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Seatchange
Oct. 2nd, 2008 11:39 amWhile my regular cab is in the workshop being beaten back into shape, I've been given other cabs to drive. Both Silver Service, both well-appointed luxury sedans with black leather seats, six stacker CDs and lots of buttons to press.
Taxi 135 on Tuesday night, and Taxi 70 last night. Both Holden Statesmans (or should that be Statesmen?) which are roughly equivalent to my usual Ford Fairlane in size and fittings.
But the controls are laid out differently to my usual cab, and when the muscle memory for setting the cruise control, popping the boot, winding down the windows or adjusting the radio volume kicks in, i find myself fumbling. Things aren't where they should be.
In fact, compared to the Ford's reasonably efficient layout, the Holden is just a jungle of buttons, controls and displays. It's like stepping into an airliner cockpit.
Once upon a time, I used to be impressed by this sort of guff in a geeky way. The more controls, the more features, the more power, the more glory, right?
Nope. Nowadays I prefer a more elegant presentation. The Mercedes I drove a few weeks ago has far more features than anything I've ever driven before, but the controls are well labelled, laid out, and more efficient.
An added complexity is that with every unfamiliar cab, the locations of meter, despatch system display, EFTPOS terminals, printers, kill switches, gas gauge and so on is subtly different. And then you have the habits of the regular drivers in stowing stuff such as the gas card, the green docket book, the cleaning supplies etc. etc. in different positions to what I'm used to .
Oh well. With any luck I'll be back to my regular cab soon, and my fingers won't fumble. Not more than usual, anyway.
I signed on early, because I got a message that the cab would be available early. I had to fit in my after lunch nap before starting my shift, so that ate into work time a bit. I generally divide my sleep period into two: a long period after I return home in the early hours, waking up around nine or ten, and a nap in the early afternoon. Together they don't add up to as much as I'd like - there aren't enough hours in the day for me to sleep as much as I'd like - but I have enough sleep and I get time to get stuff done. Like writing blog entries.
Anyway, I woke up a bit before two PM, showered and shaved and dressed and hustled over to Belconnen to pick up the cab. Signed onto the despatch system, and as soon as I logged in, I got a message saying that the car was due for inspection today, and anythime between ten in the morning and three in the arvo would be fine, thank you very much driver.
Cripes. It was after two thirty, the base was twenty minutes away in Fyshwick, I was sitting in the car for the very first time, and I had no time for cleaning. Or for whizzing home and pulling the official uniform shirt out of the washing machine. Hopefully the cream shirt I'd bought in Hong Kong for a few hundred dollars would do. (That's Hong Kong dollars, a fraction of the value of an Aussie dollar, but I'm entitled to mislead people, I think.)
Luckily the day driver was a super-efficient chap, and I couldn't see anything amiss with the cab. I usually like to polish the windows and wipe down inside the door frams and stuff like that, but that would have to wait.
Raced down the parkway to the taxi base and got the cab inspected with seconds to spare. An easy pass.
Later, while waiting at the airport, I had a more thorough look around inside the cab. The clip on my pen had fallen off and I wanted to retrieve it, before some passenger stood on it or knocked it out onto the road or something. I hunted under the drivers seat and under the floor mats with no luck. Decided to take a peek under the rear seats and undid the catches holding the rear cushion in.
No clip, but gold and silver smiled back at me in the light of my pocket torch. There were coins everywhere!
Sixteen dollars and twenty-five cents, all told - a happy bonanza. And when I looked into the crevice between the drivers seat and the centre console, I found a twenty dollar note! And my pen clip.
I think I'll give up driving taxis and set to work cleaning them. The pay's better.
Taxi 135 on Tuesday night, and Taxi 70 last night. Both Holden Statesmans (or should that be Statesmen?) which are roughly equivalent to my usual Ford Fairlane in size and fittings.
But the controls are laid out differently to my usual cab, and when the muscle memory for setting the cruise control, popping the boot, winding down the windows or adjusting the radio volume kicks in, i find myself fumbling. Things aren't where they should be.
In fact, compared to the Ford's reasonably efficient layout, the Holden is just a jungle of buttons, controls and displays. It's like stepping into an airliner cockpit.
Once upon a time, I used to be impressed by this sort of guff in a geeky way. The more controls, the more features, the more power, the more glory, right?
Nope. Nowadays I prefer a more elegant presentation. The Mercedes I drove a few weeks ago has far more features than anything I've ever driven before, but the controls are well labelled, laid out, and more efficient.
An added complexity is that with every unfamiliar cab, the locations of meter, despatch system display, EFTPOS terminals, printers, kill switches, gas gauge and so on is subtly different. And then you have the habits of the regular drivers in stowing stuff such as the gas card, the green docket book, the cleaning supplies etc. etc. in different positions to what I'm used to .
Oh well. With any luck I'll be back to my regular cab soon, and my fingers won't fumble. Not more than usual, anyway.
I signed on early, because I got a message that the cab would be available early. I had to fit in my after lunch nap before starting my shift, so that ate into work time a bit. I generally divide my sleep period into two: a long period after I return home in the early hours, waking up around nine or ten, and a nap in the early afternoon. Together they don't add up to as much as I'd like - there aren't enough hours in the day for me to sleep as much as I'd like - but I have enough sleep and I get time to get stuff done. Like writing blog entries.
Anyway, I woke up a bit before two PM, showered and shaved and dressed and hustled over to Belconnen to pick up the cab. Signed onto the despatch system, and as soon as I logged in, I got a message saying that the car was due for inspection today, and anythime between ten in the morning and three in the arvo would be fine, thank you very much driver.
Cripes. It was after two thirty, the base was twenty minutes away in Fyshwick, I was sitting in the car for the very first time, and I had no time for cleaning. Or for whizzing home and pulling the official uniform shirt out of the washing machine. Hopefully the cream shirt I'd bought in Hong Kong for a few hundred dollars would do. (That's Hong Kong dollars, a fraction of the value of an Aussie dollar, but I'm entitled to mislead people, I think.)
Luckily the day driver was a super-efficient chap, and I couldn't see anything amiss with the cab. I usually like to polish the windows and wipe down inside the door frams and stuff like that, but that would have to wait.
Raced down the parkway to the taxi base and got the cab inspected with seconds to spare. An easy pass.
Later, while waiting at the airport, I had a more thorough look around inside the cab. The clip on my pen had fallen off and I wanted to retrieve it, before some passenger stood on it or knocked it out onto the road or something. I hunted under the drivers seat and under the floor mats with no luck. Decided to take a peek under the rear seats and undid the catches holding the rear cushion in.
No clip, but gold and silver smiled back at me in the light of my pocket torch. There were coins everywhere!
Sixteen dollars and twenty-five cents, all told - a happy bonanza. And when I looked into the crevice between the drivers seat and the centre console, I found a twenty dollar note! And my pen clip.
I think I'll give up driving taxis and set to work cleaning them. The pay's better.
