Lost my smile :(

Well, not really but a cap (crown, I don’t know which it is) fell out.  It is my canine tooth so it is visible.  I am not comfortable showing my missing tooth.  I never was comfortable showing a yucky front tooth as well but a wonderful dentist fixed it.  This cap has been re-put a few times so I will have to get a implant.  That costs a lot of money that I do not have right now.  I have thought about doing a “crowd sourcing” kind of thing but I am not sure how to do that or if it is even what I could do.  RIP smile for now.

This past week has been pretty AMAZING for rides.  I have had 2 rides to Marin, one from the airport and one from the city.  The ride from the airport was a fun ride!  We chatted and talked about family, kids and schools.  I love it when you connect with a passenger.  When we were close to his house, I thought I had driven him in the past but we drove right by the area where I had driven that passenger.  It was okay.  Got to his home and you could see San Quentin from his street!  Well it was across the Bay. Awesome view.  The other ride to Marin was a pickup at the ballpark to 29th and Balbo to Marin.  I picked up two guys and a female.  They chatted all the way to the first stop about kids and family stuff, it was interesting and fun to listen to their stories.  After I dropped off one male and one female only a guy was left.  We started to chat about a few things, mostly universities he and his friends went too.  Then the subjects changed almost too quickly for me to keep up!  He then started to chat about all different kinds of things that really didn’t make sense.  I didn’t know what had happened!  I tried to keep up but I he kept talking and changing the subject all on his own.  I was so relieved to drop him off!  Back to the city with no problems.

I saw another shooting star!  I love when that happens!  I was on my way home and saw it just drop down!  I wished as soon as I exclaimed “beautiful!”  I don’t think I have this many shooting stars in the city!  I am always looking up at the sky when I can.  The moon has been amazing lately too!  Love full moons.

I picked up a lady at SFO and she needed to get to the Oakland Children's hospital as quickly as possible but she arrived during rush hour. What could have taken around 30 minutes took us over an hour!  Her daughter had broken her ankle and was going in for surgery while the mother was on the way to the hospital.  I felt so bad being in so much traffic but she understood.  I really wanted to chat with her to take her mind off of not being there but she was nice in answering but she seemed like she really didn’t want to talk so I would just say a little bit at a time.  Hope he daughter’s surgery went okay!  She was in good hands.  The mom gave me an awesome $23 tip too!  I guess I did a good job.

Next after crossing the bridge I turned onto Howard St and was flagged!  He wanted to go to the airport!  Nice ride and wonderful conversation!  So much fun! His kids are 10 years apart and my kids are 13 years apart.  It is great to chat with someone else with the same kinds of issues to deal with.

Didn’t stay at the airport since reports were the airport was really slow so I went back into town and was flagged right away again!  The young guy had bright pink and yellow long hair with glowing pink earings in!  He was really nice and was going to a work bar crawl in the Mission/Castro area.  According to him his company does quarterly bar crawls with 50 to 200 people joining in!  Sounded like a blast!  Oh and this guy…  Apparently has been a hacker since he was 3!  He never was taught how to code but learned all on his own, building his own computers out of spare parts and not being able to touch a computer at school.  Not sure what or any of it is true but you have to believe the passenger, right?

Crossing the street and I was flagged again!!  I LOVE nights like these, when it is one flag after another! I took them to the Haight District.  Wonderful nice couple.

Driving down Haight St, I never get flagged.  Well, not ever, I guess.  I was flagged by a lady and an older man.  She at first wanted to go to CalTrain but then asked how much to Menlo Park.  I said it is meter and a half, about $139.  She wanted to know if I would take her for a deal of $60.  I said that is way less than meter and a half but I would do it for straight meter or about $89.  She was okay with that.  We chatted all the way to Menlo Park, she and her father moved here from Tibet about 20 years ago.  Her dad, chanted almost all the way there, it was interesting to hear.  They were leaving in the morning to go to a “rich” 2nd cousins Tibetan wedding.  She wasn’t sure what color the bride was going to wear (not red, like I thought.  That is saved for special ceremonies.  I didn’t know!).

Love it when my night ends on a note like that!  I went home for a few minutes and then went in to turn my taxi in for the night.

8/22/15

I was taking a very nice couple to the theater and we passed a guy on Hyde Street with his penis all out of his pants!   He then started to pee on cars as they passed by!  Happy I was already driving far enough away from him to not be peed on.  I saw him move into the street to pee on cars too!  The crazy things I see in the city.  Needless to say the couple in the back seat were a little amused about the man.  Not really amused but they were not surprised to see it.

Where is the most creative place you have been to a wedding?  I picked up people who went to a wedding in the Asian Art Museum.  So cool!  They were able to walk around most of the museum as well after the ceremony.  I would really love that!  The Asian Art Museum is on my list of things still to do in San Francisco.

