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| Blogs > ShedrivestaxiSF > Night Driving |
Wild, strange, dark, not sure weekend.
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Wild, strange, dark, not sure weekend. I have been having way too many days when I really didn’t want to go to work. It really is just the drive to work I do not want to do. I actually enjoy work, once I am there but the getting to work I am not a fan of these days. I also had a very bad Saturday. Not only did I not want to drive to work, I just didn’t want to work even once I got there. I don’t know why and it didn’t even change once I was at work this day. I did work and work as hard as I could. Strange and funny things did happen but it just didn’t get me out of my funk. Have I told you there is a law that a taxi driver cannot take more passengers than they have seat belts? Well there is one. I have been asked many times to take 5, pleaded and begged too, but I will not. The fine for taking more than what I am suppose to take out weighs anything the passengers want to say or give me. Driving down a high tourist area, Fisherman’s Wharf, I was asked if I could take 5 and I said no but I would take some and another taxi would be by soon to take the rest. Customer said they would wait so I started to drive off. A taxi driver going the other way told me I should take them anyway. Why did it matter to him if I took these passengers or not? He even had a full taxi and couldn’t take them himself. Sorry, not going to do it. In the past I have picked up female but tonight I picked up a male ! He is was a black male wearing black pants and shirt but he had on white shoes and belt. Very stylish, from the 1970’s. He was a very nice man, we chatted nicely all the way to his destination. He said his wife of 8 years had passed a few months ago and his world fell apart. He felt lost and didn’t want to do what he was doing before, managing a few large companies. He fell into<b> stripping </font></b>at a gay bar, enjoying the stress free life he was living. After a bit, he thought he would start sleeping with men for money. money was better than<b> stripping </font></b>but he is not a gay man. He also is working for KINK.com doing some porn and modeling for them. Hope he finds his way, soon. He was not sure how long he wanted to do this but for now, it was working for him. The people walking down in the city never cease to amaze me with what they wear! Fluorescent yellow green skirt and extremely high heels with a white jacket and big blond hair. Very 80’s look. She was being pulled along by a man wearing basketball shorts and a hoodie. Very unmatched couple. Driving down O’Farrell St a large dog, like a husky was hanging out the sunroof of a car! I didn’t think anyone would believe me so I have photo proof! Picking up two men in the Castro tonight was pretty normal but on the way we were chatting and one of the guys just fell asleep. He would every once in awhile wake up and say something to me then he just started talking nonsense in his sleep, my guess, about his work. Things couldn’t go here or there and they needed to move this or that! Quite humorous. About 4 blocks from their hotel, the other guy kept telling his friend to wake up. We are here. The sleeping friend said, no let me sleep until we get there. Everyone was happy and awake when they got out of the taxi. There was a blackout on Castro Street! I was driving down Castro and all of a sudden the power went out. At first there was a strange quiet then an high pitch ahhhh. I was able to make it to Market Street and was flagged right there, so I was able to get out of the Castro for a little time. I went back after dropping off a those passengers and found out that only Castro between Market Street and 19th Street had no power so a few of the bars and restaurants were fine. The Castro was a busy, busy place on Saturday night! I did pick up a few who didn’t even know the power was out. Makes it an exciting evening! Disney is now off my list of places I would like to visit. I picked up a lady who works for Disney in their promotions department. She is in charge of making sure department is able to deal with conventions and things like that. At first we were having a great chat about her job and Disney, then she all of a sudden wanted to know why it was costing 3 times the amount that it costed her to get to where she was going. There was tons of traffic so it would take longer to get to where she wanted to go. She said I was taking the long way around. I told her I was taking the fastest way and shortest route to her hotel. She made many comments about how long it was taking. I asked her if she wanted me to drop her off right here and now but she said, NO I want you to take me to my hotel. I should have just had her get out of my taxi. I did nothing wrong in her route. There are always a few way to get from one side of the city to another some cost a little bit more than others, some have more traffic. I got her to her hotel and I told her to have a good night. She said she needed to pay me but I didn’t want her money. She is such a bitter woman I didn’t need her negative attitude anymore in my taxi. She needed the money much more than I do, apparently. I met a man who creates guitars in Nashville and his wife, they were such a fun and friendly couple. A reason why I love driving taxi in San Francisco, most people are so friendly and fun to have in my taxi! I love chatting up tourist! Sometimes I am even asked to take them someplace cool, like Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Sutro Tower, over the Golden Gate Bridge or Ocean Beach. I love to let people know where to go to see awesome things in the city like Top of the Mark for drinks and dinner then hope on a cable car and ride it down to the Embarcadero. When the lights turn back on the Bay Bridge it will be a very romantic ride down California Street, again. The Embarcadero is also a wonderful place to take a stroll during the evening. The walkway is well lit and not many people hang out there but it is a nice place for an evening walk. They have a few different sculptures along the walkway as well. Most of them came from Burning Man (a music and art festival in the middle of the desert but used to be in San Francisco until it got too big) including a 60-foot sculpture named “SOMA” combines metal and LED lights to mimic brain neurons and create an interactive experience by the Flaming Lotus Girls. Not a whole lot has happened since the weekend. Tuesday seem to be slow too. Still hoping things will pick up. Talking to another driver yesterday and he is really convinced that only Uber has changed things in the city. He didn’t think that the cost of living in SF had anything to do with it, also he said that thousands and thousands are moving in the city every week so there should be so many more people needing taxis. I am not sure that is how it works. I think the more people that move into the city, the more cars are on the road and public transportation is getting used much, much more. The cost of an apartment is still very expensive at an average $4,200 for a small one bedroom. Crazy! We also have tons of housing being built in the Mission Bay/Patch area so it will become busy there as well but not cost any less. Thank you very much for reading my blog! I love you very much! Thank you very much for reading my blog!  I love you very much!  |
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I do drive people for Worker's Comp, is something similar to being a taxi; yes lots of interesting people and interesting places, but I bet San Francisco has more stories. Thank you for sharing your experiences, I really enjoyed 
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