CHANGING OF THE GUARD

GOODBYE ONE-NINE


HELLO ONE-NINE


My new "ride".

2001 Mercury Gran Marquis

Only 37,500 (60,350) on the odometer.

I like the color, but I have no idea what the color is. I ask different people what it is and every one says that it is sort of a grayish blue (or green or brown or red). Its called "avocado" and under bright lights, I'd agree. Under various artifical light the color seems to shift by location.

The dashboard is all digital and switches from :English" to "metric" at the touch of a button.

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LAST NIGHT

Got off to a late start, waiting for the day driver to bring my car in. As soon as I logged on at 8:00pm, the owner transferred the phone, "No reservations and you're the only cab available. Have a good night." That is par for a Friday, but now I was fielding calls and radio trafffic, trying to learn where all the controls were in the new ONE-NINE and adapting to a new brand of meter, the operation of which is similar, yet different, from the rest of our fleet. It was simple to activate but "clearing" took a while to learn.

The shift was actually a bore. By 9:00pm the phone was quiet and the day-shift was gone. And all the night cabs left by 2:00am.

My final run was a strange one. Made the pickup at Denny's at 2:30am. A local male who wanted to go to Kahului. I asked for a $50 deposit and he gave me $100. After we got onto the highway he changed his destination to Waihe'e, (north of Kahului and Wailuku along the northeast coast of Mau'i) and I asked if he wanted to go through Kahului or through Wailuku to get there. He contemplated and decided to "Go high road." (Wailuku).

As I anticipated, he fell asleep and I had to awaken him when I arrived at the outskirts of Waihe'e. He looked around and told me to turn right, towards Kahului. For the next 40 minutes we wandered all over, I mean ALL OVER, Kahului until he could get his bearings. Finally ended up back in Waihe'e, where we should have turned left originally, his destination was less that 1 mile from where I had asked for his directions. Oh, I also had asked, multiple times, for the street name he wanted but he didn't know it.

The person he was seeking was not home and I finally dropped him, 1 hour and 20 minutes later, in the "Happy Valley" area of Wailuku. The meter read $102.80 and he gave me $3 to cover the difference. A whopping 20-cent tip! By the time I got back to town it was time to go home.

Started to write this post around 6:00am and fell asleep waiting for Blogger to download the first 2 pics. Said "to hell with it" and went to bed.

One more shift to go before the end of my week.



Later.....

Wil
=8^))
"Let's all be careful out there!"