8/23/15

I was dropping a very nice young man off at a gas station in the Mission and just after he got out I was locking doors and turning off my light, all of a sudden an older gentleman came up close to my front passenger door and looked deeply into the taxi!  As soon as he saw me, he looked very startled almost like he wanted to say something then walked away quickly. That was a little creepy.

Is there a game that men play with a dropped and spinning coins?  A group of men at the airport were “playing” this game.  They seemed to be very interested and having a blast playing it.

You could really tell it was a full moon in the city this past weekend.  Driving around the city, you almost took your life into your own hands!  It was crazy!  I tried not to be involved in with it at all but I seemed to be in the middle of it more than I like to be.  I kept a cool head.  I was being cut off for rides, when I was turning they turned on the inside of my turn so they could get around me (I was waiting for people to cross the street), stopping in the middle of the road for no reason or swerving into my lane as I went by.  Happy when I went to taxi school, I was taught to see more than just what is in front of me!  I am always on the look out for people behaving badly.  

Thank you very much for all of your patience and also for reading!  I love you very much!  See you soon!

Entitled people and finger pain

I fear I hurt a (maybe homeless) man’s feelings last night!  I need to stop asking questions when I know I really should not.  Well I often go to a Jack in the Box after work late at night and there is a very nice man (not sure if he is homeless but he is outside all the time) who stands outside of Jack in the Box with a cup.  He is not aggressive or pushy, he always has a smile and is always polite when you give him money.  Last night I asked the guy at Jack in the Box (he is a very nice guy and always offers me extra things… Yep, I go WAY too often!) what the guy does with his money.  I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I just meant it in a “does he spend it at Jack in the Box” way.  The “homeless” guy is always nice looking and I am not sure if he is on drugs but I don’t think so.  I tried to give him money after asking but he asked me “do you have an issue”.  I said no and tried to give him money but he wouldn’t take it.  I felt so bad.  I didn’t think that through but who does when you have been awake for more than you really should be.  Should I go and apologize to him?  Should I try and give him money the next time I see him?  I am not sure what I should do.

My first ride of the night was a pick up at the airport and two very nice ladies here visiting from Florida.  They were very nice but name and brand droppers.  Fun ladies….  When I was putting their suitcases in the taxi one of their suitcases “bit” my index finger!  Oh, it hurt very bad and bled for quite a long time after.  It hurts really, really bad this morning but I will be okay.

Picking up people you never know who you are going to get.  Last night I picked up the very drunk construction worker, complete with a hardhat.  He gave me cross streets but I had never heard of both of them but I knew it was in Hunter’s Point area.  I was a little nervous but the guy was very nice.  He kept giving me money for the ride.  He started asking me questions about my life, like we were on a date.  I answered very vaguely but he kept asking.  When I dropped him off he gave me his business card and asked me to call him sometime because he wanted to get to know me even better.  I didn’t know what to say.  I thanked him and happy he was out of my taxi and I was away quickly.  Hunter’s Point is not the best area in the city and not a good place for a taxi driver to be in at 1:00 am.  I drove quickly out of the area and into normal areas of the city without incident or even seeing anyone!

Is it bad that I roll down the window and turn off all noise in the taxi to see what people on the side of the road are yelling about?  Typically they are homeless people talking to themselves but sometimes it is very interesting.  It does not always make sense but interesting.

Driving along Market St there is a SHEK shoe store and last night there was a long, long line of people waiting outside.  It was kind of like when a new and exciting phone or a new amazing video game comes out, kind of line.  So what was the new and exciting shoe to come out?

I had a wonderful fun lady in my taxi who needed to go to CalTrain, we had a wonderful conversation but when I was dropping her off a young lady approached my taxi before the lady inside was done paying.  It happens often but I watched the young lady huff then say “what, you are not going to pick me up”.  I finished up with the lady in the taxi and as she was getting out she asked if the young lady wanted to get into the taxi.  The young lady said “of course, duh” and pushed her way into the taxi.  Very rude young lady.  She gave me an address and I asked her what the cross streets were and she said that I should know where it is.  I put her address in my gps and off we went.  I asked if the freeway was okay, she said, I have no idea. Okay…  Got to her address and had to back up because I went 20 feet too far.   She paid with a credit card and gave me a 4 cent tip.  Nice…  Then she asked me to wait until she got inside but I didn’t.  I know that was mean of me and didn’t make sense but the lady pissed me off.  I do not like entitled people.  She was very, very rude.  

There was a man standing on the side of the street, just standing stiff and doing the Nazi salute.  Why? I have no idea at all!

