3/31/08

FOTD XIV - Drunk Belligerent Woman vs Asshole Taxi Driver

After picking up at Excalibur and dropping off down far southwest, I took a radio call (for a chick called Aicia - AyeSeeYa?)that got me back on the other side of the freeway and hopefully on the way back to the strip.

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When I get within five minutes of the destination I usually call and let them know to expect me. This time I called twice and got voice mail each time (usually means they canceled or got another ride somehow) so I turned around and called into the dispatch that I was pulling off and dead heading back to the strip. However after I did that, I again flipped a bitch and headed towards the address (since it was 400am figured it was possible she still needed a ride).

As I pull up to her street I see this beautiful young blond woman sitting in the dark, on the curb with her luggage so I stop by her and load her up. She gets in
-Where to?
I need to get to Los Angeles.
-You going to the airport?
I need to rent a car.
-Ok, I can take you to the rental car shuttles at the airport.
I need to get to Los Angeles.
At this point I realize she is pretty close to being shit face drunk, still I like to engage my passengers in some nice small talk...
-Do you live in Los Angeles?
I go to UCLA Law School.
-Oh cool, Hey did anyone stop and try to pick you up while you were sitting on the street corner?
I just need to get to Los Angeles. I'm going to rent a car.
-Why don't you buy a plane ticket, it's a long drive.
I need to get to LA.
ANYWAY.. it turns out that she just got into a heated fight with her 'old man' and got the F out of there ASAP. She was drunk off her ass and I recommended that maybe she get a hotel and try to fly out when she wakes up, but she insists that she wants to rent a car and drive back ASAP. For the most part the conversation is cordial and I feel we're getting along well enough. We arrive at the airport and the fare is $20.30..
-Ok, we're here, just take this shuttle bus to the rental cars and they can help you out. It's $20.30
WHAT THE FUCK? HOW MUCH IS IT?
-Twenty dollars and thirty cents. I took you the most direct route, Maryland to Warm Springs to the 215 to the airport exit.
So I pop out and open her door and get her luggage out. In the meantime I tap on the shuttle bus window (who just dropped off some passengers at the airport) and let the driver know that I have one for the ride back. He acknowledges it and waits along with me while she sits in the van digging through her purse. She finally gets out and places her purse on the hood of the van while continuing to dig through it.
-I told the driver that you are going to go with him to the rental car place.
How much is it again?
-$20.30
She addresses the shuttle driver.
I need to get to Los Angeles, does this bus go to LA?
SD: No lady, this is a shuttle bus. If you want to go to LA you need to go downtown and catch the Greyhound.
How much is it to downtown?
-Like twenty more dollars. And you already owe me $20.30.
She finds her money, the shuttle bus driver takes off.. she asks again how much it is, this time being annoyed and thinking she is a broke ass drunk, I say twenty dollars and thirty cents PLUS tip!
TIP? Maybe if you charged me less I would give you a tip.
With my hand out she counts out all the money she seems to have in her purse and it's 2 $5's and 10 $1's for $20 exactly.
-I took you the most direct way, how can I charge you less, I took you to the airport so you can rent a car.
FUCK YOU!!
At this point what can I do except get away ASAP, she continues to dig through her purse to dig out the $.30.
-Lady, please get your purse off of my van.
Fuck you asshole
-Forget the $.30, get your purse off of my van NOW.
She does and walks towards the curb.
-GET A ROOM YOU ARE DRUNK!
She flips me off as she walks away. It was a pretty funny scene. I do not know what happened to her after I left. As for me, I went over to the arrivals and waited (first in line) for someone to take back to the strip. For 75 minutes I waited until this couple came out (they saw their friends off at the airport) and I took them to Paris. By now it's real slow on the strip, so as I left Paris I was driving towards Bally's when this guy who's sitting on a wall yells as I drive by, I pull over into the Bally's driveway, he along with two friends run me down I roll down the window and he asks. . .

"ARE THERE ANY STRIP CLUBS OPEN RIGHT NOW?"

So I took the three to Rhino, yo.

New Schedule

Today begins a new schedule for me. I've been living large the last six weeks but now this more reflects my employee # 383/410.

