...a strange, but fruitful day.
For the first time since I started driving for Houston Yellow, I was actually in danger of not making my lease. Part of this had to do with the fact that I let myself run out of my prescription arthritis medication. The other part was after Thursday came and went, I forced myself to work Friday in the Bay Area exclusively and I paid the price for being a little too arrogant about that. Namely, that I thought the work was going to show up. So, for those two days, I barely eked out 140 bucks. Spending about 20 bucks each of those days for gas made it an even hundred. Not that good. I tried to make up for it by running hard on Saturday.
As I mentioned before, the story about the couple who almost got hauled off to jail finishing my night with the miracle landing at the La Quinta, Saturday wasn't that profitable. 24 hours to make 280, minus the cost of gas... and, oh by the way, feeding myself... the margin just wasn't happening. Needless to say, after the 24 hour Saturday, Sunday was a write-off.
Monday got off to what was going to be a promising start. I got a call to run into Katy to take someone to Bush - a 77 dollar flat-rate trip. However, as I zoomed down Barker-Cypress. I think I already blogged about this, so it's sufficient to say that I had to get towed back to Yellow to get my alternator replaced. Cab no runny when it has no power. Hilarious... it didn't even have enough juice to get off the wrecker and into the shop.
Anyway, so I tried to make another one of those legendary Monday night shifts that I had a couple weeks ago. It didn't happen. 70 bucks, and I had to stick 20 back in the tank. Good news is that I helped some Metro Life people who weren't going to get a cab otherwise, so I at least considered it a good night in terms of karma. However, I spent probably the most profitable part of Tuesday crashed out because I thought I was going to potentially profit from this city's tendency to part its ass off on Monday nights... forgetting, perhaps, that we're a little partied out from 4 weeks of the Rodeo. And finally, I rolled out on Tuesday afternoon after an audition (what, an audition? Yeah, really!) and saw the night die off quickly and I said to myself...
"Self, you're working against all the good advice and experience you've been getting. Shut it the fuck down for the night and hit it fresh in the morning."
So, I did.
Today, I started 180 dollars away from making my lease. Normally, after bills and what not, I'd be maybe 40 or 50... this was the largest gap ever. So, I simply asked Providence for a little help. I crashed out and asked, as humbly as I could...
Folks, I need my head clear and receptive for tomorrow so we can make this work. Let's go make this money, get shit paid and move forward and get a full week's work in.
And, we did.
I started with a 60 dollar trip from Katy to the Medical Center (sound familiar?). And, from there, there was no let up. I had to have done 10 MSP trips, plus little bits of cash here and there. I needed 180, and I made 210 in 7 hours. When I let the karma flow freely, good things like that happen. When I force it, I make pocket change.
This was a good thing, because - lost in my requests for clarity from the Universe at large - I kind of forgot to take my arthritis medication this morning. This meant that as the day progressed, I got worse and worse and I was staggering worse than some of my MSP patients. I kept promising myself that I was going to go home and take some damn pills, but I was never quite comfortable with what I had on me until about 2 in the afternoon. At that point, I knew the shop was going to start code-5ing people who hadn't made their lease money by 3, and I hauled ass back to the shop.
And, as predicted, I got it all in - with 5 minutes, and 30 bucks to spare. I limped, literally, across the finish line. I drove through the Wendy's at the Pilot truck stop, scored a big chicken sandwich, came home, swallowed my pills and I'm waiting for them to work as we speak. It's been about 2 hours and I can already feel my left knee starting to loosen up. It's no surprise, given the migratory nature of my arthritis, that it's been settling in my left leg more and more because it's the one I don't use when I drive. The solution, which I hope to implement as early as tomorrow, is to give myself about an hour to just walk around every day like I did when I was doing security a couple of months back.
Looking back, there seems to be no particular day in which I can have a contiguous 12 hour adventure and make the right money - unless it happens to be a total miracle flip the script day like today where I actually made my money in less than 8 hours. The best times to work seem to be what was indicated by the folks at Yellow - morning commute with a midday break followed by evening commute. The midday break needs to be where I get my exercise, do my writing, and so on. That seems to be the formula.
Also, today is proof that I can do better at the money-generating part if I let certain things just FLOW. No pushing, no forcing things, just letting the cab tell me where to go and going there.
Interestingly, there were some other things that didn't go as planned - and I can laugh about them now that I have my traction under me again, so to speak.
Monday night, I got scooped bad for the first time. I got dispatched to another one of these jobs in Katy. Another cab, obviously a guy more familiar with the area and who knows of the customers, swoops in front of me, drives like a jackass and gets to the house before I do. The customer, not knowing any better (and who's probably familiar with the driver) gets in his cab and they go. I reported him and his cab number to the folks at customer service today. The only thing that could possibly save him is if he was double-dispatched to the same call, and either way, the company should reimburse me the full fare for what he took.
