The Risk We Take......

Just got to thinking about an incident from when I leased from a 'MAJOR' company here in town. One of the many reasons I left and started out on my own....

Actually, there are two parts to this story.......

One night, I picked up a kid from a restaurant on Main Street. He was very vague about where he was going, and didn't really seem to know.

I was about to kick him out, and he decided to go to one of the seedier parts of town. I realized what he was up to when he had me stop near a group of thugs on a street corner -- he was there to buy drugs.

The thugs got a look at me and got all paranoid -- "Cab gotta pull over there, man...." I didn't know it then, but I resembled a man who had driven a cab for the same company and had been an informant for the local police. I could have been shot on sight that night for something I didn't even know about.

This kid was stupid on a whole new level. He then had me take him to a local store for adult books and such, even though I told him it was closed. He then wanted exact change back from a $100 bill on a $25.00 fare. I told him in no uncertain terms to never get in my cab again.

Months later, he called the same company, and guess who the lucky winner of the order was? My first mistake was not ditching him when I realized who he was. My second mistake was letting his supplier get in the car with him. I wasn't going to let there be a third mistake.

They started scrapping over money and I finally told them both to get out of the car. They didn't, so I finally said, "I'm getting out of this car for 30 seconds, and when I get back in it, you better not be. We can do this with or without police attention, and I prefer without."

The dealer got out of the car at the same time I did, and dragged the kid out of the other side, at which point six or seven of his buddies started kicking and beating on him. I tipped my hat and said, "Have a nice night, sir. I didn't see a thing." I then got back in the car and proceeded to lay rubber from where I was parked, 10 feet before an intersection, across the intersection and ending 15 feet on the other side.

10 blocks later, I parked and looked at the meter. I'd been stiffed for probably $9.00 in fare. $9.00 was worth my being alive, though.

Several weeks later, the owner of the company wouldn't credit my lease payment on a car that I couldn't drive safely. I had already bought a car and set it up as a taxi cab. I was going to put it into the 'MAJOR' company, but having my life endangered by a moron, and having it further endangered by someone else's vehicle not being properly maintained made me decide to put my own name on the car and work it for myself.