The Coin Juggler

I had what I always refer to as a coin juggler in the back of the cab today. I pick this particular type of folk up maybe once or twice a week, and they can be of either sex and old or young, rich or poor but they always sit in the back and try to be discrete. What they do is they watch the taxi meter obsessively and every time it clicks over they move the coins from one hand to the other so that they have the exact fare ready in small change, minus the tip of course! You don’t get very much conversation out of a coin juggler just the soft obsessive clinking of coins, but still they always amuse me no end. What does catch the juggler out now and again is when the meter adds the waiting time on when we stop at lights or in heavy traffic and the meter goes up a few bob, that’s when they tend to juggle faster and then panic and drop all their precious coins on the cab floor.

Gossip Congregation

Easter Sunday and all the big supermarkets are closed and it was exactly the same ritual performance as last year, it’s what I call the Easter Sunday parade, with hundreds of cars full of desperate retail junkies driving round looking for a supermarket that’s open for business.

They just can’t believe that they dare have the audacity to close their temple of consumerism just when they want to go shopping as they usually do every single Sunday.

 They don’t just look at the car park, see it’s empty and realise the store is closed, and drive away, nope they have to drive right up to the store entrance and stare at the locked doors with wide open mouths.

They actually form an orderly queue to do this and then they all drive off to the next supermarket down the road to repeat the mournful ritual. It seems that they just don’t know what to do with their sad selves without their Sunday shopping fix; wonder what they did before the stores started Sunday trading!

Sunday shopping seems to have replaced church services and even the great British pub liquid lunch to become some people’s sole source of a social life. Whole family's seeking the great nirvana of retail therapy clog the aisles as they engage in epic gossip sessions with others who they only ever see in the hallowed retail cathedrals. Pity the poor layperson who actually just wants to dash in and out and grab a quick bite for lunch. None of the gossip congregation will give an inch to let anyone else past them and will use their empty shopping trolleys as a weapon to stop the philistines from invading the hallowed ground.   

 We taxi drivers could make lots more money if our phone operators just didn't tell customers that the stores were shut. We could then just take them on a nice leisurely trip round all the closed supermarkets and then back home again, but that’s bad public relations so we don’t do that.

It’s still a great pity though eh!

Tea for Two

Picked an elderly lady up on her own this Sunday just gone and she asked me to take her to a place in town that served meals as she wasn't cooking for one and she normally goes out for a meal with her friend every Sunday but her friend couldn't make it so she went on her own.

When we got to the destination she realised that she had left her money at home and couldn't pay the taxi fare but she did have her credit card with her. She was panicking about how she could pay for her meal and the taxi as she had no cash and I suggested she used her card to pay for the meal but she couldn't pay the taxi with a card as we are not yet geared up for it.

She was a regular fare and she felt awkward that she couldnt pay me at the time but I wasnt too bothered as I know I could knock on her door at a later date and collect the fare but she felt bad about it and suggested that I go and have a meal with her and she will pay for it instead of the taxi fare.

I was feeling a little hungry and thought about this and succumbed to temptation. It meant 30 minutes off work but I got a free carvery out of it and the elderly lady shared my company and it really made her day.

After we had eaten she asked me to drop her off home where she would pay me the fare for the journey home. I took her home and she went in the house to get her money and came out with a £10 note and told me to keep the change as I had been very understanding to her and she didn't have to eat on her own and she didnt want me losing out.

A good day all around, a £10 fare including a tip and a carvery. Cant go wroing with that one.

Priorities and Liberties

It was early evening when I got a call to pick a young girl up from the local chinese. She got in the car with 2 carrier bags. One had her chinese meal in it and the other was full of tins of beer.

During the journey she asks me if £2.10p would get her home. I knew it wouldnt but there again wouldnt be too far off and under normal circumstances, a young girl on her own I would have took her home so to make sure she got home safely but some people just take it for granted that as they pay for a taxi at the end of the journey that they can get away with a little bit more than they would if buying goods in a shop.

Now look at the scenario. She`s got in the cab with chinese and beer and then expects a cheap cab home. Would she have expected cheap beer or food. So when the meter got to £2.10p I stopped tha cab. She then said she could pay when she gets home and I started getting a little suspicious about it. I took her home. Fare was £2.50p. She then asked me if I could come back for the other 40p nbext Tuesday then had the cheek to say that if I`m coming back next Tuesday she will keep the money she has and pay me it all next week.

I was having none of it. I took the £2.10p and also said that I required payment of the balance there and then. She offered me 2 cans of larger as payment. So I took them.

At least when I finished a long shift I had a drink to relax with.

It just annoys me that customers take liberties this way. Their priorities are all wrong.

Penny Pinching

The majority of fares will pay what is on the meter and usually give you a tip. Sometimes big, sometimes small. It works both ways as if its say for example £1.90p on the meter the chances are the customer will give you £2 and say keep the change. If it says £2.10p on the meter then I will often say to the customer just give us £2 but this week I got one customer who I had been told was a bit tight and I didn't know whether to believe it or not so off we set on a short journey that was to be £2.25p on the meter.

The customer paid me using a £2 coin, a 20p coin and 3 2p coins totalling £2.26p. I took the money and out it away expecting him to get out the car but he sat there. I had a feeling he was waiting for his penny change so when I rummaged through my loose change and gave him a penny he then thanked me and got out of the car.

Prior to picking this person up I could see him feeding coins into a slot machine and losing.