Tampa Taxi Shots

IN A HOLDING PATTERN

The way it is now, all we can do is wait.  The President says they did not realize how bad the economy was.  I guess because he spent to much time telling "Joe the Plumber" that he was going to spread the wealth....What wealth?  If Obama had ever had a real job other than a social worker, he would have known how bad the economy really is.  Seven months deep, and no relieff in sight..."Yes we Can" .."Yes we Can."   We are in a very bad situation, and it is getting worse. 

I know, I know, I will get all the usual pejorative emails and comments that will say I am fat, ugly, stupid, a cab driver, a loser, a failure, someone having a bad life, and so forth.  Lets just note that for the record.  Now, that being said, lets stick to the real issues.  Explain to me how an economic theory called Keynesian's, which is outmoded and invented in a less complicated period of history, can possible work in today's dynamic.  I don't think you can. 

The answer is the failure of it to work with this President.  Now, explain to me how massive bureaucratic expenditures will somehow pull us out of debt.  Oh, don't say like the people in my cab the other day that Obama needs to fix the basic underpinnings of the economy before he can work on jobs.  Reason, that is not what he said.  He stated that his number one priority after becoming President was to put people back to work.  That has not happened, only a Kool-Aide drinker would think otherwise.

TAMPA IS UNDERWATER!

It has been raining hard in Tampa for the last ten days.  Many southside streets are underwater. That creates a problem for the cab drivers.  We want to pick up our passangers and take them where they are going, but we can't risk flooding out the engine.  The company will show no mercy in that area.  If you kill and engine, you just bought an engine.  Because of that, I have been going home on many days to avoid the floods in Hyde Park.  "Turn around, don't drown."

THIS IS NUTS

It is summer time and business is bad...very bad.  Most drivers seem to be happy about living in a state of poverty and eating peanuts for dinner. 

At 10 in the morning, the company cuts off drivers who have not paid their daily dues of $97.  There are so many guys on this list that it becomes difficult for the dispatcher to get calls out because everyone that is bidding for calls are on the cut off list. 

What this really means is that these grown up men have less than $100 to their names.  They are bums!

This squirrel hs the right idea, just hang out in the park and beg people like me to give him snacks.  Hell, he doesn't have to pay a lease to do that.

If you can find it your hart to help the starving cab drivers and their starving families, see if you can drop off can goods and non-perishable food items at Cass and Rome.  Please help.  Don't leave this up to someone else.

THE PRICE OF GAS AND OBAMA

The price of crude oil is very low.  So why am I paying over 2 bucks a gallon and rising.  Summer is coming and gas will go high.  They used to blame this on Dick and George and their oil friends.  Now, who will they blame it on, surely not Obama. 

They will say it is still because of George Bush.  The man was supposed to be an idiot.  Obama is supposed to be a Mensa.  Again, why am I paying so much for gas?  

Does anyone know of any job that has been created since Obama became President?  The only thing I run into are unemployed people living in "Obamavilles"  the little tent cities that USA Today did a story about.  I know this is not Obama's fault.  The idiot was so stupid even Obama can't make it right.  You are giving me a headache.  

NIGHT LIFE IN TAMPA

Check out this new video on my YouTube channel with images from the night life and strip clubs in Tampa.

HOLDING AREA AT TAMPA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

This is where the cab drivers go to wait until they are called up to the terminal..

A VISIT TO TAMPA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

One of my best plays as a cab driver is to incorporate Tampa International Airport into my daily plan of action.  Between the hours of 9-12 in the morning is when it moves at its best and I have gotten some great rides out of there.  $50-70 is not uncommon.

 

Look at the long line in holding.. The picture above was taken in the second lot.

 

You can see the construction that is still going on around Tampa International Airport

 

One of many Southwest Airlines flights that leave Tampa International Airport everday.  The website says that 23% of all flights out of here are on Southwest Airlines

 

These guys wish they could be big ole airplanes

A RIP-OFF CAB DRIVER

No wonder we have no business anymore. I picked up this couple at the Quality Inn at the corner of Henderson and Dale Mabry. This is cab stand #31. They were going to Tampa International Airport after coming back from a nice cruise on the Carnival Liner that departs every Sunday from Tampa. They told me that believe they had been ripped off by a Yellow cab driver when they were leaving the port.

