Friday/Saturday Night

I have so many things running through my mind about the last couple of nights. Here is a random recollection of my weekend.

I got a flag Friday night at the Lethbridge XXXXXX on my way to the XXXXXX bar. I took it because the XXXXXX is the last place I like to go. I do not understand why some drivers sit there all night. Sure they might get a flag here and there but I don't think it is worth the hassle of severely drunken old fuckers with a chip on there shoulder, or crack whores.

The trip I ended up flagging was a drunk older man and a hooker. I mise well have went to the XXXXXX. So the hooker tells the guy that they cannot go to her place at the Lethbridge XXXXXX because the front desk clerk would not let them. They ask me where they can find a cheap hotel and they decide on the second scuzziest hotel in town to do there business - the XXXXXX Inn.

We arrive at the XXXXXX Inn and the hooker changes her mind and decides she wants to go somewhere classier. I drive them across the street to the XXXXXX Lodge. The hooker goes in and asks if they have any rooms available. She came back to the car and said "they have one non-smoking room available but we can still smoke in it, go pay for it, and I told him you were my husband". As the guy is stumbling into the lobby she yells again "tell them you are my husband".

I can see the guy at the front desk in clear view and he is stumbling around and dropped something on the floor, while picking up whatever it was he dropped he lost his balance and fell on the floor.

This is the conversation between the hooker and I after he fell to the ground.

Hooker: Do you think he can get it hard?

Me: I don't know he seems pretty drunk

Hooker: Have you ever seen me before?

Me: I think so... (and turned around to get a better look)

Hooker: Don't look at me

Me: You asked me if I have ever seen you before and I needed to look at you to answer the question

Hooker: Oh, I guess you're right

Me: (After looking at her) You look familiar but I am not sure if I have seen you before

Hooker: I am a drug addict

Me: (I was about to say something when she interrupted me)

Hooker: No, I mean I am a good drug addict, you know?

Me: No I don't know

Hooker: I try to be a good drug addict, I don't fuck with people.

The guy comes back to the car and tells the hooker that his credit card was declined on the $250 deposit. The hooker decides they should go back to the XXXXXX Inn. She demands that the guy give me $20, which he did. This time they both went into the hotel and I could see them at the ATM machine. They were both fumbling around for a while. There was a woman waiting to use the machine and she eventually gave up because they were taking so long.

During this time a guest or staff member walked outside and was talking to someone else and said "there is that hooker again", I smiled at her because I think she knew I heard her because my window was open.

The couple came back to the car and wanted me to take them to an XXXXXX bank because his bank card was not working. We get to the bank and I am instructed to go through the drive through. The guy gives the hooker his bank card and tells her his pin number. She tries the pin and tells him it didn't work. He tells her again and she tries the same number. Apparently the bank machine ate his card and was not going to give it back. I really do not know if that was the case or not. The machine could have ate his card, or maybe the hooker stole his card, knowing his pin number.

The hooker decides she wants to go the XXXXXX near by and I take them there. Throughout the entire trip the guy was telling the hooker how happy he was to have met her. The hooker at one point told me that he had waited for hours outside of her hotel room for her to come back outside.

Once at the XXXXXX the hooker raided this guys pockets for money. Literally putting her hands into his pockets trying to find money. The drunk old man was not capable of doing it himself. She found enough money to pay me for the rest of the fare and told the guy "I have to get out of here, I have to leave, blah blah blah", and she got out of the cab and walked off. I am sure at some point he had given her what she would have earned had they gotten a hotel room.

The guy told me he had nothing left and I decided I would drive him back downtown for free because I felt he had gotten ripped off pretty bad and I already was paid $30 for the trip. The guy tells me he is staying above the XXXXXX. I laughed so hard inside. I wonder if the hooker actually stole his bank card and had a night out on the town on this unlucky guy's buck.


That was a long description of a trip, here are a few short ones;

I flagged a trip from the XXXXXX Garden. A man and women get in. The trip is normal until the guy starts freaking out apparently about the girls boyfriend. He starts saying things like "what are you going to tell mike", "what if he finds out", etc. It was quite clear that the woman was cheating on her boyfriend.

Strange coincidence.

I pick up a fare at the XXXXXX Hat, a local strip club and 5 large men get in and tell me "we have to get out of here before the cops come". They seem alright and I start driving to the address. Trying to listen to what seemed to be four different loud conversations at once it was clear that someone got there ass kicked. Later on in the night I picked up a few students, while dropping the last one off she tells me how her friend was beat up pretty bad and described the guys that did it. The description fit to a tee about the guys I had driven earlier.

I ended up driving these guys twice tonight and had no problems at all, in fact out of the two trips they tipped me a total of $43 on a total of a $60 combined fare. I know for a fact that at one of the drops I had they are running an illegal poker game 4-5 nights a week.

Cops were out everywhere tonight. I actually hit my brakes hard once because I thought someone was trying to cross a crosswalk. I turned out it was two police officers standing at the crosswalk with a radar gun. I was pissed off. Don't stand in a crosswalk, go somewhere else.

A couple of students did not really know where they lived and were giving me shitty directions. I had to stop hard once and pull a u-turn when one of them says "are you trying to make me puke"? I said "no, but if you knew where you lived or gave me some notice about where I need to turn it would be less stressful on your stomach".

I was driving down Mayor Magrath at maybe 3am and cruising along at about 70km's per hour. The speed limit is 60km's per hour when I see this guy starting to walk very close to the road. I let off the gas but was not about to brake because this guy was with his friends and I figured they would not let him wander into traffic. He came so very close to being hit by me but never actually walked onto the road until I had passed him. I had a flashback about when I hit a guy onetime. I will not ever post that story.

All I want to say is not cool man, I have no justification for slamming on my brakes and putting my passengers at risk of harm due to your fucking stupidity or practical joke. I have noticed that approximately 85% of people who get in my cab do not wear their seat belts. That is an astonishing figure and I think people really should be more consciences about putting on a seat belt. Anything can happen.

Well I think I have said enough.