Are People Really This Lazy And Disgusting?

Just went to vacuum my van, and some asshole decided to stick their used chewing gum on my carpet, and it apparently was there all last night. It's been stepped on and rubbed into the carpet.....

Things like this are why taxi fares are expensive, people! It costs money to have things like that cleaned. I mean, seriously, was someone really that lazy and disgusting to just stick their gum on the carpet in someone else's vehicle? Whoever you were, jackass, I hope you choke on the next piece of gum you chew.....

Grrrrr....

Due to a clusterfuck of people backing out of what they say they will do, starting a new job and being let go in a matter of 2 days with no explanation, I am still in the cab business with no way out.

The fellow who planned to buy me out was actually riding with me to the Department Of Motor Vehicles to begin the transfer, and decided to put it off to the next day, after I had made 4 wasted trips into Charlottesville to get this done. Naturally, I got disgusted and said to hell with it.

I do have to say, though, sometimes you have to see just how bad things can be before you truly appreciate how good you have it.

The 2 shifts I covered doing delivery for a sandwich shop, I was reminded of every single reason I ever had for wanting to leave delivery and start my own business, ranging through the following:

1) People in secured buildings you cannot enter. Calling them ahead of time does no good, as they don't answer their phone and don't return your call until you are on your way back to the store after waiting for them for 10 minutes.

2) People who don't tip enough, if at all. Seriously, folks, rounding it up to the next dollar does us no good at all when we are using our own vehicle and our own fuel.

3) Finding out the store's delivery charge is $2.50 for online orders, of which I only get 50 cents? WTF?

So, I am still in the cab business as an owner / operator for the moment.

This Might Be It.....

Several potential buyers have approached me about my business recently, and they are slowly starting to warm up to the idea of what I feel my business is worth. One made an offer very close to what I am asking a few days ago, and may offer more within a couple weeks.

Checking out a few facets of another potential business venture today, it is becoming clearer and clearer that my best option is to sell, fix up my motor home, and take the money and run. I thought about getting a CDL and buying a road tractor to haul freight, but somehow I think I would be facing the same problems I have as an independent taxi cab operator.

Tax Dollars Hard At Work With Gestapo Tactics...

Well, I knew the US was anti-small business, but this is ridiculous. Went to work my taxi the other night, and I got stopped for loading a fare at the curb, that's all I did. The ordinance is written that taxis cannot block or impede traffic, but despite 6 months of working with traffic engineers on the problem, we still have no place to pull over.

Yet the police are starting a detail specifically for this, when it took them 7 years to catch a rapist. Sounds like profiling to me, harrassing the working man for trying to make a living with an ordinance and no way to obey it.

Is that bacon I smell? Yeah, Officer O'Malley, go back to your doughnuts. Tax dollars hard at work.

Interesting Run-In With The Inhabitants Of A Tour Bus.....

Charlottesville, having not one, but two concert arenas, is now beginning to attract some pretty big names in entertainment. Jay-Z, Elton John, George Jones, Rascall Flatts, and Eric Clapton have all played shows in Charlottesville in the past 18 months.

A tour bus showed up in town this past Thursday. Not an uncommon sighting in this day and age. The name "Kid Rock" was on the side of this one, with a huge Jim Beam logo. A very nice airbrushed graphic reading "American Bad-Ass" across the nose. It quite obviously was THE tour bus that carried the entertainer himself. It was parked at this particular time on West Main Street, in the midtown area.

Several local cab drivers, including myself, use the parking lot across the street as a standby point, so naturally we looked at the bus from time to time. However, being an aspiring musician myself, I understand the extreme pressure of being in the public eye non-stop as an entertainer, so none of us approached the bus.

I left to pick up a customer, and when I got back, the bus had moved across the street into the parking lot, with two men standing outside it. They seemed to be trying to find a way around a bridge that the bus was too tall for.

After being told the bus was simply for advertising purposes, (yeah, right) I offered to help with re-routing them, which was met with some disdain and general attitude of "we don't need your help." Okay. Whatever. Five minutes later, the same guy asks two of us to pick up some people from a restaurant for them. Sure, no problem there.

Finding out that these people were indeed with the tour, I let them listen to one of my own songs, which they liked. I told them that if they could help with exposure or getting signed, the cab ride was on me. Yes, I know that it might have been all bullshit, but what's five dollars compared to a chance at getting discovered? They insisted on paying me anyway, however.

After they left the cab to go to the bus, however, the same guy that asked us to go pick these people up steps up and gets in my face, accusing me of double-billing them by charging a credit card and then taking cash. I don't even TAKE credit cards, so I simply told him that A) I didn't take credit cards, B) I didn't do business that way, C) if he had a problem with me, he didn't need to get in my face, D) he was outnumbered five-to-one, and didn't even have a reason to get in my face in the first place, and E) I tried to comp the ride and they insisted on paying.

I have one thing to say. If everyone in the entertainment business is THAT much of an asshole, I guess I should be glad I haven't made it yet!

Current Goings-On And Other Thoughts Circling My Mind.....

The old Mercury tripped 225,000 miles this week, and it is time to replace it. I know some might wonder why I am spending money to replace my cab when it might be better spent toward converting the bus, but it is time to retire the car before its repair bills prevent my escape from here.

The car has started burning oil, and the front suspension creaks and squeaks from the extreme wear. On top of that, these cars are known for transmission and differential problems past 200,000 miles as a taxicab. To fix what is currently known to be a problem, and what will be pending in the future, I will be much better off to replace the car than to fix it.

However, I was heavily influenced to buy a van rather than a sedan, since I lose so many fares due to groups of 5 or 6 that want to travel together. Sedans truly are going the way of the dinosaur in the transportation industry, and they are getting too expensive. Vans and buses are making a big comeback.

I bought a 2000 GMC Safari 7-passenger van last Friday. Nice van. Needs a couple things though, still getting that straightened out. Pics are coming. Now that I have a van, since the crybabies in the airport line have been so insistent on advising customers to shop rates, I will be displaying this or something similar on the windows......



You want to compare rates, FINE! Compare THIS! Even if I don't get any more business from it, it will be enough satisfaction to aggravate those that have aggravated me for so long.

On a more personal note, the more I hear "No Surprise", the more I realize I have GOT to get started on my bus.

Unfortunately, to facilitate that, I have to replace my cab so that I can save money toward the conversion, and that is taking precedence.

Who Wants To Smoke Some Crack?

It's getting to be about that time when replacing my taxi cab is very prudent, in terms of cost efficiency and image maintenance. The ol' Merc hasn't been a bad car (though not without its problems), but it tripped 223,000 miles this week, and it's time for it to go.

Probably quite a bit of life left in it as a personal car, as I did service and maintain this car regularly. But as a taxicab, I foresee it costing way too much to keep running .

So, as any normal InterNet savvy person would do, I have searched eBay Motors and Craigslist for a replacement car. I found a Craigslist listing for a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor for $1800 and called the fellow on it.

Keep in mind that these cars are sold in this price range at auctions all the time between $1500-$2500 for average condition with minor dings and scratches, but still an otherwise decent, and turnkey car. The reason Crown Victorias are popular in the taxicab industry is they have a lot of room, they are usually pretty inexpensive, and get decent fuel mileage for their size. These are BIG cars.

Crown Vics explained: Looking at the VIN number, a series of numbers will say P71, P72, P73 or P74. This is the trim level of the car, as some look alike, and many visual things interchange.

P71 - Full pursuit Police Interceptor package, very popular among cabbies. Fast and usually reliable, these have upgraded cooling, brakes, suspension, and drivetrain to make them hold up better in severe duty use, such as taxicabs or police work.

P72 - Taxi / Police Package. These have everything included in the P71. Some have more luxurious appointments (cloth seats vs vinyl etc) and the P72 has a limiter in the engine controls to cut the fuel back at high speeds, which is also in the P73 and P74.

P73 - This is a base Crown Victoria. Usually a very few options.

P74 - LX package, usually includes nice options like leather seats, automatic climate control, digital dash, moonroof, etc.

He said just last night (and I quote) "Oh, yeah, car runs and drives great, nothing wrong with it, I just need to sell it because we're moving."

Taking him at his word, I drove nearly 70 miles one way to look at this car. I was less than impressed.

The first thing I noticed was the cracked windshield. This car already will not pass state safety inspection as-is.

The next things I noticed were the various scuffs and scratches along the entire body.

The next thing I noticed was the small chunk broken out of a trim panel on the trunklid and impression in the bumper casing where the car had backed into something. Lovely.

The next thing I noticed was a hastily done spray-can paint job on the header panel, indicating the car had been in a front-end collision.

I thought, "Eighteen hundred dollars seems a little high, but if there's nothing else wrong with it...." So I flipped open my cell phone and called the seller and had them meet me at the car so that I could test drive it.

With the engine running, it was readily apparent that either the power steering pump or the transmission internal pump was about to fail, judging by the loud growling and whining from under the hood. It was indeed a P71, but this car needs a LOT of work.

Driving the car, it had a pronounced pull to the driver's side. I am getting more disgusted by the minute.

Last but not least, one of the rear doors does not open from the inside. This is not abnormal for a police-spec Crown Vic, as many are ordered this way to prevent you from escaping the rear of the cruiser. But it is something that must be remedied in order to make it a taxicab. This is a $1500 car, maybe. IF nothing else is wrong with it.

The person that showed me the car was not the one I spoke to last night, otherwise I would have had a few very choice words for wasting my time, my fuel, and not giving an honest description of the car. I don't expect perfection for $1800, but this car needs at least $2000 worth of work done to it before I can make it a taxicab.

And as if this wasn't enough.......

Coming back from this debacle, I found another place that had 4 or 5 Police Interceptors. One was extremely nice, a 2004 with a fresh transmission. I was told I could get it for $3600, which was reasonable for a 2004, but I don't quite have that much to play with just yet. On to the older cars.....

A 2000 they had ran pretty decent, but I spotted a telltale sign that the engine had been replaced.

Crown Victorias had an all-plastic intake manifold from 1996-1998, and into 1999 when it was changed. This is due to the fact that the plastic could not take the pressure of a 200-degree cooling system at 16 psi of pressure. Late 1999s had a revised intake that had a cast aluminum coolant area. This car was a 2000, but had the all-plastic intake, making it obvious the engine was from a '96-'99 model.

Given that the 2004 was available for $3600, what do you think the price was for a 2000 with 166,000 miles on the odometer, an engine with unknown mileage with a critical engine part that is known to fail, the rear doors being inoperable from the inside, and needing substantial cleaning? $3000!!!

I left on that note, thinking, "These people have lost their frigging mind!"

Who the hell pays $3000 for a 9-year old car that has "severe duty" written all over it? I might as well get a van.

Interesting Concept....

Recent development at the airport. The cafe inside the terminal has decided to remove its old ordinary entrance and set up a new entrance from the secure side, apparently in response to complaints from airline passengers that they cannot frequent the cafe from the secure side.

The problem with this is that those who are employees or vendors of the airport (cab drivers, ticket agents, rental car employees) can no longer get into the cafe because TSA apparently will not allow us through the security area. Apparently they feel that cab drivers and rental car agents pose a security risk, even though I've had to get a security badge to identify myself to all airport personnel. I guess the cafe feels that the airline passengers spend more money. Time will tell on that one. The only other way to get food or drinks is the snack machines or ordering delivery. A cooler takes up luggage space in the trunk, and likely any perishables will go bad on a typical 15 hour day, anyway. One of the cashiers told me recently to knock on the window and they will be glad to help me, but from what I see, they are only here for two of my shifts a week.

I can understand the business standpoint, but I would think that 35 permitted taxi vendors, 20-25 rental car employees, and 50 airline employees should be spending enough for this cafe to make money.

I can also understand that no one likes being in limbo for 45 minutes before their flight, but it might have been easier to build a wall to create a secure side of the cafe. Although, I digress.

But, seeing as my money (and other airport taxi drivers' money) is not good enough for the cafe at this terminal, I guess it's not good enough to buy fuel at any of their other locations. I don't know if any of the other drivers will join me on this, seeing as they can't agree on anything long enough to get an ice cream cone, but I myself buy at least 50 gallons of fuel a week between my taxi and my personal vehicle.

If the other 35 drivers here do join my boycott, and have the same fuel purchases, that is 1750 gallons of fuel we might have otherwise purchased from them. At an average profit of 5 to 10 cents per gallon (I've researched this), that's anywhere from $90 - $175 profit they would lose each week. Doesn't sound like much, but that, combined with the loss of what we have been spending in the cafe itself, aside from other purchases when off-duty...... hmmm.... could be as much as $300 a week or more they're losing.

Oh, well. If my money's not good enough for them, I guess I'll just spend it elsewhere.

Service With A Smile.....

A couple nice folks got in my cab tonight from the airport, heading for a local hotel. During the conversation on the trip, one of them asked me if any local computer shops were open tomorrow, and being Sunday, not likely.

I asked her if she needed repairs or something else, and she had forgotten her laptop's AC adapter at home. Not a big problem then. I managed to track one down at the local Best Buy and took her there to pick it up along the way.

The lady was so grateful she tipped me $15.00 and asked for a card to arrange a ride back.

I love to get fares like this. Nice folks. I don't mind giving people service when they're that nice. Hopefully they will call me to bring them back to the airport.....

A Little Bit Of The Pot Calling The Kettle Black....

I arrived at the airport today to find a fellow standing ready and waiting with five suitcases, despite the fact that another taxi was already in line before me.

Turns out the taxi in line ahead of mine did not want to load that much luggage. Interesting that this taxi's operator is one of the same group that points the finger at me and others for overcharging. At least I DO MY job and serve the customer's needs.

The customer was happy just to get a taxi at this point, and actually tipped me about $5.00 over the fare amount. Very nice fellow, I hope and look forward to doing business with him again.

These People Had Watched Too Much Taxi Cab Confessions....

Okay, so this couple gets in my cab, seeming very furtive and concerned that they had been seen together. After refusing one ATM, the next one was out of order and we finally found one on the west end of town. The guy gets cash out and asks, "How much would it cost to just ride around for awhile?"

To which I replied, "You could run up $400 running laps around town if you drive long enough. Define awhile.... 20 minutes, 2 hours, all night, what?"

"Head west and we'll see what happens...." Well, by the time we got to the next town, they were doing their thing in the backseat. I started to say something but it was a little too late by then.

Interestingly enough, I dropped them off at separate houses quite some distance apart. The guy gives me a $15 tip and says, "You never saw me." To which I replied, "Here's my card, sir, can I NOT see you again?"

Interesting sequel to this story. Several months later, I picked up a man from downtown. Went to the same house I dropped the woman off at before. Different guy, and acted like he owned the place. It was all I could do to keep from laughing. However, I said nothing.

The house was up for sale two months later. Quite interesting.

Do You Qualify?

Okay.... I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but seeing as in the past 24 hours, I have nearly been broadsided at 45 by a rice-rocket, sandwiched between two tractor-trailers, and run off the road...... I am listing my pet peeves while driving, I am sure more will be added as time goes on.

To those who can operate their stereo perfectly, but don't know what that funny-looking lever to the left of the steering wheel is for......

To those who don't enter a turn lane until they are forced to make a 90-degree turn, forcing everyone else to slam on the brakes........

To those who are too stupid to understand that daytime running lights are just that.... DAYTIME running lights, not full headlights and running lights......

To those who think it's their given duty to ride the passing lane matching speed perfectly with slower traffic........

To those who don't know what that pretty blue light on the dash that looks like a headlight means.........

To those who stop at green lights and blow through red ones.......

To those who stop ten feet before the line at every traffic light.........

To those who routinely cut off vehicles ten times the size of your own.......

To those who think as long as they keep the car between the solid white lines, it's okay to wander......

To those who back up against oncoming traffic when they miss a turn.........

To those who insist on hanging out in moving traffic beside vehicles whose tires are taller than your vehicle.........

To those who get more mileage out of a gallon of a gas than a set of brakes......

To those who stop ten feet before the next vehicle at every traffic light......

To those who routinely park with at least a fourth of the car out in traffic........

To those who sling an SUV around as if it were an F1 car..........

To those who stop traffic to let another vehicle in with a green light!!!! The driver behind you might know what you're doing, but the other ten behind them don't....

To those who drive 70 in the snow because you have 4-wheel-drive........

To those who can't park within 2 feet of the curb.......

To those who challenge other vehicles because yours is bigger and heavier........

To those who traded a Honda Civic in on a Chevy Suburban and can't get used to it........

To those who block an intersection when you know you're not getting through it before the light changes.......

To those who routinely sustain heavier damage than door dings........

To those who challenge other vehicles for the right-of-way because you have insurance.......

To those who pull forward to cut another driver off when you can't go anywhere anyway......

To those who can't park evenly with the curb............

To those who stop and block traffic with a green light when they realize they're in the wrong lane.........

To those whose license plates strike fear in the hearts of pedestrians everywhere......

To whose who challenge emergency vehicles for the right-of-way......

To those who think it's okay to stop in traffic and turn on your hazards to talk to someone. Do you know what a parking space is for?

To those who can't park in one space.......

To those who change direction with the wind because you don't know where the hell you're going......

To those who assume you are the only one on the road or in the parking lot and move without looking....

To those who refuse to make a right turn on red --- with no sign restricting it and no traffic.........

To those who think a yield or stop sign is a suggestion..........

To those who go three blocks up a one-way street the wrong way because they're too lazy to go down one block and turn.........



Turn in your driver's license. You probably don't belong behind the wheel of a lawn mower, and I wouldn't trust you on a Segway without a helmet, you're too stupid.