Friday Night

Tonight was a very busy night. During my eleven hour shift I probably sat around for half an hour in the office doing nothing. The bars were very busy tonight. It did not seem to matter where I went I was able to flag a trip. The line up at XXXXXX was nearly out to the street by 9:30pm. The XXXXXX was busy throughout the night. The XXXXXX got busier later in the evening as XXXXXX died down a bit.

Everyone seemed quite tame tonight. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Only one of my customers tonight seemed like they had drank a little too much, which is quite surprising. Perhaps I am getting used to having drunk people around me and they are starting to seem sober to me.

I would say approximately 75% of my business tonight was comprised of students. Mostly University but some College students. I noticed an approximate increase of 30% in fares than the previous average of the four preceding Friday nights, which is significant. I had my second highest meter total tonight since I began driving January 1st of 2008. I had $503 on the meter. After student discounts and $59 gas I made out quite well. What I appreciate the most is that everyone was in good spirits, out having a good time, and I did not have a single problem with any trip.

The unusual thing about tonight is that I never saw or had to deal with any crack whores. To be honest I would much rather deal with honest students than fucked up crack whores. Tonight was a nice change and I am happy that the students are back and that I am back in school as well.

A random event from tonight:

I received a call to the XXXXXX Lodge tonight. I arrive at the hotel and ask the front desk clerk to call the room for me. She tells me there is no one staying in that room so I write off the trip until I get back to the car and realize that I am actually at the XXXXXX Hotel. I realized that I was at the incorrect hotel and proceeded to the correct hotel which was just a couple of blocks away.

While pulling away from the lobby this guy approaches me and asks me if there are any pawn shops or check cashing places open. The time is approximately 10:45pm on a Friday night and I told him "sorry buddy, but I think you are out of luck for the night". He tells me to hang on and we chat for a moment. He tells me that he is in desperate need of cash and has an Xbox 360 with three games, a wireless controller, an upgraded memory platform, as well as all the necessary cables. I do not need or really want an Xbox 360 and all that other stuff but ended up buying it off the guy for $70. I have not tried it yet to see if it actually works but it seemed like a good deal at the time.

Here is a picture...

Saturday Night

Tonight started off fairly slow but from 11:00pm to 4:00am I was very busy. The following is a random recollection of my night.

I picked up this Italian Gangster type guy from a gambling hall. I went into the hall to get some desperately needed change and the barmaid said she was happy he was finally leaving and wished me luck.

He was wearing a nice black hat with a feather in it. He had tattoos and he fit the profile of an Italian Gangster. Chances are that he probably was not a gangster. I asked him where he was going and he said "down the street". I asked where down the street. In his thick accent he again says "down the street". So I drive him down the street and he says "do you know who I am" in a tone that I and everybody else should know who he is. I have never seen him before and said exactly that.

We arrive at his apartment and he says he needs to run in. In his front window was a large Italian Flag prominently displayed. I was looking around while we were at his place and he actually lived across the street from the Italian Hall. He comes back in and tells me to drive. No address, no directions, just drive. He had a wad of bills so who was I to complain about not having an address. He finally says where he wants to go and he changed his mind right away. He asked me to pull over so I did. He got mad that I pulled over too soon. So I went forward and around the side of the building and some how was directed into the alley behind the Coalbanks. I do not like going into the alley behind the coalbanks during the day, never mind at night with some Italian Gangster wannabe. I should not say wannabe because he did fit the profile that I have gathered from Films about what a mobster should look and act like.

So we drove down the alley twice and he directs me back to the place where I picked him up from. After all that his fare was only $6.40. He gave me $40 and asked for $5 back. I gave him $5 and he went back to the place where I picked him up. I bet that bartender was pissed right off that he was back. She was so happy to get rid of him the first time. This guy had me a little worried during the trip and he ended up leaving me with a $28.60 tip, whether he knew it or not.

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I flagged a trip from a bar tonight and they were not going far. The fare was $5.20 when we got to a late night diner. The man in the front seat was planning on paying for it and got out of the car to look through his pants. In the meantime a woman in the back seat gives me $7 and tells me to keep the change. I thank her and she and her friend got out. The guy then picks up $20 he dropped on the ground. He threw the $20 in the cab and closed the door. Well THANK YOU VERY MUCH. $21.80 tip on a $5.20 fare. Sometimes I just love drunk people.

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I was informed tonight that the police were looking for an injured person around such and such address. Of course I am curious and had a little time to head over there. It turned out it was a major collision and a possible rollover. Two moving vehicles were involved and no doubt a couple of parked cars. When I pulled close to the scene the police were driving through an empty field looking for one of the drivers that took off from the scene. Likely the driver that fled was drunk.

Speaking of drunk drivers I picked up two people tonight that had gotten 24 hour suspensions. The first lady was a mother of two and was completely pissed off. The other guy said he blew a 1.07 and because he was friendly and made the officers laugh they had let him off with a 24 hour suspension rather than a DUI. This guy was very happy the cops had not busted him with DUI, even thought he blew over. I picked him up from the Police Station.

I have to ask myself this question... is the allowable blood alcohol content in a person operating a motor vehicle .08 or is it 1.08. I can not believe this guy got off. He told me he blew over three times and they let him go home with a 24 hour! I wonder if the person who had caused the major accident I mentioned earlier had blew a 1.07 if he would have gotten off. Probably not. I was happy to see a couple check stops out tonight. It definitely brings in more business. I think the police should have more random check stops than they do.

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I had a call to a tattoo parlour tonight that I passed on because the last couple times I picked up there the lady was seeing people who were not there. No thanks! Next trip please.

I noticed tonight that there were lots of new students in town. I am attending XXXXXX as well and I am definitely looking forward to someone puking in my car or doing something completely stupid and me sitting beside them in class and saying "remember me" and "what the fuck were you thinking", etc. LOL. I hope somehow I get a kick out of this gig.