A Night in the Life of A Fredericton Cabby

Tuesday 17/01/12

2012-01-17T23:13:00.001-04:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS...
HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO DIE?

This is the first post I have written in quite a while, so I thought I`d start by wishing everyone a happy new years.

The first call of my week last Wednesday was to pick up this man at a spa. Apparently he just walked into the spa and struck up a conversation with the receptionist. I'm not sure of the conversation that took place between him and her but the first thing he said to me when he got into my cab was "Have you ever wanted to just lay down and die?"

This kinda threw me for a loop. I replied with "I haven't really given it much thought" I asked him where he was going and he gave me his address so off we went (as fast as I could) this guy was setting off alarms left and right in my head. All I needed this time of year was some suicidal nut job jumping out of my cab as I drove across the bridge.

My passenger, a man in his early 60's looked like a normal man with no problems. He was well dressed, walked like he had some place to go and seemed perfectly normal from outwards appearances.

After a minute or two of silence he comes out with "That nice lady in there pulled a fast one"
"How so?" I asked
"She asked me my name and then called my wife"
"That was pretty smart of her" I said
"Pretty sneaky!" he snuffed "And then she called you to come and get me"

I sort of chuckled and said "And here I am dragging you home...BUSTED!"
"Ya" he said "And I can't for the life of me figure out why she would want me home"
"Probably because she's your wife and she loves you"

"I doubt that very much" he retorted "I just wanna lay down and go to sleep and not wake up"

As our trip continued he told me about his life working as a surveillance expert hired by the R.C.M.P. and his 2 daughters and 1 son, and I wondered how someone with such a full life can be troubled to the point of wanting to cash out.

As we pulled into his driveway he thanked me for listening to an old man and for getting him home safe and sound. I followed him into his house so his wife could use the debit machine. She thanked me several times for bringing him home and apologized for any problems he might have caused. I told her he was no problem at all.

PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE

Thursday Night 17/11/11

2011-11-18T05:17:00.001-04:00

The $26.00 Fare that Turned Into a $100.00 bill

Wednesday night I picked up this soldier heading back to base after a night out on the town. He was pleasant, easy to get along with and coherent. He had mentioned that he had been drinking since early afternoon and was quite drunk. He didn't seem drunk to me, but as we headed down the highway I could see his head starting to bob up and down. I engaged him in conversation just to keep him from passing out, but his words became more and more slurred as the conversation went on. He also started talking about things that had nothing to do the topic we were discussing. He kept sliding off on different tangents.

By the time we got to base he was a babbling idiot that was making no sense at all. He had no clue as to what he was doing or where he was or where he was going.

Just inside the gates we were stopped by armed soldiers on some sort of security roadcheck exercise. The guy holding the rifle asked me for my drivers license, which I produced. He gave it the once over and passed it back. He then asked the babbling idiot for his I.D. and was met with threats and abuse. The idiot asked the soldier what rank he was and the soldier came back with "I'm a corporal sir" The idiot pointed a finger at him and said "I am a master corporal soldier and I can jack you up for your attitude!"

I just rolled my eyes and thought to myself here we go...we're gonna get held up here for a couple of hours while this guy makes a complete idiot out of himself. But the corporal just told another guy to "hold this vehicle here for one sec"

He walked away and was talking to another armed soldier who seemed to be in charge of the other guys that had rifles. He came strutting over to my cab put his face in the window and looked at the idiot. "You are a master corporal?"

"I am"

"Well I am too and you threatened to jack up one of my men?"

"Well I was just trying to make a point to him that his attitude was way off base and he shouldn't be holding us up from our task at hand"

"And what is your task at hand?"

"I want to go to my shacks and go to bed"

"We would all like to go to our shacks and go to bed, but unfortunately our task at hand is checking I.D. card for everyone that enters this base...and that means you"

So the idiot finally clued in and started going through his wallet. A short time later he produced his military I.D. and they let us pass.

I got him to his shack and I quickly found out the moron had no money. I pulled out the handy dandy debit machine and the idiot proceeded to go through Enter pin #, select account from which the money is to be taken out of, select the type of tip...either percentage or flat rate in dollars or no tip.

After trying 3 times and being declined by his bank 3 times I was starting to have my fill with this guy. I suggested we go back out to the main gate of the base to the canex store where he can try the bank machines. He thought it was an "outstanding idea". At canex we found the doors locked so I came up with another "outstanding idea" which was to go to the mall where a 24 hr. bank machine is located.

Once we hit the mall, I told him that I have done all the running I was going to do and if he wasn't successful with this bank then we would have to go to the next step. He asked what the next step is...I told that when I don't get money from the military guys I go to the military police. I also told him that he was on the clock at the rate of $1.00 per minute, he said "Fine"

He fumbled for the door handle and got out of the cab. As he was staggering towards the bank, I called the military police and told them of the situation. He told me that since I was off base they had no jurisdiction, but if I get him back onto the base then they would certainly see what they could do.

