Many of you might remember me saying something along the lines of "I've got to get away from Big Green Cab Co" repeatedly for a few years now. That time has come. (For some of the background, see Dear management and This is why I haven't posted in so long.) Believe it or not, it actually has nothing to do with We're being sued, yay (in fact, having their lawyer also cover me is one of the best things Big Green has ever done for me) and is only marginally related to Time for something else and Could you at least weed out the bad calls?!
So my friend who moved from Big Green to Yeller Cab (formerly called... something else... by me ) told me that Yeller Cab finally purchased more wheelchair vans. I drove a couple shifts for Yeller Cab back in October and I was rather unimpressed, but things at Big Green Cab Co have gotten to the point that I absolutely must leave the company or else risk homelessness. (As things stand now, I'm late paying most bills.)
So yesterday (Friday), I went to the main Yeller Cab yard to... well, let's call it a fact-finding mission. (I'm already a Yeller Cab driver so I wouldn't call it "applying for a job.") I needed to talk to one of 3 people: the recruiter, the fleet manager, or... uh... the guy most directly in charge of wheelchair vans. (Don't remember his title... doesn't really matter.) The recruiter was out, the fleet manager was in a meeting (with my friend, the owner, and a group of other managers, though I didn't find that out until later), and the in-charge-of-wheelchair-vans guy was out repo'ing a van. (I didn't ask for details.) Crap.
While I was there, I verified that I am still in the system, but listed as inactive, meaning I'm supposed to have to go through the entire training regimen again. (5 days unpaid training for wheelchair drivers. Ugh.) But that could be waived by either the fleet manager or possibly the in-charge-of-wheelchair-vans guy, especially since I've done it relatively recently, and I've been driving a wheelchair van for Big Green for 4 years. Okay, works for me. I'll try again later.
On my way out, who should I run into but the in-charge-of-wheelchair-vans guy. He wanted me to come talk to him in his office right then, but I had a call scheduled for 10 minutes from then, so I told him I could be there Monday morning. We agreed to 9-10 am.
As I'm heading to my call, my friend texts me to tell me about the meeting, and when I told her I'd just been there, she told me that the fleet manager wants to hire me to work swing shift in their dispatch office -- one of the dispatch supervisors left last week, and another has turned in her 2 weeks' notice. Those positions will be filled internally, but that leaves 2 dispatch positions open.
Interesting.
You see, at both Big Green Cab Co and Yeller Cab, none of the dispatchers have ever driven a cab. (Well... one of the dispatch sups at Big Green Cab Co used to. One. Used to.) This means that those dispatchers have no idea what it's like to be a driver, what the drivers need to succeed, why drivers don't leap to accept every piddly-ass call from 20 miles away, why they're always so pissed off at dispatch, etc. The idea behind hiring me is to bring my experience as a driver into dispatch.
Well, I'm game. The fleet manager is supposed to call me Monday, but... I'm already going there anyway. I'll stop at his desk first before heading over to the in-charge-of-wheelchair-vans guy, and we'll see what happens.
As a little footnote, I intend to keep on as an active driver at Big Green if I'm not a full-time driver at Yeller Cab, largely to keep an eye out for some of my current regulars. (If I'm a current driver at Big Green, I can still log into the dispatch app on my phone and see if their calls are on the board or not.)
(Hmm... I'll have to change my avatar if I do this...)
So my friend who moved from Big Green to Yeller Cab (formerly called... something else... by me ) told me that Yeller Cab finally purchased more wheelchair vans. I drove a couple shifts for Yeller Cab back in October and I was rather unimpressed, but things at Big Green Cab Co have gotten to the point that I absolutely must leave the company or else risk homelessness. (As things stand now, I'm late paying most bills.)
So yesterday (Friday), I went to the main Yeller Cab yard to... well, let's call it a fact-finding mission. (I'm already a Yeller Cab driver so I wouldn't call it "applying for a job.") I needed to talk to one of 3 people: the recruiter, the fleet manager, or... uh... the guy most directly in charge of wheelchair vans. (Don't remember his title... doesn't really matter.) The recruiter was out, the fleet manager was in a meeting (with my friend, the owner, and a group of other managers, though I didn't find that out until later), and the in-charge-of-wheelchair-vans guy was out repo'ing a van. (I didn't ask for details.) Crap.
While I was there, I verified that I am still in the system, but listed as inactive, meaning I'm supposed to have to go through the entire training regimen again. (5 days unpaid training for wheelchair drivers. Ugh.) But that could be waived by either the fleet manager or possibly the in-charge-of-wheelchair-vans guy, especially since I've done it relatively recently, and I've been driving a wheelchair van for Big Green for 4 years. Okay, works for me. I'll try again later.
On my way out, who should I run into but the in-charge-of-wheelchair-vans guy. He wanted me to come talk to him in his office right then, but I had a call scheduled for 10 minutes from then, so I told him I could be there Monday morning. We agreed to 9-10 am.
As I'm heading to my call, my friend texts me to tell me about the meeting, and when I told her I'd just been there, she told me that the fleet manager wants to hire me to work swing shift in their dispatch office -- one of the dispatch supervisors left last week, and another has turned in her 2 weeks' notice. Those positions will be filled internally, but that leaves 2 dispatch positions open.
Interesting.
You see, at both Big Green Cab Co and Yeller Cab, none of the dispatchers have ever driven a cab. (Well... one of the dispatch sups at Big Green Cab Co used to. One. Used to.) This means that those dispatchers have no idea what it's like to be a driver, what the drivers need to succeed, why drivers don't leap to accept every piddly-ass call from 20 miles away, why they're always so pissed off at dispatch, etc. The idea behind hiring me is to bring my experience as a driver into dispatch.
Well, I'm game. The fleet manager is supposed to call me Monday, but... I'm already going there anyway. I'll stop at his desk first before heading over to the in-charge-of-wheelchair-vans guy, and we'll see what happens.
As a little footnote, I intend to keep on as an active driver at Big Green if I'm not a full-time driver at Yeller Cab, largely to keep an eye out for some of my current regulars. (If I'm a current driver at Big Green, I can still log into the dispatch app on my phone and see if their calls are on the board or not.)
(Hmm... I'll have to change my avatar if I do this...)
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