I like to think I have a more "zen" approach to this - the fact that I was able to tune out the BS and go make my money today is proof - but there is no excuse for scooping someone else's dispatch call. I drove all the way from Westheimer and the Beltway to get that call and I came up empty-handed.
Fuck you. scumbag, I hope your contract get cancelled. Go drive for a company that lets the scavengers in this business work. There... that's zen in action for you.
Also, on the list of people who need to be reported to their bosses is the guy who delivered the new cel phone for my business line today. I find the UPS slip on the door and he has the following boxes checked:
BACK DOOR
PORCH
PATIO
I have no patio or back door, and there's nothing on the porch. I hobble my busted leg over to the office and see if the driver delivered my package there. No dice. And suddenly, it dawns on me... I do have a second floor balcony on my split level loft. Sure enough, 10 feet up from the ground, there's my box from UPS with my LG Envision cel phone.
The dumb son of a bitch threw my cel phone TEN FEET IN THE FUCKING AIR and hoped it would have a soft landing on my balcony.
Good news is, I've charged it. It works. However, to say I'm pissed off about this is putting it mildly. What kind of ignorant ass just does that to a piece of electronic equipment like that? I know, I know... a UPS driver. Still, they're going to get an earful this morning as I press on. It'll be another 5am to whenever affair.
Needless to say, the good far outstripped the bad today, but I had to vent about the bad a little.
Hasta la pasta...
G
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Another moment of cab driver ZEN
So... after getting my much needed rest yesterday, I started out and headed towards a "sure thing." My first run of the day was going to be a nice, sweet airport trip. 75 bucks. A third of a day's work for only an hour and a half of time invested.
NOTE: there are no "sure things" in this, or any business.
15 minutes on my way up Barker Cypress, the battery light comes on. Then the ABS light, the seat belt light and so on... then the lights in the cab start going dark and the trip computer shuts down. YAY and crappity crap... my alternator has died, and I have a handful of minutes to get off the road before the motor stops sparking. I find a Texaco, pull over, and tell the folks at communications they'll have to re-dispatch the trip. I get a tow, get it to the shop. They swap the alternator, charge the battery and find my alignment's off, so I'll take care of it tomorrow morning.
And, speaking of the morning, I believe I finally believe there was a higher purpose to my working that 24 on Saturday... to set myself up for working nights from now on. It fits my working style... running all over and chasing after folks who would otherwise still be stranded and otherwise catch the morning commute afterwards. I like a workday you can start and finish with a flourish, so I'm going to try it that way. There's another statement in this business, and it's especially true in Houston. "There's always work to be had."
Lastly, I'm getting another cel phone line just for the cab business with unlimited talk, text and messaging. It's been somewhat disquieting picking up my phone wondering if it's a family member or someone from the entertainment business, and instead it's some crunked up dude I drove around before looking for a cab ride from all the way across town. Anyway, the faster I have that changed over the better, I think. I should have it in about a a day or two.
Finally... the rodeo's over. The number of cabs back at the yard tells the story. The sunshine soldiers have crawled back into their hidey-holes and things are free and easy... or at least, manageable.
Yay, zen cab driving.
G
NOTE: there are no "sure things" in this, or any business.
15 minutes on my way up Barker Cypress, the battery light comes on. Then the ABS light, the seat belt light and so on... then the lights in the cab start going dark and the trip computer shuts down. YAY and crappity crap... my alternator has died, and I have a handful of minutes to get off the road before the motor stops sparking. I find a Texaco, pull over, and tell the folks at communications they'll have to re-dispatch the trip. I get a tow, get it to the shop. They swap the alternator, charge the battery and find my alignment's off, so I'll take care of it tomorrow morning.
And, speaking of the morning, I believe I finally believe there was a higher purpose to my working that 24 on Saturday... to set myself up for working nights from now on. It fits my working style... running all over and chasing after folks who would otherwise still be stranded and otherwise catch the morning commute afterwards. I like a workday you can start and finish with a flourish, so I'm going to try it that way. There's another statement in this business, and it's especially true in Houston. "There's always work to be had."
Lastly, I'm getting another cel phone line just for the cab business with unlimited talk, text and messaging. It's been somewhat disquieting picking up my phone wondering if it's a family member or someone from the entertainment business, and instead it's some crunked up dude I drove around before looking for a cab ride from all the way across town. Anyway, the faster I have that changed over the better, I think. I should have it in about a a day or two.
Finally... the rodeo's over. The number of cabs back at the yard tells the story. The sunshine soldiers have crawled back into their hidey-holes and things are free and easy... or at least, manageable.
Yay, zen cab driving.
G
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Cab Driving Zen #Whatever
6 Weeks...
I really should stop schedule experimenting. Thursday through Friday were damned crazy. Seriously. Thursday, my arthritis flared so bad that I had to get the back end of the day off while I waited for the drugs to work. Friday, I thought trying to work in the Bay Area during Spring Break week while everyone was in Galveston (you know, where I can't work?) was a great idea... bleech. Saturday, I tried making up for those days by working a double.
A double, by the way, is not entirely legal and damned long.
