It's officially the most dreaded time of the year for local cab drivers.... Summertime!!!
Huntington used to have a population of over 100,000. It used to have lots of industry, a stable economy, and it had a quaint little school named Marshall College. Now it has less than half that population, a very unstable economy, almost ZERO industry, and a big school named Marshall University. Sadly enough with the exception of two hospitals, a wal-mart, and a few other employers, Marshall and its students pretty much drive the economy of this shit hole. So, between May and September the cab driving business goes in the toilet, which leads to my last two categories of passengers I described yesterday.
4) Weekend Warriors: These folks only take cabs on weekends and include a wide variety of people. My favorite out of this group are the ones who own cars, but are taking a cab because they are intelligent and responsible enough to realize they are going to be drinking, and do not want a DUI. They typically go pretty long distances, and they tip well most times. Now the ones I hate are the douchebag frat boys who I hate on general principle.
6) The Drunks: This is the most well known group of riders. They can be nice and pleasant or mean as a snake. I have very little tolerance for them when they get mean but the regulars are some of my favorites. We actually save countless lives each and every day, but this like a lot of other jobs is thankless and severely underpaid.
Please feel free to comment!!!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
My life as a cab driver in West Virginia
Im from a small town in West Virginia called Huntington, its had recent fame for being called "The Unhealthiest Place in America", and a chef from England named Jamie Oliver filmed a show here about what fat slobs we are and how we are turning our children into even fatter slobs. However this is about driving a cab, not fat asses, even though I haul quite a few of them.
Driving a cab in small town appalachia is vastly different in a lot of ways than I imagine it would be in larger cities. Nobody here is taking a cab because they care about the environment, or because driving is such a hassle. Choosing to take a cab here is the lesser of a few evils, its certainly better than walking, and most days less time consuming than taking a bus, which is at the bottom of public transportation here.
Most of my passengers fall into a few general categories, although there are always exceptions, but here they are:
1) Average people, These are the folks that do not have cars, they ride a cab to get back and forth to work, to go the grocery store, etc... These people are the nicest, offer the best conversation, and tip consistently.
2)People involved in the drug culture. This can further be broken down into dealers and users, the dealers are the preferred passenger of the two because they have money to burn, they arent going to rip you off because they don't want the bad attention, users on the other hand cannot usually be trusted, and most of the time making them pay up front is a good idea.
3)The first of the month crowd. These people ride when they get their government check each month. Some of these can be good fares, most of them are trash that ride back and forth to wal mart and further most peoples stereotype of what a typical west virginian is. Unfortunately they are our biggest source of income.
Driving a cab in small town appalachia is vastly different in a lot of ways than I imagine it would be in larger cities. Nobody here is taking a cab because they care about the environment, or because driving is such a hassle. Choosing to take a cab here is the lesser of a few evils, its certainly better than walking, and most days less time consuming than taking a bus, which is at the bottom of public transportation here.
Most of my passengers fall into a few general categories, although there are always exceptions, but here they are:
1) Average people, These are the folks that do not have cars, they ride a cab to get back and forth to work, to go the grocery store, etc... These people are the nicest, offer the best conversation, and tip consistently.
2)People involved in the drug culture. This can further be broken down into dealers and users, the dealers are the preferred passenger of the two because they have money to burn, they arent going to rip you off because they don't want the bad attention, users on the other hand cannot usually be trusted, and most of the time making them pay up front is a good idea.
3)The first of the month crowd. These people ride when they get their government check each month. Some of these can be good fares, most of them are trash that ride back and forth to wal mart and further most peoples stereotype of what a typical west virginian is. Unfortunately they are our biggest source of income.
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