I drove one guy who I thought was retarded, turns out he was just Australian.
One of my customers asked what I would do if he ran off without paying. I told him I would chase after him and take my money. Despite being 17 years my senior, he was sure I would not be able to catch. We debated this for a while but eventually got to his place. He paid the $10 and went our separate ways.
There were quite a few friendlies in the cab this weekend. One group of girls appear to have become regulars. They're too nice, when I offer the friend discount of not turning on the meter and giving them the choice of paying and how much, they seem to pay too much. Not too too much, but the fare plus a good tip. I feel bad, I might have to turn the meter on next time....but I know they read this blog so I'm not too worried about it. I also have another new batch of regulars. I use the friend discount, they pay a little less than what they would if I turned on the meter. That's a fair fare.
Late Night Chow: Tim Horton's Bagel B.E.L.T.
The Belt is not a terrible late night option, but it's not very good either. It has no identity. It's not breakfast, but it's not lunch or dinner either. It doesn't even have a brunch feel either. Worst of all, it's not even greasy. Grease is the key to late-night goodness. Unfortunately, the Belt only garners a 2/5 score, which hurts Tim Horton's good reputation in a tight fight for late night supremacy with 7-11 and McD.
I want a cab that is a Fiat 500 with the horn from a semi-truck. I feel that it would be epic.
I got yelled at by an angry mom who refused to pay the full fare for her daughter's meandering through the city. Bitch.
One of my fellow United cab drivers ran through a streetlight on Friday evening. It was quite the mess and a few tow-trucks and popo-mobiles were at the scene. When I arrived back at the garage at the end of my shift I asked the guy from dispatch what had happened. This was an hour after the event and he said he had not heard anything and was mad that it was not reported. Every cab driver on the East side of the city knew about this little incident. I suspect the Pakistani community stuck together and wanted to prevent this guy from getting in trouble. I also suspect that my tattling will make me a Serpico in the cabbing community, ostracized and hated:
Mohammad #1: That young white cabbie told on our guy!
Mohammad #2: Which one?\
Mohammad #1: The only one in the city
Mohammad #3: Let's get him.
If I ever have an asian girlfriend, I will take her to Tim Horton's at 2 AM. Seriously, I never pick up asians from bars or clubs, but I always see asian couples going to Tim Horton's and talking at 2 in the morning.
I simulated a warm summer day by turning the heat on really high in my cab. When it got really hot I left the heat on in the rest of the cab and changed the fans in the driver section to really cold. It felt like a warm summer day and I had the A/C on to cool myself off. It''s doing stuff like this that gets me through a 12-hour shift.