They said that son was with them on the cruise and he lived in another part of the country. They where going to Southwest Airlines and he was going To Delta. The Yellow cab driver charged them the standard $25 flat rate from downtown. When he dropped them off at Southwest, he charged their son $15 to take him to Delta! That is outrageous.

You see, we do have a minimum fare to take anyone anywhere, but that does not apply in a continuation of 200 feet for a family member. Of course, they did not get the cab number, so there is no way they can report this person. Too bad. Drivers like him are killing our business because they come from a culture where all you do is rip people off.

They said he was a Haitian driver. Figures, they have no soul.

NO CASH, NO CREDIT CARD, NO NOTHING, WHY ARE YOU IN MY CAB?

I picked up this young lady right after the bars closed this morning at 1120 E Kennedy at a swanky condo.  She seemed a little upset(like all women do at this hour), and wanted to go to the condos on Theresa Circle, which are open now.  She said nothing during the entire trip.

When we got there, she did the charade of looking in her purse and could not find any money or credit cards.  She finally found a credit card, but I called it in for a verification and it was declined. Now I am getting pissed.  I tell her she needs to come up with the ten bucks or I'm calling the cops.

She the fact that her boyfriend was sleeping with another "random chic" at the condo downtown was more important than my cab fare.  Oh ya, I tell her to cough up the dough or I call the cops.  She says Im an asshole.  Wow....How original.

She finally called her mother and I did a credit card transaction over the phone and got paid.  She was crying the whole time and her makeup was smearing down her face.

The reason I'm telling you all this is because it was a scam from the word go and that women are way to emotional to be leaders in our society.

Sorry about the blurred photo, my batteries were going dead.

SUNDAY MORNINGS

Sunday mornings are special time for me.  Most of the time I have had a decent morning money-wise, and the sun is rising giving hope for the new day.  The traffic volume is at its lowest for the week and it is cool outside.  The hot season is just around the corner, however.

Many good fares come out on a Sunday morning.  You have what I call "displaced drunks" and house parties.  The people need to go back to where they started from, and that can be a long way from where I picked them up.  That translates to good fares for the cab driver. The only real problem can be that you get belligerent assholes at this hour and people with no money who think they can scam you out of ride.  That is usually what are called TPD calls. 

A TPD call involves the police.  The dispatcher will tell you to look for the police car on the side of the road and pick up the person he has decided not to arrest.  For whatever reason, they never have money.  That is why you have to make them count their money in front of you and the cop.  Cops usually get pissed when you do this because they know you will not transport without money.  We are not social workers.

There is just enough variety to keep things interesting.  You can go from picking up beautiful looking women at an upscale condo on Bayshore, to picking up your down on their luck fares at low end motels.   At this swanky motel I picked up a lingerie model who wanted to go to MacDonald's to buy food for her two kids and her boyfriend that she was supporting.  She did'nt seem happy; I guess life is not a bowl of cherries for everyone.

That was one of the things that Nancy Castelano told me when I first got into this business, you don't always pick people up under the best of circumstances.

Its not Sunday Morning for everyone.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT PEOPLE COULD NOT GET WORSE

Cab drivers in the early morning hours check into zones.  That means we do not have to sit on a stand.  We can be a little more strategic and find a spot that puts us on the cusp of several zones.  If your smart, that is what you will do. Lately, I have been sitting at the corner of Mac Dill and Empendrado which borders three very good zones for airport runs in the early morning.

The spot I use is in front of the Salvation Army.  I sit on the East end of the building and on the West end of the building is an area where people can drop off donations for the Salvation Army to sell inside.  It mostly looks like junk. 

Every night I am there, I will see cars pull up.  They will not unload.  They will PICK-UP!    The other night, I saw a lady in an SUV at 4:30 in the morning make a quick getaway with a coffee table tied down on the top of her vessel. 

I know times are hard, but this is ridiculous.

I CAN DO MY JOB!

One of the things that really gets me is when a dispatcher thinks I can't do my job, such as correctly find an order with a clear and precise address.  Sunday morning "Shoe" or weekend dispatcher, gives me an address in zone 51 of 4214 W. Cayuga.  I go there and it is a towing company.  The only thing behind the barbed wire fence are cars and tow trucks.

It is possible that somebody lives in an apartment in the back, so I blow my horn.  Nobody responds.  So, I call it into dispatch as a no show.  Shoe starts giving me the third degree about are you sure you are on Cayuga and at the right address.  He says we pick this guy up everyday and he is never a no-show.

I cannot speak to that issue but I can tell you I was at the right place because I used my camera to get a photo of the sign. No doubt about it, I was at the right place.

Shoe no-shows the order but you can tell he is pissed and thinks I was screwing up.

Later I heard an order go out for 4214 E. Cayuga!  That makes all the difference in the world.

I know how to do my job.

A CELL PHONE, A HAPPY MEAL, AND 55 CENTS

I have Metro PCS (Ghetto PCS) for my cell phone service.  My payment is due on the second of every month.  The problem is that you can't mail in the payment, you have to go down to one of their offices and pay a"convenience" fee of 3 dollars on top of the bill (rip-off).

I was on my way to pay the bill since I was late and afraid that I would be cut off.  When, all of a sudden, dispatch is calling me about a special in the Westshore area for me only by a women named Jeana.  She is an exotic dancer and goes thru money like water and only calls me when she ain't got no money and needs credit.  She ALWAYS pays the next day.  I have never been stiffed.  So I roll on the call.

Today, she wants to go to a strip club in Sarasota to make money and will pay me the next day.  The reason she called the office was because she has Metro and her phone was cut off! 

A perfect match. 

Don is now calling me on the cab radio to see if I got her.  Ya, Ya,  I  got her.  I try to call out on my phone on the way to Sarasota and my phone is now cut off! 

Birds of a feather.

She is hungry and has no money, so I go to MacDonald's and get some burgers and her a happy meal for girls.  Cool.  I get the toy.  It is from the movie Monsters and Aliens.  You wind it up and it runs across the floor or any flat surface like the hood of the taxi.

By the time I take her there, go to the store, buy gas, go to MacDonald's, this trip has cost me $50.  What is wrong with this picture?

When I stopped at the store, this homeless guy ask me for 55 cents.  I tell him I am having a bad day.  When I come out of the store, he is talking on a cell phone!

I got life messed up.

What does the Happy Meal toy remind you of?

JUST GIVING RIDES?

On most mornings, you begin your day with somewhat of a positive attitude.  Why not?  All you have to do is get your call from the dispatcher, roll on it, pick the people up and take them where they want to go.  It is not always that simple.

I got a ride at 4:45 AM, at about the time you would expect a "time-call" to come out for a pick up in which you have 15 minutes to get there.  The people said they wanted to use a credit card to pay.  Cool.  Everything seemed to be going well.

Until I got there.

This man and woman came out of the house and they had to have been drinking all night long.  Why, the woman was more concerned about if she could smoke in the cab instead of where they were going.  She kept screaming "Do you take credit cards. Your dispatcher said you do."  True.  But not true.  I take them for business people and people going to the airport, not for fucked up drunk people.

They went to 606 W Azelle street.  The man gave me his phone and said he would go inside and get the money, and I could hold his phone, and her, as collateral.  

He never came back.

She was pissed.  She said he was going to get her some weed and now she had nothing. 

Fine.  I told her SHE now owed me the fare.  At first she refused to pay.  I told her I would put her in jail if she did not.

She finally took that Goddamn credit card and bought me $30 worth of gas. 

What is funny, is that when I was dropping her off back at her place, the guys phone rang and he said he was sorry, but his girlfriend was giving him major shit about being out with the chick I had in the cab.

She now said she was hungry and wanted me to take her to MacDonald's.  I agreed.  I did not know that we would wait in line for twenty minutes while every other stoner in Tampa put in their order for .."I'll take ahhhh...ahhhh.....number 1, no2...ahhh...ahhh..."

This job is not for everybody.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GUY?

Often times drivers get caught up in things they should not be doing.  I am afraid this has happened to Mike Willis.  Mike is a long time driver for almost 20 years.  He got divorced a couple years ago, and never seemed to get over it.  I know he was shacking up with crack whores that he thought he could convert.  But I am afraid he might have started down the road of drugs.

One day I pulled off the side of the road down by Westshore and Interbay where there is a wooded area to take a leak.  It just so happens that area is a couple of blocks from were Mike was living at the time.  A Black kid on a bicycle pulled up real quick when he saw me.  He stopped and then said he was sorry because he thought I was mike.  I know the dude was selling dope.

Anyway, if you have seen this wayward cab driver tell him to get in touch with me.  I just want to know what happened.

WOULD YOU PAY FOR THIS?

United Cab has gotten into the advertising business sort of in a big way.  No, they are not trying to drum up business for the cab drivers, so we can have more calls which would benefit them because they would be able to hire more drivers. 

No.  They are selling these cheesy on the roof ads that the cab drivers have no choice about.  Well, you sort of have a choice.  You can pay a higher lease to not have one!

When you hit 60 MPH or cross one of the area bridges, it sounds as if a reindeer has landed on the to roof of the taxi.  Needless to say, the customers do complain and want to know if this is really necessary, especially if they are on an important phone call.

Just something for the company to consider. 

How much revenue can the Gold Club and Morgan & Morgan really generate with this type of advertising?

A LOT FULL OF CABS

This time of  year if a cab driver did not have an assigned cab for his shift, he may not have gotten one.  Look at the lot today.  Amy said "Take your pick" when  I needed a loner cab while they detailed the old #497 for inspection.  Thank God she is 10 years old and will be taken off fleet in the next year.  I will finally get a new cab.  I don't think they like me and that is why I have been in my cab for so long.

Anyway, I think many guys have turned it in after the Super Bowl.  There really is not much going on because of the economy.  I am hanging in there and some of my projects are paying off.

If your thinking of coming back to work, there are plenty of cab for hire at United Cab.

TONY EVEN SAYS IT'S GOOD!

Cab drivers in Tampa all know Tony cab #440.  He is Italian, he is a long time driver, he is also known for a very bad attitude. 

However, with the last two months being rather good (the Super Bowl) Tony even admits there has been  money to be made.  Why, he even has a CELL PHONE!  Can you believe that. 

He even text MSG me about 20 times a day with stupid shit, such as farting and someone singing "I just called to say fuck you; I just called to tell you to kiss my ass."  You know, friendly stuff.  All that from a 59 year old man.  You can't beat it.  

But Tony can only be Tony.  His last text message said "Don't worry buddy, things will soon be shit again." 

Somethings things never change.

I heard he was going to be the keynote speaker at the next Tony Robbins Convention in Tampa.  Can't wait for that bit of positive injection!

GAS PRICE HOLDING STEADY...SO FAR

The price of gas is holding around $1.87 a gallon.  That is what I payed this morning in North Tampa.  As you know, cab drivers buy their own gas and that comes right out of our pocket.  Last year when the price hit about 4 bucs, it almost killed me.  Any higher, and the taxi industry may have come to a halt because the company would never match us on gas.  It got so bad, I even had to shut this blog down because I could no longer afford it.  I have this feeling that gas will be going up during the summer.  What do you think? 

When that happens, will they still blame George Bush? 

MAYBE LARRY WAS RIGHT

There is no doubt that many calls now go to drivers on their cell phones.  We call them specials.  Specials, in theory are a good thing.  The customer can call you directly, and nobody knows about it except you.  The really of this arrangement is now causing me some heartache. 

Larry, when he was a driver, always had his "specials" call dispatch first, and if he was available, he would go on the call.  Tom123 and I used to think this was a left handed way of doing specials.  I now can see the profound wisdom of this for local people.

What happens is the special will get upset when they learn you do not work 24 hours a day.  They will always call at the wrong time, like when you are out of town, or when you are home watching football on the downside of a six pack, and they expect  you to drop everything and just come and get them. That seems to be happening with me, quite a bit.

I would suggest that you only have specials that will call only at the same time every day, not day and night. And only have specials that you have a change of making any money off of.

Thats what Larry used to do, and worked for him.