Mon/Tue/Thur - Geo Restricted Cab, cannot pick up strip,airport or downtown 5am-4pm
Wed/Sat - Handicap Accessible Van - unrestricted 745-615
Sun - Unrestricted 200-130pm

3/25/08

FOTD XIII - Boston Joe

Joe just moved to LV from Beantown 3 months ago. His roommate and childhood friend from back home moved out the year before. Joe used to have his own landscaping company out there but can't compete with Los Mexicanos so he took the job as Reptile Specialist at Petco.

I pick him up he's headed to UMC (university medical center) to go see his roommate who crashed his motorcycle the night before, breaking tons of bones and lucky to be alive. This brought back memories of my former roommate Russ D. who too tried to kill himself but did not succeed.

So the deal was, they were both down at South Point playing some poker and gambling. They end up driving home.. his roomie claims he drank 15 jack and cokes and goes out to the garage and fires up the motorcycle. Joe tries to talk him out of it, with the dude not having any of it. Joe claims to of told him .. dude your bike has balding tires ..hasn't been driven in 3 months.. ur too drunk etc. etc. etc ... but alas, to no effect.

Joe gets the call in the morning. GG. Don't drink and drive my friends.

FOTD XII - Rhino Stripper From San Diego

Sunday was a day of big stories. 11am in the Circus Circus Dungeon, after waiting 20 minutes in line, I get the call up. A good looking mid30s brunette woman gets into the cab and has one hour to get to the airport. She says to hurry she'll make it worth my while ;P, however I tell her it's cool, hopefully we can get there quick enough - so quick = freeway and $25+ fare vs paradise rd. Along the way she says she's going back to SD (lives in Carmel Mountain), has a 3 1/2 year old daughter, works four days a week at Rhino every other week, and make $8000 this past week.

ZOMG! Me: "Is this an average week for you dirty slutty stripping skanks?"
Slut: "It was a good week"

She goes on to say that during her shift Friday, she met a 'millionaire' that invited her out the next day for lunch etc. They met up and he offered to pay her $400 an hour TO NOT go to work and just escort him and his friends around (she's just rambling this story off, she's still amped up). She then goes on to say that they played some craps and this dude started making some bets for her and she had a good roll. She ended up making $19K and this dude made some big money. To prove this to me, this Rhino stripper from SD leans forward and opens her purse and shows huge wads of cash in there. One stack of high society plus a huge gangsta roll.

We get to the airport in 12 minutes, she needs to make the flight so she can meet her ex-bf for brunch.. blah blah blah - I ask if she's going to tell him about her weekend and the $$$ - "NO". She paid $40 on $27 too bad not $100.

For some reason, the last thing she said before getting out of the cab is that the next time she sees this millionaire she is going to have sex with him because "I mean he is attractive too." LOLZ.

I <3 strippers.

3/23/08

FOTD XI - FTP

230AM Sunday and I just dropped off one of the many local degenerate gamblers at an apartment complex some five miles off the strip. I'm starting to learn that when the strip is jumping it's best to deadhead back and get back on the strip. Not this night, since I was at Jones/Rainbow I took a radio call that was at Jones/Cactus, now I knew it was down the road a little bit but I figured it could be a good ride. Anyways it ended up being 15+ miles away straight south in the Southern Highlands subdivision. And hitting a dead end on Jones (undeveloped desert) and finally making my way back around and to the 215 and getting back on track I gave my fare a call to give an ETA of about fifteen minutes.

Robyn answers the phone and says that she's outside all by herself and that if I can please hurry. I make it there in twelve minutes and like she said she is waiting on the street corner (with luggage) in a very dark, very upscale gated community. Long story short she is not going to the airport, she just got into a fight with her boyfriend of 18 months, he kept coming outside to get her to come back in so she walked down the street a ways and called the cab, she had a car there but since he always drives the battery was dead - and her total wait time was close to an hour.

