You know, it is not all peaches and cream for cab drivers out here. I can only speak my friends who drive here in Phoenix in this regard, though, since I have not driven taxi in any other city. But this is what my friends and I tend to experience day after day.
You really don't know what is going to happen from the moment you get up in the morning. If you have a scheduled call already, you roll out of bed, shower, shave, and go get them. But if you don't, you simply sit in the taxi in the front yard, log into the taxi company's computer, and hope you get something. I can't tell you how many early morning hours I have spend with a hot cup of coffee in my left hand, and my right hand playing with the data terminal trying to get a decent run.
Early mornings are cool, though, in that you can bid on calls that are very far away, and still have a great deal of confidence that you can get them. For the uninitiated, bidding on calls means you tell the computer that you want a call. First one to bid on the call gets the first opportunity to accept or reject the trip. If you accept the trip, you run it.
But what do you do when you are like me, and don't HAVE a company to provide you with calls? I rely upon my instincts. I search the web and the newspapers for information on upcoming events that might need taxis, such as sporting events, and concerts. Then, I go and sit in front of the venues near the end of the show. In the mean time, I sit on designated cab stands or outside hotels, hoping someone comes out and wants to use my services. Lately, the web has been a great place to advertise, and I do have a few other tricks up my sleeve, which I will not tell you since a rival may read this column.
But the anxiety of not knowing whether you are going to make five dollars today or fifty or five hundred can drive you nuts. Over the years, I have become far more conservative with my money, rationing it out like a miser. I sincerely annoy my wife this way.
the instability and the anxiety of this job are definitely one of its down sides. If you need "job security", that warm fuzzy feeling of having a pay check every week, do not go into cab driving. go into real estate or something.
What's that?
Oh, I'm sorry. I have just been informed that real estate and its related fields are not doing so hot. Try working at a funeral parlor. You never get thrown out of work, and people are just dying to use your services. Meanwhile, I gotta cruise on over to the Phoenix Convention Center's website and see what is coming up. Meanwhile, you folk can look at this. It's a picture of the Westward Ho, one of the first resorts here in Phoenix, though now it has been converted over to elderly people's housing.
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