I spent today recovering. The good news was that I am, in fact, caught up financially. But... damn. I rested, I recovered and I ruminated.
Silliness aside, I'm going to stick to my original schedule. It seemed to have worked. It was a slight pain in the butt, but it definitely had the merit of actually working. As bad as yesterday was, I was happy to have this last story be part of the business.
Pick up at the Casa Ole on South Post Oak. A youngish couple, and for some reason, they'd been given the option of going to jail or calling a cab. Apparently, there was more involved than just drinking... although that was a big component of it. I bundle them up and start heading up 610 with the thought of heading west. However, the girl in the couple starts getting sick and we end up flying up 59 north looking for a serviceable exit with a parking lot (preferably without security guards or cameras) for her to upchuck in. We find it, I pull over, she finds some fence line to take care of business on.
So, while her BF and I are waiting for her to divest herself of margaritas #x - #z, he asks me if I know of any hotel rooms nearby. Not being that familiar I say, "not really, but the GPS is linked up and I can find one relatively closeby, I'm sure." I tap the screen a couple of times and get this:
La Quinta Inn - Greenway; distance, 36.6 feet, travel time 1 second.
I step out of the cab and walk around said fenceline and, sitting like the Emerald City just north of Pukeville, is the La Quinta Greenway. She finishes, I drive them the 40 feet, plus the distance to the breezeway, collect my fare and make sure they haven't left me anything. The cab is clear and I scoot... calling it a night.
Another interesting difficulty factor yesterday was the fact that my GPS kept getting unlinked from the satellite system all day. I double checked the NASA-SOHO website, and we've apparently been on the receiving end of what's left of the mid-week's coronal mass ejection. Either that, or the Garmin I just got is turning into a mountain of suck. However, when it worked yesterday, it was delivering quite nicely. I just hope that it's only related to the recent solar activity.
All for now... G
I really should stop schedule experimenting. Thursday through Friday were damned crazy. Seriously. Thursday, my arthritis flared so bad that I had to get the back end of the day off while I waited for the drugs to work. Friday, I thought trying to work in the Bay Area during Spring Break week while everyone was in Galveston (you know, where I can't work?) was a great idea... bleech. Saturday, I tried making up for those days by working a double.
A double, by the way, is not entirely legal and damned long.
I spent today recovering. The good news was that I am, in fact, caught up financially. But... damn. I rested, I recovered and I ruminated.
Silliness aside, I'm going to stick to my original schedule. It seemed to have worked. It was a slight pain in the butt, but it definitely had the merit of actually working. As bad as yesterday was, I was happy to have this last story be part of the business.
Pick up at the Casa Ole on South Post Oak. A youngish couple, and for some reason, they'd been given the option of going to jail or calling a cab. Apparently, there was more involved than just drinking... although that was a big component of it. I bundle them up and start heading up 610 with the thought of heading west. However, the girl in the couple starts getting sick and we end up flying up 59 north looking for a serviceable exit with a parking lot (preferably without security guards or cameras) for her to upchuck in. We find it, I pull over, she finds some fence line to take care of business on.
So, while her BF and I are waiting for her to divest herself of margaritas #x - #z, he asks me if I know of any hotel rooms nearby. Not being that familiar I say, "not really, but the GPS is linked up and I can find one relatively closeby, I'm sure." I tap the screen a couple of times and get this:
La Quinta Inn - Greenway; distance, 36.6 feet, travel time 1 second.
I step out of the cab and walk around said fenceline and, sitting like the Emerald City just north of Pukeville, is the La Quinta Greenway. She finishes, I drive them the 40 feet, plus the distance to the breezeway, collect my fare and make sure they haven't left me anything. The cab is clear and I scoot... calling it a night.
Another interesting difficulty factor yesterday was the fact that my GPS kept getting unlinked from the satellite system all day. I double checked the NASA-SOHO website, and we've apparently been on the receiving end of what's left of the mid-week's coronal mass ejection. Either that, or the Garmin I just got is turning into a mountain of suck. However, when it worked yesterday, it was delivering quite nicely. I just hope that it's only related to the recent solar activity.
All for now... G
Monday, March 16, 2009
A Clean Cab Is a Happy Cab... or Something
So... the weekend... was... rainy. As a result, the outside of the cab was frickin GRIMY. Two things I didn't want. Combine that with the fact that the Rodeo and the lousy weather actually took a chunk out of my income. Also, I wandered into the deep southeast (Pearland and the Bay Area) to see if the "mellower clientele" would make for a more interesting and less-stressful work night.
No such luck.
My second trip at 2pm was some drunken assed rich white guy who insisted on fucking touching me the whole damn time I was driving him to "the bars downtown." Yeah, it was nearly a 50 dollar trip; but holy fuck, I wanted to kill the guy when it was done.
Makes me wish I had a New York cab with the partition between me and my riders. Crap.
