definitely?

This new dispatcher takes a bit of getting used to. I should have the job anyway but thats another story and as long as he's got it I'll play along. He's a pretty good dispatcher but there never seems to be a good 'flow' to the way he works. No rhythm. I mean man I drove for 10 hours without hardly stopping. He doesn't subscribe to what I call the "drive a while/rest a while" theory and I'm not the only one who says that. Dispatching is an art form. I'm not sure what that means but it sounds good. The money has been good but I hardly even have a chance to count it and getting home so late leaves no time for anything. Just sleeping and driving. Driving and sleeping.
For starters today I drove 'the smoker' (remember the guy with the palm tree?) home to Weymouth. Then a fare to Wollaston. Next a short $4.50 job but it all adds up.

Picked up at a hotel for the airport and partway there the dude realized that they overcharged him for the room so he got on the phone with them right away. You really have to watch yourself these days with these crooks running everything.

Pouring rain coming back from Logan. Finally got back and did 3 local runs. It all adds up.

Next a couple of Indian dudes loaded everything they own into the taxi, moving to more permanent residence in an apartment instead of a hotel. That was followed by 2 more local jobs. It all adds up.
Finished up with a nice one from Holbrook to Quincy and then an airport pick up. The guy I picked up at Logan used to use us all the time and I hadn't seen him in, I don't know, 80 years. Turns out he was able to leave work and study for 3 years for a degree in biochemistry. He works with scientists and lab mice and rats and bacteria and viruses. These scientists are such geniuses and he's at a level where he can fake that he knows what they're talking about. I suppose that's true for most of us.

list of minor characters

First fare was a woman from Tokyo, just like the song (there are no good versions on YouTube) I'd like to go there but she said it's very expensive and that I should stay here.

Later that same day I took a couple to Logan, they go every year to visit the old country. I learned from them that the dry cleaning business is "way off."
A blind albino dude fell asleep on the commuter train and ended up at the wrong station and had to call a cab (me) to get him back on track.
Picked up a mother and daughter at the mall going to Phipps Street. Phipps Street is one of my all time favorite streets. Its flat for a while at the bottom but then it goes up a huge hill, does a quick left-right then heads up the hill even further. Wicked narrow. Reminds me of Fitchburg. In the Winter its unbelievable. Thats right I have favorite streets. I'm a weirdo. Phipps is a fun word to say. Go ahead and try it at home by yourself or with a friend.

curious chloride

There were 5 well dressed Mexican gentlemen but since we can only take 4 people per cab I called for another unit. They were nice enough guys, talking with each other in Spanish most of the time but not forgetting to include a little English for my sake. I was thinking about how everyone is always going on and on about illegal immigration and how it seems to me that to vilify one group of people, blame them for all our problems is one of the first steps in creating a fascist state. A truly great nation welcomes everybody.
Later I drove a man to the airport who was picking up his wife and kids returning from a vacation in The Philippines. They are from there originally and he'd been working overtime to afford this trip for his family. He asked if I'd been there and of course I haven't. I've had friends stationed there in the past but the bases are gone now. He nodded and said in less than perfect English: yeah yeah.....bases gone.
Drove a young lady, a Torontonian, to Boston and we got to talking about this and that and then I missed the turn-off for her hotel. It cost me 5 bucks too to come back through the tunnel. I told her how sorry I was that I messed up but it was no big deal.
Picked up at the mall going to Canton which with the new rates is $35 but when we got to the house she tossed 30 bucks at me and disappeared into the night before I could do anything. With that big fancy house, she needs the fiver more than I do.
My last fare was a regular nightly customer. He was drunk out of his mind and he started laughing at everything. It was infectious because pretty soon I started laughing and we both couldn't stop. I don't even know what was so funny but it made sense at the time.
I think laughter could save the world or at least your soul. Go ahead you there at home, try it. Ha ha ha. Feel better? No? Oh well who cares.

a lust for powder

I smell a rat. Power politics are in full bloom at work but I find that I can continue working there if I throw up just a little in my mouth before turning the corner into the parking lot and as long as no one in the office talks to me. Yeah I'm being childish. Because I smell a big giant rat.