I was calculating the time it would take to get this guy squared away and on my way back to the city, gas up and cash out so I could go home. I was expecting this guy to be maybe 5 minutes at the bank machine, and when 10 minutes clicked by, I was getting a little yantzee. But then the clock hit 15 minutes and then 20 minutes!

I jumped out of the cab went into the bank machine and there he is sitting in the corner playing a game on his cel phone!! I almost lost it!! I told him to get into the cab and promised to take him to his shacks. He looked at me and smiled and said "Oh it's you!! I thought you left"

Once on base and after clearing the security exercise...again, I took him straight to the military police headquarters and parked in front of the main doors. within 30 seconds two of the biggest, roughest looking men I have ever seen came lumbering down the sidewalk and opened my passengers door.

My passengers jaw dropped into his lap! he immediately started stuttering and trying to explain what was happening. He got so flustered he actually broke down and started crying. The two MP's just sort of looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. They didn't know what to do.

After 10 minutes they figured out what unit he was with and who to contact. They ended up calling his captain and getting him out of bed. 20 minutes later this guys captain shows up with a briefcase and asked me what the total charges were. I contacted the dispatcher to get a final price and he told me that the $26.00 fare was now a $100.00 bill.

The captain looked at me and said "I will put a $10.00 tip on top of that and I apologize on behalf of my subordinate" He smiled and then told me that all he needed was a receipt so the comptroller can take it out of his next pay. I wrote him a receipt he apologized again and took the idiot by the arm and helped him out of the cab.

There's no doubt in my mind that this guy will be tapping toes with his captain by sun up the next day!!!

PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE

Monday morning 07/11/11

2011-11-07T03:03:00.002-04:00

It was a pretty quiet weekend in FreddyBeach, but not without its highlights. I had a guy give me a $10.00 tip just for letting him in my cab. He was having a problem getting a cab after the bars closed so he yelled across the street at me "I'll give you ten bucks on top of the fare to get me home!" I asked where he was going and it happened to be right in the same area my passenger was going. I asked my passenger if he minded and he said "no...not at all, the more the merrier" so he and his friend piled in and off we went!

After I dropped them off I went back downtown and picked up 4 army guys heading back to base. They were fresh out of the military college in Kingston and down here on course. We were heading up Regent Street when all of a sudden we came across a guy standing in the middle of the road waving his arms wildly trying to get me to stop. I yelled back at him to get off the road, but he yelled back" there's someone laying in the road up there!"

Sure enough about 50 yards up the road there was a person laying in the middle of the street. I pulled up in front of the crumpled body and put my hazard lights on. The 4 army guys sprung into action, jumping out and assessing the situation. I grabbed my cel phone and dialed 911.

As I was talking to the dispatcher at 911, the 4 army guys were trying to get a response out of the man laying in the road. He was face down in a pool of blood, and surrounded by what appeared to be antifreeze from a cars radiator. He was not moving. I thought to myself this does not look good.

The dispatcher took my name and number and patched me though to the paramedic that was on the way down the hill. He told me he would be there shortly and said to cover the man and don't move him. I looked through my windshield and saw these 4 army guys picking this man up and moving him to the sidewalk!! I just shook my head and thought hello spinal cord injury!!

I looked up the hill and could see the ambulance weaving its way through traffic with all its lights going. I could hear the sirens of the fire dept paramedics coming from a different direction also. I looked at the 4 army guys to see what they were doing...2 were talking to the victim, 1 was talking to a by stander and the fourth was squatting down looking at the pool of blood and antifreeze. He must've thought he was a C.S.I. agent or a member of the accident reconstruction team for the city. Maybe he was gathering information on the scene so he could give the city police an informed report when they arrived. Again I just shook my head...

Once the ambulance and the paramedics and the police were on the scene, the four drunken french army guys were crowding around trying to give the police their informed opinion as to what they think happened. The paramedic had to tell them to stand back several times because they couldn't hear the injured guy talking. I looked at the cop and said "911 has my name and number the army guys are with me are we good to go?"

He looked at me and said "Yes by all means you are good to go, by all means get them out of here...please!"

I looked at the army guys and said in a raised voice "GUYS MOUNT UP WE'RE LEAVING FOR CFB RIGHT NOW!"

They all ran for the cab got in and closed the door. Once we were on the way the guy in the front seat looked at me and said in broken English "You stayed pretty calm through all that, is this the norm for a Saturday night in Fredericton?"