Rodeo should be over soon, and I'm hoping that drives the sunshine soldiers back into their hidey holes and gets business back to normal. The weekend had to be the least profitable of the 5 weeks I've been on the road because of all the part timers who thought they were going to have a lot of business this month.
I have a question to the general populace, BTW. You do know that when you answer your cel phone in the cab the driver is pretty much privy to all your damn business. don't you?
HINT: I hear you, and unfortunately, I am. I don't want to be, but I am. This is especially true when you're having a SCREAMING FUCKING FIT and making it HARD FOR ME TO DRIVE.
Idiots. Your lives do not revolve around your phones. Turn them off once in a while, especially if you have unnecessary drama in your life.
Anyway... I finally had what I would consider a decent Sunday. It helped me do what I wanted to do this week which was pay off my last ever payday loan. Working for the man was interesting, but wasn't quite getting me what I wanted. Frankly, if I'm behind it a little, I can always jump in the PHD and go make more.
BTW... PHD is "People Hauler Deluxe" =)
Anyway, as part of that feeling confident in making money anytime, I spent 60 bucks on getting it hand washed and the interior detailed.
Tomorrow... St. Patricks Day, and too many people using excuses to drink themselves into a stupor. YAY
No such luck.
My second trip at 2pm was some drunken assed rich white guy who insisted on fucking touching me the whole damn time I was driving him to "the bars downtown." Yeah, it was nearly a 50 dollar trip; but holy fuck, I wanted to kill the guy when it was done.
Makes me wish I had a New York cab with the partition between me and my riders. Crap.
Rodeo should be over soon, and I'm hoping that drives the sunshine soldiers back into their hidey holes and gets business back to normal. The weekend had to be the least profitable of the 5 weeks I've been on the road because of all the part timers who thought they were going to have a lot of business this month.
I have a question to the general populace, BTW. You do know that when you answer your cel phone in the cab the driver is pretty much privy to all your damn business. don't you?
HINT: I hear you, and unfortunately, I am. I don't want to be, but I am. This is especially true when you're having a SCREAMING FUCKING FIT and making it HARD FOR ME TO DRIVE.
Idiots. Your lives do not revolve around your phones. Turn them off once in a while, especially if you have unnecessary drama in your life.
Anyway... I finally had what I would consider a decent Sunday. It helped me do what I wanted to do this week which was pay off my last ever payday loan. Working for the man was interesting, but wasn't quite getting me what I wanted. Frankly, if I'm behind it a little, I can always jump in the PHD and go make more.
BTW... PHD is "People Hauler Deluxe" =)
Anyway, as part of that feeling confident in making money anytime, I spent 60 bucks on getting it hand washed and the interior detailed.
Tomorrow... St. Patricks Day, and too many people using excuses to drink themselves into a stupor. YAY
Monday, March 9, 2009
Another "Next Step"
As is often the case, things emerge that inspire one to think, "I can improve on this to make a little better money or work fewer hours." Whatever the case may be.
As it is, Houston has a lot of roads that are divided - sometimes in more than one spot. Another piece of advice I got was "just use your Key Map, you'll find it just fine."
Bullshit.
Today, I finally dropped the dime on a GPS receiver... the Garmin Nuvi 200W. They just dropped in price to $139.99 at Target, so it was time. I figure I've lost the equivalent of 3-6 trips during a 12 hour day due to being "lost" in some form or fashion. If this thing saves me time and money, then it should pay itself off in about a week.
So... how the rest of Saturday went. Feh... somehow, I managed to get stuck around MLK between Almeda-Genoa and Airport for two hours. Finally, I started working around Hobby airport and found my way back to my part of town in time to pick up a girl I'm going to call "Donna."
Donna was drunk, and ran at my cab in high heels... and let me tell you, people who run in high heels when they're plastered are damned funny. However, I still give her props for not wiping out on the tarmac. However, she would be my last trip of the night.
Apparently, it was a sign from above that I was pushing too hard or whatever, but I'd accepted another trip... and I started feeling my cab pulling to the right. I'd run over something at the club where I dropped Donna off at. I tried dropping the spare, only to find that the geniuses who configured my cab decided to mount a post where the nut that spools the spare tire down was. This stopped me from using the jack kit included in the cab. In the future, I'll have to use my portable power rachet and an appropriately sized square-shaped socket.
Bottom line... since I give myself Sundays off anyway, it was only a slightly premature end to the night. I still spent a little extra time today waiting for the flat to be fixed over at Yellow. I had it towed that morning. Apparently, the extra 5 bucks a week I pay in comprehensive coverage is going to cover it. Free tire! Woot!
Also, one more piece of the puzzle is completed. I decided, because of my cab being out of service all morning, that I would run over to the badging office at the Houston Airport System and I finally got my airport security badge. So now, I'm going to try - sometime soon -hanging out in the airport queue and seeing where that will take me. Again, the possibility of getting time to write while I wait, and then getting a big score going out of one of the airports is too interesting to ignore.
All for now... more as it comes.
G
As it is, Houston has a lot of roads that are divided - sometimes in more than one spot. Another piece of advice I got was "just use your Key Map, you'll find it just fine."
Bullshit.
Today, I finally dropped the dime on a GPS receiver... the Garmin Nuvi 200W. They just dropped in price to $139.99 at Target, so it was time. I figure I've lost the equivalent of 3-6 trips during a 12 hour day due to being "lost" in some form or fashion. If this thing saves me time and money, then it should pay itself off in about a week.
So... how the rest of Saturday went. Feh... somehow, I managed to get stuck around MLK between Almeda-Genoa and Airport for two hours. Finally, I started working around Hobby airport and found my way back to my part of town in time to pick up a girl I'm going to call "Donna."
Donna was drunk, and ran at my cab in high heels... and let me tell you, people who run in high heels when they're plastered are damned funny. However, I still give her props for not wiping out on the tarmac. However, she would be my last trip of the night.
Apparently, it was a sign from above that I was pushing too hard or whatever, but I'd accepted another trip... and I started feeling my cab pulling to the right. I'd run over something at the club where I dropped Donna off at. I tried dropping the spare, only to find that the geniuses who configured my cab decided to mount a post where the nut that spools the spare tire down was. This stopped me from using the jack kit included in the cab. In the future, I'll have to use my portable power rachet and an appropriately sized square-shaped socket.
Bottom line... since I give myself Sundays off anyway, it was only a slightly premature end to the night. I still spent a little extra time today waiting for the flat to be fixed over at Yellow. I had it towed that morning. Apparently, the extra 5 bucks a week I pay in comprehensive coverage is going to cover it. Free tire! Woot!
Also, one more piece of the puzzle is completed. I decided, because of my cab being out of service all morning, that I would run over to the badging office at the Houston Airport System and I finally got my airport security badge. So now, I'm going to try - sometime soon -hanging out in the airport queue and seeing where that will take me. Again, the possibility of getting time to write while I wait, and then getting a big score going out of one of the airports is too interesting to ignore.
All for now... more as it comes.
G
Saturday, March 7, 2009
It might be better to not curse myself...
However, I'll say it anyway.
Happiness is knowing you've already paid for your first week's lease on your new owner-operator cab with 8 hours left to work on Saturday night. That's pretty fuckin' slick, yo.
Also... here's another. The answer to the question, "how can you get back to back airport jobs in the same run?"
Simple, my dear Watson: have someone at the passenger drop off point leap into your cab as you're dropping someone off.
I was stood up in Webster (the Bay Area of Houston, basically). Then, I got a call to go get a guy at the Hooters on NASA Road 1. Yes, there's a Hooters near the Johnson Space Center. I take him to Hobby Airport (HOU) and, just as I'm getting ready to punch out of the line, someone bangs on my window and hands me a voucher and says, "Are you going to Bush? I need to get there in a hurry."
"I am now! Welcome aboard," was my reply.
Now, here's the thing. People are supposed to wait for cabs down at Ground Transportation at Houston's airports. Cabs line up for HOURS to get these trips, and a guy just throws himself at me just I'm getting ready to go. On top of that, Houston Airport System still hasn't issued me my badge, yet, so I wasn't supposed to take the trip. However, the overriding concern is that I'd be in even more trouble if I refused this gentleman transport. Hence, I went.
For the record, both of those trips added up to just under a hundred bucks in 90 minutes. I could only wish that every hour and a half of my cab driving life were that profitable. I'd be home after 8 hours every day and have complete weekends off. However, that's how Friday karma goes at times.
In any case, I'm catching a small break at home before I run out and face the Saturday night life.
And lastly, with all this crusading I'm doing, I'd probably be well-served to get a GPS to prevent some of the gas wasting I'm doing. I do a lot of doubling back because I don't have a pin-point fix on some of these locations I'm lighting on.
Anywho...
Happiness is knowing you've already paid for your first week's lease on your new owner-operator cab with 8 hours left to work on Saturday night. That's pretty fuckin' slick, yo.
Also... here's another. The answer to the question, "how can you get back to back airport jobs in the same run?"
Simple, my dear Watson: have someone at the passenger drop off point leap into your cab as you're dropping someone off.
I was stood up in Webster (the Bay Area of Houston, basically). Then, I got a call to go get a guy at the Hooters on NASA Road 1. Yes, there's a Hooters near the Johnson Space Center. I take him to Hobby Airport (HOU) and, just as I'm getting ready to punch out of the line, someone bangs on my window and hands me a voucher and says, "Are you going to Bush? I need to get there in a hurry."
"I am now! Welcome aboard," was my reply.
Now, here's the thing. People are supposed to wait for cabs down at Ground Transportation at Houston's airports. Cabs line up for HOURS to get these trips, and a guy just throws himself at me just I'm getting ready to go. On top of that, Houston Airport System still hasn't issued me my badge, yet, so I wasn't supposed to take the trip. However, the overriding concern is that I'd be in even more trouble if I refused this gentleman transport. Hence, I went.