She gives me an address of 215/Durango along with a short cut that cuts the ride from $45 to $25 (still a nice ride). Upon further questioning I find out that the whole thing started cuz her bf (during a minor argument) spilled water from a dog bowl onto the carpet, picked up the dog bowl and threw it into the bathroom breaking a mirror and freaking Robyn out. She went on to say that a month earlier he threw a water bottle against the wall ("to intimidate her") and warned him at that time that if it happened again. . . C-YA. She claims she couldn't live with herself if she didn't leave. Anyways again, long story short

-he plays online poker on FTP many hours.
-he is an FTP pro and one of the minority owners.
-they travel around the world while he plays in tournaments.
-he is retired and won a bracelet in 2002.
-they were going to Italy in two weeks where she suspected he would propose.
-she knew she was 'walking away' from tons of money.
-blah blah blah
-she admitted that he does not have a temper and he's a good guy.

I told her she was probably over reacting and things would be better. He'll apologize and they'll get on with it. Obviously my curiosity on who this guy was got to me and I told her as such, so after the above clues I was able to guess. She swore me to secrecy and all I will divulge are his initials PF. So I get her to her destination, she calls her roommate to warn her that she's coming home (since it's so infrequent) and the fare is $26. All she has are hundreds and I'm like "hey lady, you are my third ride I don't have change for that" .. i count out what I do have and it's $56, so she takes it and leaves me a single hundred dollar bill. Again I could of been more smooth and claimed to of had less.

PS. While pulling in I saw a taxi leave and as I got through the gates this dude in Timber's Bar uniform flagged me down, I told him after I drop her off I'll come back... turns out he just got dropped off but forgot his house keys at work and needed to go back and then taken back. Nice yo, back to back $25 rides.

3/20/08

FOTD X - Deadwood

Deadwood, South Carolina is a well known gold rush-era town most recently made famous by the HBO series of the same name. I have watched all three seasons of episodes and enjoyed the show and characters indubitably. This FOTD begins across the street from where the last one left off, at Hooters Casino.

Normally I do not pick up from Hooters because it has minimal traffic, usually 3-4 cabs already waiting, very close to the airport (~$9 fare). Even if I drop off I usually go back across the street to MGM. Today was different, the birds were singing, the sun was shining and my shift was coming to an end. So I just cleared there, noticed that there was only 1 cab waiting so flipped a bitch and posted up.

I'm on the nut when I see three drunk dudes come out and I open the doors for them and they get in the cab. They want to go to the Rio (~$14) so the best way is to go right on Trop, right on Duke Ellington, right on Reno, right on LV Blvd, left on Trop, 15 North to Flamingo, but due to the afternoon traffic I go right, right, right, left on Mandalay Bay Road across to Hacienda, right on blah blah blah.

After some Q&A these guys are from Deadwood, SC (pop 3000) and are in town for the last days of ConExpo. I open up discussions about their town and the show and gold etc then switch it up and ask about the strip clubs in their town. They mention that as recently as 1984 they still had a red light district out there which naturally lead to.... "which strip club is the best out here in Las Vegas"
Me: "I'm glad you asked, have you guys been to SRhino before?"
Them: "LET'S GO"

Anyways, I roll these gentlemen to the Rhino at 430pm and collect, plus the fare ended up being $21.50 and even though I told them don't worry about it, SR will pay it, they insisted on giving me $28.

This FOTD wasn't anything special, just a 3-pack to the Rhino which just does not happen every day.

3/19/08

Today Is Our Lucky Day

Hello friends it's good talking to you again. Thanks for coming by for a visit. You guys know the Fed Reserve is making moves, moves much stronger than anything before. So today is our lucky day, time to buy Gold and Silver.

After a 10% drop the time to buy is now my friends. It won't get much cheaper for many years to come.

:| (<--- straight face)

3/13/08

FOTD IX - "Candy"

Sometimes when the taxi lines on the strip back up with too many cabs I take radio calls. These are people around the city that are not served by a taxi stand and call our company numbers out of the phone book or off the back of the receipt's that we hand out to those that request them. When the office receives the call the dispatcher gives the call out to the cabs that are 'zoned in' to that part of town or they announce it over the radio by major cross-street or the taxi driver can call in and see what is close to their location.

The radio call is true crap shoot. You can pick up someone who is in town on biz or vacation and found themselves away from the strip or someone who is a local without a car. Which brings us to Candy. It's a little after two PM and I just cleared (dropped off and cab is empty) at the airport and the line there to pick up is moving real slow (probably 25-35 minute wait) so I head back out towards the strip. The ConExpo is letting out and there are lots of people waiting there but it's around 15 minutes to get there and most likely will only get a short ride.

ANYWAYS, I call in my location and I get Candy. I'm told to pick up at the Siegel Suites (which are extended stay -weekly,monthly- rental). I call Candy when I get close (and ask her where she's going and she says MGM) and when I get there she is waiting outside along with two large suitcases (with pillows attached to the top), a cd/radio, large black garbage bag, and some plastic bags with some shit in it. She's young, not attractive, possibly even disheveled and definitely could not make it as a prostitute.

LONG STORY SHORT, I grill her along the way confirming that she does in fact want to be dropped off at MGM. During the short ride I learn;
- picked her up at friends house where she crashed last night.
- boyfriend was looking for available rooms at local motels but they all were sold out.
- had enough to pay for cab ride.
- hour late in meeting her BF and she was worried he'd be pissed.
- meeting BF at MGM to reassess situation.

So I am totally ready to get this chick out of my cab and am concerned about dropping off a homeless chick (along with her baggage) in front of the MGM but whatever I'm clearing her out and taking the F off. We get there the fare is 11.50 she gives me 22.00 for 10.00 back apologizes for not giving a good tip, I tell her don't worry about it and I hope things get better. The funny part is when I pop the trunk and start taking her shit out, the bellman asks from the front of the cab if she needs assistance with her luggage, I kind of shake my head "no" / "get the f*ck out of here" but he persists and asks her and of course she says yes!!! so he comes around the back and sees her shit and he does not know what to say... I help him load his cart and her last piece of luggage had a plastic bag tied to it with old tupperware, forks and some fucking cheese sauce that gets all over the back of the cab. The bellman is like WTF, I don't even care about the sauce, I close the trunk and leave not looking back.

GG Candy.

3/11/08

FOTD VIII - Punk'd

First ride of the day and I pick up this dude from Mexico at The Hotel @ MB. ConExpo is in town (which is a once every three years construction convention - 180,000 people) so I drop him off at the LV convention center and all he has is a $100 bill which I do not have change. Anyways I let this MoFo walk away from me to get change, he quickly mixes with the crowd and I'm stuck with a $14.90 fare. Like a moron I wait for fifteen minutes thinking he might come back but I just had to cut out and learn from it. F'n rat bastard.

Runner-Up: Picked up a flag (someone who waves a cab down from the street) and he says just drive. Turns out he's from New Orleans and first time in the city, so I take him downtown and back down the strip to MB then turn around and drop him off at Walgreen's. Fare is $37.10 and he hands me $100 and says keep the change. Phat.

FOTD VII - Limo Drivers

Mondays and Tuesdays are my scheduled days off. The last few weeks I've been picking up shifts on those days and working seven days. When conventions roll into town each company puts out 40-60 extra cabs per shift to cover the expected traffic. So being that I normally work days I decided to sign up for the 2pm-12am shift and see how it goes during the nights.

This FOTD is not actually a fare, it has to do with the cock sucking limo drivers that we battle for the lucrative strip club runs. Spe@rmint Rhino is tops in town right now and they pay fifty $$ per person twenty-four hours a day. So it's around 1130 and my last ride of the night and I'm staging at NYNY. After moving up 16 spots or so in 10 minutes it comes to a halt and I get out of my cab and talk with the cabbie behind me. I end up saying that my last ride is going to be a bunch of dudes and I'm going to take them to SR.

Anyways I'm on the nut and sure as shit out comes three dudes already drunk and they have strip club written all over their face. I'm waiting for the doorman to call me up when I see him turn away and in swoops one of those cock sucking limo drivers. These CSLD lurk around the taxi stands and try and do intercept our potential strip club runs all day long. The CSLD offers a free ride to the club in a limo and the three dudes from Chattanooga are tickled pink cuz they ain't been in a limo since their cousins wedding. Nah I'm not hating on them just those CSLD's.

Two shifts ago I did get real lucky and picked up two twosomes for SR runs for two hundred $$. So my tally over the last seven weeks is 6x50 and 3x30 in strip club runs... 3x50 more would of been phat! Fuck those CSLD's.

3/9/08

FOTD VI - Vegas Baby

I begin most rides with a little Q&A about where, why, how, who, when etc, and 95% of the time that leads to a pleasant conversation about different subjects. When I can I try and steer it towards globalism, corporatism and our world's dysfunctional federal reserve system (especially with foreigners) that will soon lead to hyper-inflation.

FOTD VI was my second fare of my 2am-2pm shift. I'm on the nut at Harrah's and I see the doorman talking with a young lady (that seemed to be just standing outside) wearing a short black skirt. I get the whistle and I race on up and pull up next to her. She gets in and I make the following observations - not hot, dressed up to party, ~.11 BAC, solo,mid 20's, etc.

(since this is all about our conversation I'll write it as such though retold and somewhat abbreviated))
me: where you going?
ho: new york new york, I think I just got ditched.
me: Really? what do you mean?
ho: This guy I was with, he left me, I was waiting outside for him.
me: are you sure he's gone? what happened?
ho: (screaming, distraught) I can't believe I just fucked some guy in a limo and he ditched me at Harrah's.
me: Huh?
ho: he paid the limo driver $200 bucks to drive around the strip for awhile. I fucked him so good too, he told me he had to go to the ATM to get some more money and we were going to take a limo back, I met him and we hit it off... well I haven't had sex since October so I got mine
me: and he ditched you?
ho: that bastard, well I got mine anyways, i got some dick - OOOHHHHH I can't believe i got ditched at Harrah's. he had a small dick anyways. . .
me: a small dick?
ho: OH MY GODDDDDDDD I JUST GOT DITCHED AT HARRAHS AFTER HAVING SEX IN A LIMO.
me: so what? you were too much woman for him and besides what do you want to do get married? have pancakes with him in the morning? what's the problem?
ho: I know I know but still. He paid $200 and he told the driver to drive around, we went to CVS and bought some condoms and he fucked me in THE BACK OF A LIMO. I can't believe he ditched me. well I came to vegas real horny and knew i was going to fuck someone out here
me: did you come out here with any friends?
ho: they're waiting for me at NY NY
me: i guarantee none of them just had sex in a limo
ho: i'm going to find me another guy and fuck him tonight also......

so the story wraps up, it's a quick trip and this dialog hardly does this FOTD any justice. As a taxi driver, it's my job to try and build up our female passengers as needed. In our brief 7 minute ride, I hope I accomplished that and sent her back onto the streets ready to give up that ass yet again. That's what we do here in Las Vegas. With this particular fare, she went from really distraught and close to crying to getting her "I am woman" swagger back. There's no doubt she'll crack by the end of the night and end up crying... this species seems to be so fragile.

On a 1-10 scale, her overall hotness started at a 4.5 and jumped up to a 6 - not too bad my friends.

(After rereading this, you need to read between the lines)

3/3/08

FOTD V - YVES MENES



I'm staging at The Hilton, on one of my regular days (5-5 or 6-6). I'm 3rd up in line when this random car parks in front of the taxi loading zone. This short, petite older woman gets out and talks to the taxi whistle guy (TWG) and goes back to her car. Two cabs get called up to load passengers and I'm on the nut and quickly get called up. I pull up and am told by the TWG that I am to follow her home and then take them to the airport.

We load the taxi up and her husband gets into the front seat. He's late 60's early 70's and very French. After some conversation I find out they live in Southern France and Las Vegas and alternate between the two year round. He's a great older gentleman and have a great time talking with him. Between the years 1978-1983 he was the head chef at The Las Vegas Hilton and that's the reason they went there to get a cab.

It was a long ride and we talk throughout it. We pick up his wife and she is still very much a beauty. We get to the airport, the meter reads $30 or so and I unload their luggage on the curb. He gets a copy of his cookbook and offers to sign it which I gladly agree to and accept. Yves Menes was and is and will always be a balla and as ballas do gave me $60 for the ride as well as a signed cookbook which reads

"To Geremy

I thank you to drive us to the airport

Sincerely,

Yves Menes"