite slow to make sure I did not slide into a busy intersection. The truck behind me was not pleased by this, and in keeping with the theme he honked and swerved around quite feverishly. At this point I muttered 'Hell is other drivers'. My customer did not appear to be an avid Sartre reader as she misunderstood the quote and thought I was simply mad at the other driver. I myself found the quote to be quite fitting.
As day turned into night and the clock passed 12:00 I was relieved that Drive-Like-An-Asshole night was over. The remaining five hours of my shift could go by much more smoothly, and they did. A trip to Martensville and some generous tippers who had been waiting in the cold for a long time brightened the financial side of the evening. Unfortunately, they were waiting outside Jax so of course they were not quality clientele. At this point I started rating my customers on a scale of 0-100. I soon figured that this was too simple a system and soon started rating them 0-10 on three different categories. From here, I discovered my dislike for people who swore, or gave people the finger, or were just simply rude. I then looked at my own self. I tend to swear quite a bit and perhaps this does not look favourably on me. I will try to classier person in the future.
On a side note, the two customers I rated the highest were just nice guys who asked about my job. Not very entertaining, but quality people...even despite one of them coming from Buds. Perhaps I will try to be a higher quality person by just asking people about their life and being polite.
Greasy Gregg's Late Night Chow:
Tonight I found out that I can order breakfast sandwiches at Tim Horton's as early as 4 AM. 5/5.
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