For the record, both of those trips added up to just under a hundred bucks in 90 minutes. I could only wish that every hour and a half of my cab driving life were that profitable. I'd be home after 8 hours every day and have complete weekends off. However, that's how Friday karma goes at times.
In any case, I'm catching a small break at home before I run out and face the Saturday night life.
And lastly, with all this crusading I'm doing, I'd probably be well-served to get a GPS to prevent some of the gas wasting I'm doing. I do a lot of doubling back because I don't have a pin-point fix on some of these locations I'm lighting on.
Anywho...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Pride Goeth Before The Fall
Apparently, not all overnight shifts are as profitable as Monday night's was. To put it mildly, last night was break-even. I managed to follow that up with 8 relatively profitable hours today with my first trip to Bush (Intercontinental Airport, Houston). Among some of the other bits of "advice" I've received, I'm currently re-thinking some of the griping that other drivers do about people who work (or try to work) the airport queues exclusively.
1.) If there really is such a horrid wait (2-6 hours) to get airport trips out of Bush or Hobby, but the potential payoffs are huge, maybe that's an opportunity for me to take a "paid break" of sorts to run to the airport, get in the queue, then do some writing on the laptop before my number gets called.
2.) It might be an interesting opportunity to book some of that "personal business" I keep hearing so much about.
Maybe jump in for one wait in the queue, get a trip out of the airport (or two if there's a short trip in there), and do some of my other business during the wait. Then, I can follow that up by doing some of my regular street-cabbie work and picking up MSP trips and what not.
Ponder ponder ponder...
1.) If there really is such a horrid wait (2-6 hours) to get airport trips out of Bush or Hobby, but the potential payoffs are huge, maybe that's an opportunity for me to take a "paid break" of sorts to run to the airport, get in the queue, then do some writing on the laptop before my number gets called.
2.) It might be an interesting opportunity to book some of that "personal business" I keep hearing so much about.
Maybe jump in for one wait in the queue, get a trip out of the airport (or two if there's a short trip in there), and do some of my other business during the wait. Then, I can follow that up by doing some of my regular street-cabbie work and picking up MSP trips and what not.
Ponder ponder ponder...
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The Long Haul...
First off... I want to express my deep sympathies to the families of Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith and William Bleakley. While the families remain optimistic and have started their own private searches, chances are that we have lost these fine young men. Marquis was a Raider, and that alone gets more attention from me than a lot of folks might. I had to lead off with this because I wanted to keep things in perspective on a day that is otherwise very positive and upbeat for me.
Today, I took the first step to what I'm calling The Long Haul: I bought my first cab. By becoming an owner-operator, I'm taking an ownership stake in what I do and the company that I'm representing. More importantly, I am working on long and short-term solutions to financial issues that have been dogging me ever since I got to town.
I can't really describe it, except to say that I've always tried to balance my desires to continue my acting education versus my ability to actually make money at it. I thought I was going to get certain opportunities here and there as certain doors opened. However, it appeared that those doors were opening behind others that were closing. While I was able to keep a roof over my head, and myself fed, the stress of never being able to get ahead was really pressing down on me. I started working hungry, so to speak (with that "I've gotta have this job" mentality), and that pretty much violates every dictate of doing good acting work in any town where you can find work.
It's no surprise that when I started writing adaptation, the live-action dubbing work that had been so profitable for me as an actor started drying up. Then, roughly 18 months ago, there were indications that my services as a writer - other than working on my own unsold properties - were going to be going out of demand. Some of the story I've already conveyed here: going back to security, trying corrections, going back to doing technical support for the clueless and the rude... they were all things I could do and do well, but they'd never feed the need to stay flexible enough to answer that call to run to auditions, go to classes, or set time aside to write. And of course, around January I spoke to a young man who looked rather pleased with himself as he was dropping off passengers at the apartment complex I was working security at.
"I gah to school, it's flexeebul, and de mohney ees good," he told me in a strong Nigerian accent.
I know... bad approximation of a Nigerian accent using the keyboard... but there you go.
So, the last three weeks of paying reduced lease prices while I got my feet wet and experimenting with the "advice" I was given has paid off. I honestly believe that any night I go out in that cab (and I do plan on working nights... roughly mid-evening to the morning commute), I can make money - the kind of money I need to make my lease, set money aside for maintenance, and moderate my life in a manner that allows me to have a social life again, sit down and enjoy my home, my cat and my friends.
But I'll tell you, the last three weeks has been a "catch as catch can" affair, to put it mildly. Experimenting with schedules and methods of handling business has taken a toll on my body. I've gained weight, which I plan on taking back off if the new steady schedule works the way it should. I finally had myself a good night's sleep last night... mostly because I wrote off working the night last night. However, karma and kismet were kind mistresses to me for that decision, letting me make 80 bucks in the 4 hours I worked this morning. Basically, for my purposes, any day where I average 15 bucks an hour or better in that cab or better than 200 for a day, it's an outstanding day. Personally, I think I still have things to learn. However, that amount will give me enough take home pay, working a 6 day work week, to keep things stable until I get better.
