1,000 PEOPLE

5 CABS

A huge group of "high-roller" sales people have descended upon my little section of the world.

When I logged in, we were already scrambling to cover all their outbound dinner runs.

About 8:30p, the owner called and asked if I would take the phone last night. It was Kimo's night but he is 73 years old and he had called the owner to tell him that there was no way he could do it. The volume of calls, the coordination and the general traffic were more than he knew he could handle. The owner knew that this was time for the "A" pitcher. After 9p I had 5 cabs working. ONE-NINE, #22 (Kimo), #27 (TMR), #17 (Maui Jim) and #25 (Lee). The later 2 are day-shift holdovers. Just as we got the final dinner runs completed, the dinner returns started. Some were headed back to their resort but the vast majority went to the "Triangle" to party. 2 7-passenger vans, 2 6-passenger vans and ONE-NINE with its 4-passenger limit. I was getting calls from 3 different locations with a minimum of 30 people waiting and upwards to 50 (or more). Plus those who had stayed at the resort were now ready to hit the town. I made magic! I hustled cabs from various points and at least made our presence known at each location. The younger ones ready to get shit-faced and the older ones ready for bed.

By 11p, all those going back to the resort were accounted for and we stayed busy taking the rest to Lulu's, their preferred watering hole for the night. As we finished the last of the out-bound, the early returns began. And that is all we did until we finally dropped the last of them back in Wailea at 2a. The phone never quit ringing the whole time.

Calls from Lulu's. Calls from the resort. Calls from the people we had dropped. I did my best to sound cheerful and gave each caller the same answer:

"All 5 of our cabs are dedicated to your service. We are not accepting any other business. We will continue doing 'round-robins' until everyone is returned to the resort."

And that is what we did.
I turned down runs to Lahaina. To Makawao. To the harbor. There was no way I could spare one single cab.

Found out later that many of the guests were stopping at the valet desk and front desk and giving our company, and me by name, compliments on how well we covered the situation.

The day shift should be active once these people crawl out and face their hangovers. Most of the Tee-times are booked by them and a vast majority of the Molokini snorkel trips. Probably will only see the "die-hards" tonight and they have a special function on Friday night. Which should keep them "on campus". They depart Sunday, by bus.

In contrast, I didn't miss anything by taking off on Tuesday night. None of the night drivers broke $100 on the meter. Pitifully slow.

25 fares / 177 miles / 4th quarter $300 bracket

I am exhausted. See you tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Kalama Park
Kihei, Mau'i

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"Let's all be careful out there!"