Today's cast of characters included a school teacher, an FDIC agent from New York, a medical devices executive of British origin, a drunkard, a housewife with two full carriages of groceries, a giant rat and a guy named Pat.
And, while not all of them lived happily ever after, they did get to where they wanted to go this afternoon and this evening.

dog day afternoon

natural gas

There's a natural gas pipeline project going on out in the harbor. All these good ole' boys from Texas are in town because if there's one thing them Texans know about its pipelines. I had three separate trips, all of them heading to bars and other drivers took a lot of them too. It seems as though we are always being invaded, descended upon by one group of people or another. One week it could be thousands of Irish for the annual North American Gaelic games competition. Next there could be a huge convention in town like the Democratic National Convention a few years back or some computer geek show. For now we'll see about these Texans and find out about them and their strange ways. Most importantly we'll find out if they tip.

One gent in particular, let's call him Tex, was chatting up a friend on his phone and explaining that he expects to be so drunk that he'll be walkin' like a three legged chicken and he might have two black eyes when he leaves the bar.
I hope they tip.

Today I overslept and was subsequently late to work. Work starts at 2 O'clock in the afternoon.
Ha ha.

dying for the emperor

What can I tell ya. It was over 90 degrees today and I got stuck with unit 186. you have to go under the hood and whack the AC about every 10 minutes or so to keep it running and even then its not too cold. Supposedly they assigned me unit 189 which is a nice clean car and everything works in it. The AC could freeze you to death in that thing but today they gave it to someone else whom shall remain nameless. Don't make a promise you're not going to keep. Its hard enough talking myself into going to that miserable place every day. I practically throw up in my mouth whenever I get close to the office. All I want is to get in and out with a decent cab and be on my way.
Someone peed inside unit 184 over the weekend. It is now piss cab.

chemical playschool

A lot of kids seem shady at first, then they turn out to be fine but with this punk I had a bad feeling and I was right. The sack of sh*t had no money. Tried to pass me some phony credit card number without even having the card. Nineteen bucks out the window and with today's gas prices.

But I don't care, I'm living the dream. People will be people and none of us can pretend to be innocent without lying to ourselves. Those are the biggest lies.
Then they gave me a package to take up to Malden. Big thunderstorms were all around with hail and damaging winds; several thousand customers lost power, mostly in Gloucester, Newton and Watertown. I drove right into one of those monsters whilst on the expressway with traffic almost stopped, barely creeping along, pretty exciting.
Mostly I crept all the way there and back. Three and a half hours. Living the dream.

(I ate too much junk today but tomorrow is another day)

After six or seven o'clock or so business dropped off to nothing, prompting cabbies from all points to gather and whine about not making any money and other things as well. When we get together we're worse than a damn sewing circle.
Finally some work came up and I picked up some folks returning from Orlando, which is a real Micky Mouse town. Tampa, on the other hand, seems suddenly to have a baseball team but I digress.
They were a nice family, taking vacations and living in a nice big house. Living the American dream.
Good night you useless sacks of protoplasm.

mona

Pulp Fiction is on TV and with all the dirty words still left in it. Heck, I can watch it anytime because I have the VHS but I forgot how great it is until tonight. Wait, the bastards just edited a word. Dammit why can't they show the film the way it was intended? Isn't free speech guaranteed around here?

Anyway, It's a great movie but not as good as Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino's Mona Lisa. His Sgt. Pepper, if you will.

It was a weird day and I'm wicked tired so I have to type quickly. I'm typing more than 400 words per minute right now.
The new fare increase took effect today but it didn't help much. People saw the increase and they simply tipped less. More on this subject as I try to survive.

She was talking on the phone loudly and saying stuff like "You need to give me some money you douche bag because it was your fault and I have NO money do you understand me you douche bag?!"
After a while she gave up and said "Just forget it I don't want the money you douche bag" and hung up.
She told me she hates everybody.
"What did I do?"
"Not you."

I'll never know for sure if the douche bag ever gives her the money.