The short term economics of it is like this:
Weekly lease: $492 (280 goes to paying off the sale price of the vehicle)
Gas: $180 per week. Frankly, I haven't paid much more than 30 bucks a day at the current price of gas.
What I want for me, minimum: $500.
Now I haven't made this yet, but this is mostly due to my own experimenting, taking half-days off here and there to regroup and re-evaluate things. I feel a certain confidence, going forward, that these days will net me what I'm looking for. I start tonight with a goal of 200 bucks for the night.
BTW - I'm confident I can do this because of my work on Monday night. For the record, I made most of my 200 bucks that night before I'd finished 8 hours of work. So, it's just a matter of keeping my nose to the grindstone. Monday night was strange. I started out thinking that I'd just press a little into the night and see how it went. And then, I started using the computer to find what I called "orphaned" jobs, people who called for cabs and didn't have a car anywhere near them. That's where I made my money, by playing the angel and swooping in on these folks who were otherwise not going to get picked up. I even had one rider exclaim, "Lordy Jesus, thank God you're here!" after I apologized for the long wait. Another rider had waited nearly two hours and still gave me a hefty tip for driving him to a mom and pop store not less than a half mile from his house. The cab rider of the night is as interesting as the cab driver of the night, I guess.
All that aside, finding and putting to work the vehicle I wanted to buy turned out to be a challenge in and of itself.
I picked it out on Monday. Cab 623 - The Banana Boat, Mark I. It is a 2007 Dodge Caravan with 128800 miles on it with a 6 passenger capacity (maybe one or two more off the cuff). Unlike the Crunkmobile II, it has all of its 12 volt sockets working, which is a must for the computer, if I decide to use it again for navigation assistance. As I mentioned, it has all of its seats. I cannot count how many passengers complained... and complained bitterly, about the lack of a middle seat. Well, now you have one, kids. Enjoy. Also, like the Dodge Caravan I owned when I first came to town, it's actually better on gas mileage than my personal vehicle... my father's old Ford Ranger. This is the one I want to give to my kids.
However, picking out a cab and simply saying "I want it" is not enough. You see, this is the month that the folks at Yellow have their annual city inspections and medallion renewal to coincide with the beginning of the Rodeo. So, among the cacophony of cabbies trying to get inspected, this little minibus also had to go through inspections and get things fixed. The radio and computer were throwing "meter data invalid" errors. Fixed. We had to get things re-smogged. Fixed. To make the long story short, I spent an extra four hours over the last couple of days not making money at the yard to help nudge things along. However, at 11 this morning, we dotted the last I and crossed the last T and got it done.
Now, here's another advantage I've gained that should straighten my schedule out.
As a day-lease driver, I was required to burn my gas every day to go to the yard and pay my lease. Basically, this was a break in momentum for me. I'd give the folks at Yellow their money, go home and take a nap, and then go work the afternoon. Now, paying weekly, I'm saving that money and time to work, if I so choose. I'll still play with my schedule a little, but just not having to give that two hours to the business of doing business every day will be a little blessing in and of itself. I'll drive, take my breaks, drive some more and go home... except for Wednesdays when my lease is due.
So, the plan for tonight. Drive, make my goals. If I make substantially over those goals, I may take the BBI over to Colonial to get it hand washed and waxed or get the interior done. There's a lot of ground-in dirt on the upholstery. At least, there is in my opinion, and I'd like the ride to not just be comfortable, but clean as well. If all else fails, I may find myself hiring a carpet cleaning company to take care of business. I'm not a big fan of funk in my workplace. For now, I'm busting out the big can of spray and at least making things smell good in there.
Well, all for now.
GM
Today, I took the first step to what I'm calling The Long Haul: I bought my first cab. By becoming an owner-operator, I'm taking an ownership stake in what I do and the company that I'm representing. More importantly, I am working on long and short-term solutions to financial issues that have been dogging me ever since I got to town.
I can't really describe it, except to say that I've always tried to balance my desires to continue my acting education versus my ability to actually make money at it. I thought I was going to get certain opportunities here and there as certain doors opened. However, it appeared that those doors were opening behind others that were closing. While I was able to keep a roof over my head, and myself fed, the stress of never being able to get ahead was really pressing down on me. I started working hungry, so to speak (with that "I've gotta have this job" mentality), and that pretty much violates every dictate of doing good acting work in any town where you can find work.
It's no surprise that when I started writing adaptation, the live-action dubbing work that had been so profitable for me as an actor started drying up. Then, roughly 18 months ago, there were indications that my services as a writer - other than working on my own unsold properties - were going to be going out of demand. Some of the story I've already conveyed here: going back to security, trying corrections, going back to doing technical support for the clueless and the rude... they were all things I could do and do well, but they'd never feed the need to stay flexible enough to answer that call to run to auditions, go to classes, or set time aside to write. And of course, around January I spoke to a young man who looked rather pleased with himself as he was dropping off passengers at the apartment complex I was working security at.
