So there is a picture of all the cabs in the airport "Call A Cab" well I no longer work for them yet again. I have gone to Yellow Cab now and will remain there until I get my own cab (it's coming.) I'm still friendly with a lot of Call drivers but things there are complicated (hidden meaning the owner and I don't get along.) While I remain at Yellow Cab hopefully things will go smoothly but I am looking toward being semi-independent in the near future. Yellow has me working day time (which I can't stand) and the majority of their business is what's known as TMS. These are state paid taxi rides to and from doctor appointments including all over the state (which can mean ANYWHERE in the state.) We go all over; different places in the greater Orlando and surrounding areas, all over Brevard, Miami, Daytona, Tallahassee and many many other places however the larger cities are few and far between. Yes we get paid for these trips however they are so highly discounted no one wants the trips because it's not worth the gas you spend. The worse part about Yellow is the fact that management is so afraid of confrontation they don't just come out and say what they mean. They use innuendos and hidden meanings and it's exhausting hearing excuses all the time. Most of the cars haven't been replaced in over 5 years. That may not sound bad but remember the cars are old police cruisers (Crown Vics) and have been driven 100s of miles daily. It is not unusual to see taxis with 200K plus miles on them. Let that sink in a minute will you.....10 plus year old FORD cars driven daily and driven in the harshest conditions and with people who do not take care of driving them. We (yes myself included) push these vehicles to their limit and I'm not just talking about speed. We change gears quickly and we slam on the brakes. We take corners hard and sometimes hit curves. We make our own paths most people wouldn't try in trucks. We drive them hard day in and day out with the vehicle rarely getting a break. So did the police before we got them. So again I say the vehicles are not in the best condition. Yellow has alienated a lot of their potential business because they changed their rates and are now listed as one of the highest in town. The dispatchers from the past and one that is still working at night have pissed off the majority of the customers that WERE loyal. They will keep telling customers 20 minutes when in reality it will be over 45, if the customer called to ask where their cab was they would make the customer wait longer, they give no priority to the customer and in turn the customer has given no loyalty to the company.
There are ways for Yellow cab to come back and be on top but honestly I don't believe the main guy that runs it wants that to happen. The easiest way to fix their business is to get drivers that want to work regular shifts. While there is no schedule have drivers sign up and say I plan on working these days/nights this week that way the company has an idea of what to expect and there aren't 8 drivers showing up on a Sunday (dead day and night) and 2 drivers on a Friday (obviously it's a busy night), the biggest change they could make is lower their fares. If they could boast being the lowest rates in town they would get the business away from their biggest competitors (Call A Cab). Say somewhere around $2.30 a mile with a $2.00 drop. The only way Call A Cab beats that is with their hospitality rate at $1.80 a mile and $2.00 drop for special bartenders, military, and elderly rate. Yellow doesn't want to listen to anyone else because they know it all. I admit they have been in this town a long time but with all the competition lately they could do well with a business and marketing analyst. Another very easy and great fix would be get rid of the lazy dispatchers. The ones who would rather watch YouTube videos and wank off than answer the phones and pick up customers. When 5 cabs are sitting for over an hour a customer shouldn't get into my car complaining about waiting 45 minutes for a cab (majority of this town is 15 minutes away from anywhere even in traffic if you're good-like me.) One other way which isn't realistic but plausible if done right is to replace the fleet with newer cars. Not Crown Vics either. Most cabs are classic Crown Vic but if a company had an "unusual" car one that fit the needs of the company and made them stand out a bit more customers would say "Oh Yellow yea they have those awesome cars we should take them" instead of "Yellow is dirty and their cars smell." Well the second part is mainly the drivers. The majority of the drivers need lessons in personal hygiene.
Anyway for right now Yellow is all I have and I am grateful but as soon as I am able to get into a different taxi I will be because Yellow is sinking and the age old adage applies "Women and children first"
Monday, September 9, 2013
The Big Four Continued.....
So we left off on Cinco de Mayo. Well this is another amateur night, another day Americans use as an excuse to get drunk and act stupid. Just like police officers see the worst of society daily so do cabbies when these holidays come around. Frankly my favorite (and so happens to be the next in this series) Halloween is coming up. Now I know I have been a little slack on updating this but I'm busy life has not been great these past few months. I digress. Cinco is great most of the time this past May 5th was a bit on the boring side though. There was nothing really crazy in this small town and business was relatively normal. We had 10 cars including 2 vans on the road and we barely broke $200 a piece. There really isn't much more to say. Since it's not a National Holiday and a lot of people had to go to work the next day (it fell on a Sunday this year) it was pretty quiet. I equate it to an extra Saturday night instead of a Sunday. Maybe next year will be better only time will tell.
Halloween is the last of this series and I will not spend a lot of time on it because I have more and better things to talk about. Halloween is my favorite holiday of all. Always has been always will be. I love Halloween because it symbolizes everything we don't get here in Florida; changing of the seasons, crisp air, falling leaves, hoodies, bonfires, hot chocolate and of course costumes. This past Halloween I dressed up before I went out in the cab. I had a lovely crisp white babydoll dress that I slashed up, dragged through mud, and smeared blood on. Also blood on arms, face, hair, and legs. While my boss didn't like it I was barefoot and muddy as well. My hair was tangled and teased and I looked absolutely perfect for what I was going for. It helped to freak people out that my blood looked real. I went to two different ER's in the area for "lab" runs which is normally blood or some kind of sample that goes from one ER to another for rush testing. The Palm Bay ER had the best reaction ever I actually heard someone say "Is it a Zombie" and "WTF" from a male nurse. The security guard was wide eyed and didn't really know what to do. I stood there silent and watched stuff play out until someone burst my bubble and said "It's Halloween people come on." I couldn't hold it in anymore I started laughing I had to catch my breath before I could go to lab and get the samples which was good because the lab attendants thought it was hilarious as well and I had to laugh again. The night was steady and I had a lot of fun with customers. Some people have my picture from that night but haven't found any yet. Who knows what I will do this year but it'll be hard to top last year. All I know is it will be fun and memorable.
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