Tired and emotional
Sep. 18th, 2009 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringI'm just entering my envelopes from earlier this week. Tuesday night was almost unheard of for me - I finished well under target and before midnight.
I'd been missing out on sleep, what with one thing and another, and when Kerri organised a home service outfit come around to service the kids' cars in the carport, I was woken early, couldn't get back to sleep and had no nap at all.
So I was ratshit even before I began that shift. Had a couple of cruddy jobs and the lowlight was being called out of the airport feeder to do an immediate Silver pickup, who was nowhere to be found, despite me searching and waiting.
I really really hate airport silvers. Silver jobs are usually ordered for a busy period, because the passenger doesn't want to spend time standing in the taxi queue. So I've got to pull out of that fast-moving line of ranks with a guaranteed supply of passengers, often very long fares indeed, go find some parking in the airport's sparse facilities, write down the name of my passenger, stand around waiting for him, spend more time waiting with them for their baggage, then go back to the cab to start the meter. So I often miss out on ten to fifteen minutes of waiting time, at about a dollar a minute.
Alternatively, if I can turn the meter on at the scheduled time for pickup, there might be a total of twenty dollars or so on the meter when I and the passenger return to the car. Then I've got to charge for parking and the eleven dollar Silver fee on top of that. A simple trip from the airport to a city hotel could easily cost the passenger forty or fifty dollars. Granted, usually the government or a firm is paying for it, but still, I don't feel comfortable with it.
And when the passenger doesn't show at all, it bothers me a lot. Not only do I miss out on a quick and possibly long normal fare, I've wasted half an hour in parking the car and waiting for my passenger. Maybe they missed the plane, maybe they shared a ride with someone else, I dunno, I just know that they didn't come up to me for a ride in my taxi.
Anyway, that put a big damper on my shift. Plus I was exhausted, and even though work was flowing well, I didn't feel that I was suitable to keep on working, even with a nap in one of my favorite dark spots. The quality of a taxi nap is never high, anyway - I crank the seat all the way back, put my cap over my eyes and zone out, but the radio still beeps at me and my feet in their shoes can't get comfortable and when cars go past their lights might shine in.
So I went home early. I need money for my next trip, but some nights it isn't worth it.
The past two nights have been good ones, and on checking my bank balance I find that the owner is pretty well up to date on payments.
I've got a nice wodge of pineapples to put in the bank today, and it should be a good shift tonight before Saturday off.
In other news, Kerri's aunt died late yesterday morning. I offered to fly down with her for the funeral, but she insisted she'd be fine by herself.
I'm a bit behind with my novel. Writing when tired takes the sparkle right off.
I'd been missing out on sleep, what with one thing and another, and when Kerri organised a home service outfit come around to service the kids' cars in the carport, I was woken early, couldn't get back to sleep and had no nap at all.
So I was ratshit even before I began that shift. Had a couple of cruddy jobs and the lowlight was being called out of the airport feeder to do an immediate Silver pickup, who was nowhere to be found, despite me searching and waiting.
I really really hate airport silvers. Silver jobs are usually ordered for a busy period, because the passenger doesn't want to spend time standing in the taxi queue. So I've got to pull out of that fast-moving line of ranks with a guaranteed supply of passengers, often very long fares indeed, go find some parking in the airport's sparse facilities, write down the name of my passenger, stand around waiting for him, spend more time waiting with them for their baggage, then go back to the cab to start the meter. So I often miss out on ten to fifteen minutes of waiting time, at about a dollar a minute.
Alternatively, if I can turn the meter on at the scheduled time for pickup, there might be a total of twenty dollars or so on the meter when I and the passenger return to the car. Then I've got to charge for parking and the eleven dollar Silver fee on top of that. A simple trip from the airport to a city hotel could easily cost the passenger forty or fifty dollars. Granted, usually the government or a firm is paying for it, but still, I don't feel comfortable with it.
And when the passenger doesn't show at all, it bothers me a lot. Not only do I miss out on a quick and possibly long normal fare, I've wasted half an hour in parking the car and waiting for my passenger. Maybe they missed the plane, maybe they shared a ride with someone else, I dunno, I just know that they didn't come up to me for a ride in my taxi.
Anyway, that put a big damper on my shift. Plus I was exhausted, and even though work was flowing well, I didn't feel that I was suitable to keep on working, even with a nap in one of my favorite dark spots. The quality of a taxi nap is never high, anyway - I crank the seat all the way back, put my cap over my eyes and zone out, but the radio still beeps at me and my feet in their shoes can't get comfortable and when cars go past their lights might shine in.
So I went home early. I need money for my next trip, but some nights it isn't worth it.
The past two nights have been good ones, and on checking my bank balance I find that the owner is pretty well up to date on payments.
I've got a nice wodge of pineapples to put in the bank today, and it should be a good shift tonight before Saturday off.
In other news, Kerri's aunt died late yesterday morning. I offered to fly down with her for the funeral, but she insisted she'd be fine by herself.
I'm a bit behind with my novel. Writing when tired takes the sparkle right off.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 08:03 am (UTC)You're certainly better off not driving when you are so tired, the last thing you need is to have an accident.
It's nice to have goals, but if you don't make it to Kansas, it's not the end of the world. Better to make the rest of your life comfortable and happy than focus on that one week and knacker yourself out for the whole of the rest of the time.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 09:33 am (UTC)It's a tight line sometimes, between driving and not. If I don't drive, I'm letting down the owner, who has given me an expensive asset to make money with. Do that too often and I won't be driving a cab at all!
I'm okay in the afternoon, when it's daylight, and the work is continuous. When it gets dark and slows, then I'm at risk. Worst jobs are long ones out to the distant suburbs - I'll often find somewhere to have a nap before driving back in to the centre.
That's the best part of being a night cabbie, I can always find somewhere to nap. Fifteen minutes does wonders. Tuesday night, I came home early. Eight hours instead of thirteen.