"I gah to school, it's flexeebul, and de mohney ees good," he told me in a strong Nigerian accent.
I know... bad approximation of a Nigerian accent using the keyboard... but there you go.
So, the last three weeks of paying reduced lease prices while I got my feet wet and experimenting with the "advice" I was given has paid off. I honestly believe that any night I go out in that cab (and I do plan on working nights... roughly mid-evening to the morning commute), I can make money - the kind of money I need to make my lease, set money aside for maintenance, and moderate my life in a manner that allows me to have a social life again, sit down and enjoy my home, my cat and my friends.
But I'll tell you, the last three weeks has been a "catch as catch can" affair, to put it mildly. Experimenting with schedules and methods of handling business has taken a toll on my body. I've gained weight, which I plan on taking back off if the new steady schedule works the way it should. I finally had myself a good night's sleep last night... mostly because I wrote off working the night last night. However, karma and kismet were kind mistresses to me for that decision, letting me make 80 bucks in the 4 hours I worked this morning. Basically, for my purposes, any day where I average 15 bucks an hour or better in that cab or better than 200 for a day, it's an outstanding day. Personally, I think I still have things to learn. However, that amount will give me enough take home pay, working a 6 day work week, to keep things stable until I get better.
The short term economics of it is like this:
Weekly lease: $492 (280 goes to paying off the sale price of the vehicle)
Gas: $180 per week. Frankly, I haven't paid much more than 30 bucks a day at the current price of gas.
What I want for me, minimum: $500.
Now I haven't made this yet, but this is mostly due to my own experimenting, taking half-days off here and there to regroup and re-evaluate things. I feel a certain confidence, going forward, that these days will net me what I'm looking for. I start tonight with a goal of 200 bucks for the night.
BTW - I'm confident I can do this because of my work on Monday night. For the record, I made most of my 200 bucks that night before I'd finished 8 hours of work. So, it's just a matter of keeping my nose to the grindstone. Monday night was strange. I started out thinking that I'd just press a little into the night and see how it went. And then, I started using the computer to find what I called "orphaned" jobs, people who called for cabs and didn't have a car anywhere near them. That's where I made my money, by playing the angel and swooping in on these folks who were otherwise not going to get picked up. I even had one rider exclaim, "Lordy Jesus, thank God you're here!" after I apologized for the long wait. Another rider had waited nearly two hours and still gave me a hefty tip for driving him to a mom and pop store not less than a half mile from his house. The cab rider of the night is as interesting as the cab driver of the night, I guess.
All that aside, finding and putting to work the vehicle I wanted to buy turned out to be a challenge in and of itself.
I picked it out on Monday. Cab 623 - The Banana Boat, Mark I. It is a 2007 Dodge Caravan with 128800 miles on it with a 6 passenger capacity (maybe one or two more off the cuff). Unlike the Crunkmobile II, it has all of its 12 volt sockets working, which is a must for the computer, if I decide to use it again for navigation assistance. As I mentioned, it has all of its seats. I cannot count how many passengers complained... and complained bitterly, about the lack of a middle seat. Well, now you have one, kids. Enjoy. Also, like the Dodge Caravan I owned when I first came to town, it's actually better on gas mileage than my personal vehicle... my father's old Ford Ranger. This is the one I want to give to my kids.
However, picking out a cab and simply saying "I want it" is not enough. You see, this is the month that the folks at Yellow have their annual city inspections and medallion renewal to coincide with the beginning of the Rodeo. So, among the cacophony of cabbies trying to get inspected, this little minibus also had to go through inspections and get things fixed. The radio and computer were throwing "meter data invalid" errors. Fixed. We had to get things re-smogged. Fixed. To make the long story short, I spent an extra four hours over the last couple of days not making money at the yard to help nudge things along. However, at 11 this morning, we dotted the last I and crossed the last T and got it done.
Now, here's another advantage I've gained that should straighten my schedule out.
As a day-lease driver, I was required to burn my gas every day to go to the yard and pay my lease. Basically, this was a break in momentum for me. I'd give the folks at Yellow their money, go home and take a nap, and then go work the afternoon. Now, paying weekly, I'm saving that money and time to work, if I so choose. I'll still play with my schedule a little, but just not having to give that two hours to the business of doing business every day will be a little blessing in and of itself. I'll drive, take my breaks, drive some more and go home... except for Wednesdays when my lease is due.
So, the plan for tonight. Drive, make my goals. If I make substantially over those goals, I may take the BBI over to Colonial to get it hand washed and waxed or get the interior done. There's a lot of ground-in dirt on the upholstery. At least, there is in my opinion, and I'd like the ride to not just be comfortable, but clean as well. If all else fails, I may find myself hiring a carpet cleaning company to take care of business. I'm not a big fan of funk in my workplace. For now, I'm busting out the big can of spray and at least making things smell good in there.
Well, all for now.
GM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)