Everything Changes yet Stays the Same

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"

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.

PS Here is what I was going for with crazier hair-Read it it's awesome

The Big Four

So all companies have certain days that they know will put them in the black. For most it's black Friday. Understandable but for night life service industry or in my case cab companies we have 4. Cab you guess what these may be? Well unless you said New Years, St. Patrick`s Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Halloween you are wrong. I have worked all 4 of these at night and all I can say is MONEY.

Let's start with New Years. We had all 13 cars in the fleet out and it wasn't enough. We had probably the best dispatcher for this night I have worked with in a long time and all of us booked over $300. Some cities you make a lot more but for a small town like Melbourne that is a good amount. Also keep in mind it was the first new years I worked. Basically by midnight all we had to do was pull up to a bar on "the strip" in downtown and people would start jumping in the cab. Have you called a cab and have to see them keep driving past not stopping? Have you been waiting almost an hour and STILL can't get a cab? There's a reason for it. We had to keep our doors locked just to be able to pick up the people who called ass long as they were regular customers. The dispatcher would tell us as soon as we dropped off a trip to go back to town and that's where we went. Now while everyone is out getting drunk we are getting people to and from their destinations as quickly and safely as possible. According to most of the "seasoned" drivers there hasn't been a New Years without a girl or guy getting sick in the car. We all placed bets on who would get a puker first. Most cabs have a fine in place for having to clean any bodily fluids. Mine happens to be a hundred dollars. No one got sick in any cars though. Besides everyone being beyond drunk some of my favorite passengers from new years eve were: the couple so in love they fought nonstop to Rockledge over who was more drunk,  the lady in 6 inch heels who couldn't stand nevermind walk, the girl who kept trying to get me to ruin over her date because he didn't kiss her right at midnight but "like 30 second after because he was too busy looking at some slut making out with another slut", and the girl who decided her boyfriend was stupid and broke up with him than jumped in my car to take her home. (this girl will come back she became a personal)

Next we have St Patrick`s day. Let me say I LOVE this day. I'm not Irish but this is one of my favorites. I dyed my hair green, bought about 20lbs of beads (which I gave to customers), had shamrock stickers on my face and of course green makeup. My cab had stickers on all the windows as well. Anyone in Melbourne knows when you want to party on St. Patrick`s day you go to Meg O` Mallys. Well this year they put on an awesome party. All the downtown bars did but Megs really stepped it up this year I think. It was 3 days Friday Saturday and Sunday. people were crazy drunk all weekend. It was almost as good as new years. There's this a couple I drove a lot from beachside to downtown. Now she's a stunner very beautiful girl. He is kinda dorky not cute but definitely need factor with big black rimmed buddy holly glasses. She got so drunk on the way home she started hitting him for no reason. Best line ever he says "why do you always have to hit me?" She said "I don't like you but you have a lot of money" now he thought she was playing around however most people reading this right now are saying yup makes sense. Another couple I pick up go from Megs to Bare Assets (now what that is?). As soon as they are in the car all I hear is them making out. Not really all that surprising since they are going to a strip club. About 2 minutes goes by and kissing stops but there's still noises in the backseat. I look in my mirror and she's giving him head! I'm anything but a prude but really taxi backseats are about ass clean as hotel rooms during spring break. So I get them there (after moving my mirror up a bit) and he pays me. Once he's out he has to rehook his pants and fasten his belt back. I'm trying to give my dispatcher info but I'm laughing to hard. The last girl from new years had called my cell phone wanting a ride however being very drunk she had a hard time telling me what she wanted and where she was. Apparently she and her friend went to some guys place she had met and drank a lot. She drove a friend home and than decided she was too drunk to drive home. Now here's the kicker both her and her friend live beachside. She decided after driving to Indiatlantic from mainland that she shouldn't drive to Indian harbor to go home so she drove back to mainland to get the 2 guys she was with earlier and make them drive her home. When they got over to beachside from downtown they stopped at 5th avenue 7-11 and she decided to start throwing Easter eggs (plastic) around the store because the clerk was rude. When she left the cops were called and she was pulled over (the guy driving technically). She talked the officer into not giving them D.U.I.s and that's where I come in. I go get her and the guys. I bring the guys back to F.I.T. dorms and her back to beachside. She acted very interested in the guys but after I dropped them off she said she have them a fake number. The cop that pulled them over however got her number and tried to hook up with her by the time I got her home. She said "I hate cops but at least I can play it off with him so I don't get a ticket or anything and it's always good to know a cop that wants to sleep with you."