I looked at him and smiled and replied "No tonight was pretty quiet"

PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE

Wednesday Morning 02/11/11

2011-11-02T02:47:00.004-03:00

The Halloween weekend wasn't quite as busy as everyone thought it would be. It was still busy, but not as busy as is it had fallen on a Friday or Saturday. I saw some pretty good costumes and took a few pictures, but once we started getting busy I really didn't have time to snap any pics. It seemed as though there were quite a few house parties compared to previous years. All in all it was a a pretty good weekend.

About two weeks ago I was sent to a house in Marysville. The lady was waiting for me and got into my cab right away. She told me where she was heading and I put the van into reverse. Just then she yelled "Oh shit I forgot something!" So I hit the brakes and turned towards her and asked "What did you forget?"

What I saw was a set of boobs staring at me. There she sat, naked from the waist up!!
"My top!" She exclaimed...followed by an evil laugh. I wasn't sure why she did it but I do know that I would let her in my cab anytime she wanted!! Gotta love the girls from the Ville!!

PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE

Tuesday Night 18/10/11

2011-10-19T00:50:00.001-03:00

Its been a while since my last post so I figured I had better sit down and punch the keys again. The last three weeks have been a transitional period for me because the broker I drove for, after considerable thought and deliberation, decided to pull stakes and move to another company. The company he moved to happens to be a company that I refuse to drive for. It has nothing to do with the reputation of the company, or the drivers that work there...OH HELL, IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THAT!!

But in their defense, they do have a few good people that work there, I just don't think I would fit in there. It would take all of 15 minutes of listening to the drivers' whining over there before I would have to speak my peace and let them all know what I thought of them. So I figured I would save the boss the time and trouble of firing me and just not even bother trying to work there.

Last Friday night during bar rush, I had just cleared in Forest Hills and was heading back downtown to load up again when I passed a girl frantically waving her arms. I hit the brakes pulled over to let her get in.

Once she was in I could see she was crying and in a panic. I asked her if everything was alright and all she could do was sob and wave her hands from side to side. She looked at me through teary eyes and said "there's a guy thats been following me since King Street, he passed me a couple of times and turned around to walk by me, only to turn around and follow me again!" I asked if he was on foot and she said "Yes! he's just back there hiding in the bushes"

I swung the van around and by this time he was walking up Windsor Street. I told the young lady to lock her door and slowed the van down to a crawl so I could get a look at this perv. He looked to be about 6 ft. olive skinned with about a 4days growth of beard wearing a faded jean jacket grey sweater and black jeans.

I told the lady she should phone the police and let them know that there's a creep stalking ladies late at night in the area of campus. She couldn't stop thanking me for stopping and she couldn't stop crying. I told he she was safe now and that she could stop crying any time! I can't stand the sound of a woman crying!

So, as I mentioned earlier, the broker I worked for went to greener pastures. I myself changed companies. The company I now work for seems to be busy and the vehicles seem to be taken care of (my two main concerns) It's nice to be busy and it's nice to drive a mechanically sound vehicle.

Personally I hate change, I like to get settled in and stay at one company for as long as possible, or until something happens that pisses me off so much I have to leave. I know some drivers that stay at a company for two or three weeks and then move another only to be back three weeks later!

To me, that would be like living out of a suitcase, always unsettled, always in a state of flux...I couldn't do it!

PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE

Friday Morning 30/09/11

2011-09-30T06:23:00.000-03:00

Tonight was a great deal better than last night, but then after a night like last nite any night would be better!! I never really stopped until about 10 p.m. and that was only for a couple of minutes to grab a bite to eat. After that it was go go go!

Half way through the night I ran into these 3 guys who needed a ride to the 20/20. The two guys in the back follow this blog, while the guy in the front never heard of it before. Maybe thats why he's being punished by the one in the back...

I had a run in with that dumbass checker driver (from last nights post) I noticed him tonight trying to lure a couple of people away from my cab. I dropped the cab into gear, tramped on the gas and pulled up beside him. This is the conversation that transpired....

Me: I saw what you tried to do with those people that were heading for my cab and if I ever catch you trying to scoop one of my fares again I'll stomp the fu#*^ng guts out of you!

Dumbass: I don't know what you're talking about...I was jus-

Me: You 're a fu#*^ng liar! I saw you tonight and I saw you last night steal a fare from your own co-worker no less!

Me: It is true! I saw it with my own eyes! and I talked to the driver who you stole them from! you can't deny it!! you are a greedy mother fu#*^r! and I'm telling you this once...IF I EVER CATCH YOU TRYING TO STEAL A FARE FROM ME I WILL STOMP THE FU#*^NG GUTS OUT OF YOU!! THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT BUT A GREASY SPOT ON THE ASPHALT AFTER I'M DONE WITH YOU!!!

And with that I drove off feeling justified and satisfied that I got my feelings across on this topic. Things are tough enough as they are for cabbies in Fredericton without having to put up with drivers like this guy out there.

PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE