Tweet
This afternoon I got a call to pick someone up. It wasn't a wheelchair call, but I decided to go ahead and cover it because... well, it's really hard to say no to money. Anyway...
I didn't recognize the account, which is pretty rare. (We only have so many accounts, and in the course of my first few months I saw pretty much all of them.) I also didn't recognize the address, but it's right on a short stretch of road that is pretty much solid doctors' offices. Using my AMAZING POWERS OF DEDUCTION, I decided that the account must be a new medical account. (But that's not really important.)
I got to the pickup address, and it was indeed a doctor's office... a COMPLETELY CLOSED doctor's office: doors were locked, lights were off, nobody visible inside, etc. Well, whatever. I had a phone number, so I called it. It rang. And rang. And rang. I let it ring for a full minute before hanging up. (No voicemail, a rarity these days.)
I drove around the building, thinking maybe there was another entrance, and there was... also locked. Sigh. I called dispatch to see if there was an alternate phone number... no dice. Alright, we're done here. I rolled to the far end of the parking lot and no-showed the call. (When a call is cancelled by the driver, as opposed to dispatch, we have to send in a no-show. It's somewhat optional for cash calls, but for voucher trips (which is the majority of my business) it's an absolute requirement. The no-show includes the reason we're cancelling the call, in this case "no contact with passenger".) In seconds I was cleared off the call, so I started to leave...
...and the main entrance opened and no less than FOUR people came pouring out, waving and yelling. Two of them were obviously employees, wearing scrubs and everything, while the other two were my passengers. What the f*ck were you people doing when I was rattling the doors and calling? ...No, don't tell me, I really don't want to know. But one of the scrubs-wearers said they had been watching out the window for me. Don't kid me sister, you weren't anywhere near the window, because then I would have seen you, and not a completely f*cking empty office!
So, I had to send in another message telling dispatch, "Hey, I found those idiots I'm supposed to pick up." I immediately followed that message with a phone call to dispatch to find out what to do, because I've literally never had this happen before -- usually, when I no-show a call, that's it, I'm gone.
After much this-n-that, I finally got the redispatched call to drive thoseidiots WONDERFUL PEOPLE home. My total time spent on this call, from the initial accept to finally turning the meter off, was 54 minutes (it should've been about half that) for which I got paid a whopping $15. Sigh. (Time really is money for a cab driver. I should be doing 16-18 trips in a 12-hour day (up to maybe 21 if I do the legal maximum, 14 hours) but thanks to these 
I had time for one less call today. (And yes, one call can really be worth it. Minimum wheelchair voucher pays me $21 for a trip up to 3.9 miles.)
I should've waited for a wheelchair trip, they're less frustrating.
I didn't recognize the account, which is pretty rare. (We only have so many accounts, and in the course of my first few months I saw pretty much all of them.) I also didn't recognize the address, but it's right on a short stretch of road that is pretty much solid doctors' offices. Using my AMAZING POWERS OF DEDUCTION, I decided that the account must be a new medical account. (But that's not really important.)
I got to the pickup address, and it was indeed a doctor's office... a COMPLETELY CLOSED doctor's office: doors were locked, lights were off, nobody visible inside, etc. Well, whatever. I had a phone number, so I called it. It rang. And rang. And rang. I let it ring for a full minute before hanging up. (No voicemail, a rarity these days.)
I drove around the building, thinking maybe there was another entrance, and there was... also locked. Sigh. I called dispatch to see if there was an alternate phone number... no dice. Alright, we're done here. I rolled to the far end of the parking lot and no-showed the call. (When a call is cancelled by the driver, as opposed to dispatch, we have to send in a no-show. It's somewhat optional for cash calls, but for voucher trips (which is the majority of my business) it's an absolute requirement. The no-show includes the reason we're cancelling the call, in this case "no contact with passenger".) In seconds I was cleared off the call, so I started to leave...
...and the main entrance opened and no less than FOUR people came pouring out, waving and yelling. Two of them were obviously employees, wearing scrubs and everything, while the other two were my passengers. What the f*ck were you people doing when I was rattling the doors and calling? ...No, don't tell me, I really don't want to know. But one of the scrubs-wearers said they had been watching out the window for me. Don't kid me sister, you weren't anywhere near the window, because then I would have seen you, and not a completely f*cking empty office!
So, I had to send in another message telling dispatch, "Hey, I found those idiots I'm supposed to pick up." I immediately followed that message with a phone call to dispatch to find out what to do, because I've literally never had this happen before -- usually, when I no-show a call, that's it, I'm gone.
After much this-n-that, I finally got the redispatched call to drive those
I had time for one less call today. (And yes, one call can really be worth it. Minimum wheelchair voucher pays me $21 for a trip up to 3.9 miles.)I should've waited for a wheelchair trip, they're less frustrating.
Comment