Paradise Driver: 06/24/07

Sunday, June 24, 2007

ALL I WANTED...

WAS A LITTLE HELP

Last night's sunset and this morning's moonset:

***

My second fare of the night, at 8:30p (geez!), took me from Wailea to OGG. On my return I stopped at Wal-Mart in Kahului. The three bulbs in my "Taxi" roof light had burnt out and, obviously, needed immediate replacement. Thats both a legal requirement and a common sense one, too. If people can't easily identify ONE-NINE as an on-duty cab, I loose money.

Wal-Mart is HUGE, as I am sure you are all aware. I think it exists in every industrialized nation, albeit under different brand names.

Found the bulbs and it struck me that I didn't have a clock in my office area. Except the one in the lower right corner of my PC, which is hard for me to read anymore. I was going to need one to function tonight. Asked one of the people wearing those "May I help you?" vests:

"Where are the alarm clocks?"

"Over there."

She responded with a massive wave of her right arm towards the far side of the interior.

"Uh. Where over there?"
"Other side. You find."
"Okay. Give me a hint. What department should I be looking for 'over there'?"
"Jewelery."

I knew where the jewelery department was located and trudged off in that direction. Cheap gold and silver trinkets. Wristwatches. Low quality gemstones. But no alarm clocks. Found another "May I help you?".

"Where would I find alarm clocks?"

With an identical massive arm wave (is this taught in Wal-Mart employee orientation?), she murmurs,

"Over there."

"I just came from 'over there' because one of your associates told me to come over here. Exactly where 'over there' would I be looking for?"

With obvious disgust she faces the general area and asks,

"You know where furniture is?"
"No."
"What? Why you not know?"
"I am just a stupid 'haoli' I guess."

Her face showed that she thought so too.
She was forced to actually shepherd me to my goal.
Of course, we didn't take the most direct route.

Tracking.

Backtracking.

Going in circles.

She would sometimes just stop in mid-aisle and turn in a circle.

Being a 'guide' was a stretch of her capabilities.

Eventually, her 'drunkards walk' placed us in front of an 'end-cap' display rack and, lo & behold, there were the alarm clocks.

"See! Here they are."

And she turned her back on me and walked away.

"Thank you. Mahalo."

She waved her arm over her head in silent response.

Maybe these hand gestures are just a Filipino "thing".

Oh, its a nice battery (3 "AAA") powered clock with BIG 2" (5 cm) digits.

***

13 fares / 116 miles / third quarter of $100 bracket

Only had 2 runs prior to 10p and then the bar rush started, which gave me 5 trips. We had about a 40 minute "lull" period and then started the bar close activity, 4 jobs. Rounded out the night with 2 pupus on the dog-watch.

Our availability of cabs and the call volume was evenly matched last night. As "day" drivers departed, the activity became mostly "shorties", which are quickly processed. No fares had "wait" time of longer than 15 minutes.

***

I was so "wired", from exhaustion, yesterday that I couldn't fall asleep until about 9:45a. And then I SLEPT! Rolled over at 5:55p and realized that it was time to get ready for work. Really wanted to just lay back down and grab another 90 minutes.

We've all been there.

***

Well, tonight I do my first Sunday of "fixed base" dispatching. It should be fun. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Haleakala Sunrise