Will continue with the next 2 soon however I must leave this as is for now.

Changing things up a bit lately

So I started this blog with the intentions of updating weekly however things have gone a little crazy. I started in one company, left and went to another than back to original. Why? Well money of course. When I left thus company the first time I was making at least $100 a day. I went to the other company and was lucky to make that per week. I was given the opportunity to return and jumped on it. In just about a month (give or take a couple days) I have averaged $360 a week. It its our off season now so I am expecting those numbers to drop soon but I don't believe it will be by much. The other company (from what I've seen) has been doing a lot worse. I don't have any problem with the competing company I no longer work for mainly because they taught me how to truly be a cab driver. After almost a year I have learned how to say fuck everyone else and make money. The guys I work with now they aren't used to my aggressiveness so I am not making very many allies. I now get frustrated when my dispatcher has to hold drivers hands and people who don't know how to control their mikes. The jokes and craziness is fun but it can get a little annoying especially if customers are in the car. Now since I have the app on my tablet updates will happen more frequently.

Picture of 3 cabs all in reservation at Melbourne international airport. (the company I now work for)

How We Earn A Living

As a cab driver we make the majority of our money from tips. We pay the company lease fee (4-5%) and half of the meter. When you take a cab the meter gets turned on and it tells the cost per mile. It does not matter how fast or slow the driver goes. The money clicks when you have to wait for traffic or if you have to make a stop. Now I don't know if it's ignorance or honesty but most people are shocked to learn we accept tips (and no the change of a dollar doesn't count). An acceptable tip for your cab driver is about 2-3 dollars however we take larger tips of course. Our company actually has a memo explaining how to make better tips with things like "be well groomed" "open doors" a lot of common sense that the guys don't do. If you've ever ridden in a cab in brevard county I'm sure you've said "what's that smell?" If only to yourself. You would be amazed at how many drivers just don't bathe. Trying to get a driver out of his cab is also practically impossible. I have heard dispatchers have to tell certain drivers over and over again to get out of the car and knock onthe door, go talk to the bartender, go in the lobby room number .... it goes on and on. Cab drivers are for the most part lazy. When you have a grocery cart fully loaded with groceries and they sit and watch you load them they don't understand why you don't want to tip them. Basically remember 2 things when you decide to take a cab 1- tip if it is deserved and tip as well as you feel you can. It will be appreciated even if all you get is a grumbled thanks. 2- drivers pay 100% of their own gas and the end of the shift we have about 13-15 gallons we have to pay for. It costs us gas to come to pick you up and than be told you left, changed your mind, or called 2 companies to see which one is faster. Try to remember these things because it helps a lot.

Introduction

So, for all who don't know me my name is Courtney and I work for a cab company in Melbourne, FL. A small tourist town located an hour east of Orlando and 30 minutes south of Cocoa Beach.  While this is a small town there is actually a lot of cab business. I love my job for the most part. I work 12-14 hours a night from typically 5:15 pm-6 am. I am opening this blog for a couple of my cabbie friends and myself. We are going to explain exactly how the business works in this part of the world and the various things we put up with on a daily/nightly basis. Some will be very funny or crazy (think taxi cab confessions) other times it will be very angry on how we get screwed over. Feedback will be appreciated as well on what you may like to hear about as time goes on. My only rule with this is we will not be posting any company or passenger names due to privacy and retaliation.