Not-So-Temporary Friendships

AKA....my regulars. I refer to my fares as my temporary friendships. These ones last a little longer than the others.

The Red-Headed Racist Brothers
I've mentioned these brothers in this blog before. They don't actually know me or have my number but they take a cab often enough, and live in my turf, that I get calls to their house quite often. It's always the same trip. To the grocery shop, to the offsale, and the back home. They never take a cab together either, always just one of them. This short trip is always filled with racist and otherwise dark humour. It's offensive, but it's also funny as hell. They also tip well, mainly because I'm white.

Professor Sweatpants
I'm not quite sure why I call him 'Professor'. If I took a class and he was my professor, I'd probably ask for my money back. I've had some decent conversations with him surrounding music, but he doesn't strike me as a particularly smart person. The 'sweatpants' part comes in because he wore sweatpants to a jazz club once, and you can never really forgive a man for that. I don't drive him that often, but enough to know him and know its him before I even arrive at the house I've been called to.

Margaret
Me and Margaret did not meet on the best of terms. She's an old lady who looks like she always has her eyes shut and is chewing on something. She has an account and never tips, not even a penny. My first trip with her, she forgot her keys and made me go to three of her neighbours' houses to see if they had her spare key. Why the entire neighbourhood has a spare key to her house, I'm not sure, but she was in a bad mood and did not appreciate the effort and patience I was putting into the situation. Since then, we've had some nice conversations surrounding the weather, and I recently discovered she's an avid NDP supporter. I'm supposed to avoid talking politics with customers, but we had a friendly conversation surrounding the leader debate.

Music Man Ward
My newest regular, we only met a couple weeks ago. My Black Keys CD sparked a long conversation surrounding music and similar bands. It was a long conversation because we had to make multiple stops to get the first season of Lost. I shut the meter off when we stopped on the first trip and gave him a dollar discount on the second trip because I didn't want to deal with change and he seems like a good guy. We have exchanged many band recommendatiosns which I always appreciate in a fare.

Kelsey 'n Friends
Are they the same friends? Are they different? I'm never quite sure but I've never asked. Since she actually reads this blog I'm sure I'll find out next time she calls. These trips are often characterized by McDonalds drive-thru, getting locked out of the house, questions about why she hasn't been mentioned in the blog, and slight overpayment on the fare (which I'll just tally up as a good tip for me being awesome)

Semi-Regulars
Some people don't count as actual regulars, but I've driven them a few times so I recognize them:
-two cute asian girls who live on Main Street and never speak english
-old lady who works at United Way, gets driven home from Safeway, and gives me life advice
-guy and two girls who live near 4th and Clarence
-this one house in Stonebridge: never the same people, but the destinatination is always the same

And all of this is on top of my regulars who I actually know outside of taxi-related situations.

Random Moments of the Night
Two pylons were in the middle of the street marking off the area surrounding a dead cat...like a little crime scene, which was both cute and sad.

Customer disagreed that he should pay the fare. I disagreed with that. We had an argument. I got punched in the face. There was blood. I got my money.