There is a Zero Vision in San Francisco trying to keep the pedestrians safe.  Market Street is a very busy street with both pedestrians and cars.  When you have that many of both sometimes there are problems so SF is trying to make things a little bit better by making less car traffic on Market Street.  Now you cannot turn onto Market Street from 3rd Street to 8th Street.  If you are already on Market Street before 3rd St you can stay on Market Street.  If you are on Market Street before 8th Street you actually will be forced off at 10th Street.  Just the way it is.  For the most part this is a great idea, there is less car traffic because the only ones who can turn onto Market Street are buses, taxis, bicycles and commercial vehicles.  The police have started to ticket and force cars to go the correct way but only when there is a lot of traffic not all night long. Actually now they need to start working on the jaywalkers.  People cross when they want and how they want all over the city.  In the rain, they often will cross the street in dark clothing.  You cannot see them at all.  My guess is they have headphones in so they cannot hear you as well.  Maybe they will work on them next?  Who knows.

Last night a very nice young lady and a cute guy got into my taxi and the first thing he said was “I have never had a female taxi driver”.  She said she had a female “jitni” taxi driver before.  I had never heard of a jitni taxi before.  Apparently it is a ‘hood taxi”, the person driving is just someone from the neighborhood who picks up people to take them where they need to go.  There is no metered rate so the passenger asks what the flat rate is or they barter for the cost.  This is crazy!  I said, just like getting into a Uber.  She said yes but less scary!  She says most drivers you know or live where you live so there typically is no problems.  She would never take an Uber because of the horrible things that are said about them.

Okay, now it is time to get ready for work.  So much fun…  Hoping tonight is amazing and fun!  Time to go and shower…

Thank you very much for reading my blog!  I love you very much!

Work? Who has time for that.... Me :(

Wow, today someone really didn’t want me to go to work.  I left to go and pick up my son from school but all the gates were locked so he had to go to the front of the school to be picked up.  The front of the school is the worst place to pick up a child from school because everyone wants to pick up their child in the front of school.  The will stop in the middle of the road so their child will not have to walk 10 feet to their car then they wait until their child is done saying goodbye to all of their friends.  Okay, that makes me a little unhappy.  Pull over to a parking space if you can.  Be considerate of others!  What normally takes minutes took 30 minutes.  I then needed to take my son to his sister’s work but most of the roads going to her work were under construction so I had to detour around another 5-6 blocks!  I should have taken that for a sign but I didn’t.  I went to work instead of going home like I really wanted too.

I guess it was a good thing I went to work because it was a very nice night.  Not too busy but nice!

My first pickup was at the airport and it was 2 very nice ladies.  They chit chatted in the back of the taxi the whole way to their hotel.  From what I gathered they have been very good friends about 30 years.  One of the ladies looked so familiar to me but I didn’t want to say anything.  She had very bright spiky red hair and her nose is long and straight.  I thought she reminded me of a cartoon character but I wasn’t sure where I knew her from.  I didn’t try and stare but I would glance back at her every once in a while.  Her friend, I don’t think I knew her.  We arrived at their hotel and I turned around and said, “Do I know you from someplace?”  They were very happy to tell me where I would have seen her!  Made me happy!  I hate to make someone feel uncomfortable.  So she said, I may have seen her in Austin Powers, iCarly and many more shows.  I said, I thought I knew her!  She was on many, many kids shows.  I looked her up on IMBD and she has been on 165 shows!  She is pretty amazing actor!  I let her know I thought she was a pretty cool actress.  She introduced herself as Mindy and shook my hand.  I went and took their suitcases out of the trunk and wished them a wonderful weekend.  I wish I could have asked her for a picture with her but she is on vacation and I wasn’t going to interrupt her fun time.  Oh, her name is Mindy Sterling.  She is much prettier in person.  I would be her friend if I could.  

Driving down Union St almost at the corner of Van Ness there is one of the smallest bars in the city, it only seats 12 people!!  It is called Black Horse Tavern. I have met the owner and he is really nice.  He has owned the bar for a long time.  Well, tonight as a double decker city tour bus passed by the tavern, a loud cheer came out of the there!  The people in the tavern were all holding their beer bottles up in a cheer to the bus.  The next thing I know, the bus is cheering back at the tavern!  San Francisco people are awesome!

When picking up people, I have said it before, I do not care how far I have to take them.  It might be 4 blocks, 10 blocks, across town, across the Bay or just up the street.  It doesn’t matter to me!  I also do not mind taking a credit card.  It is the price of doing business.  Well, tonight I took a guy about 10 blocks away, he said he didn’t want to walk up the hill.  Not a problem.  He said he would take care of me.  It is okay.  Great when someone says that but most tip nicely but not too much.  Tonight this guy gave me a $10 tip on a $7 ride!!!!  It was on a credit card and I tried to tell him that was WAY too much but he insisted!  Wow!!  I know we had a wonderful conversation but am I really that good?  He had just moved to SF a few months ago and had moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I love Michigan people!  Well, he lived there for a couple of years but he loved it there.  

One of the other taxi drivers in a group I belong too writes for a newspaper here in town and he is really good!  I guess he started out writing a blog about how much he hated driving for Lyft.  He now writes about his time driving a taxi and personal stuff.  Well, I had a super fan of his in my taxi the other day!  

After I dropped off a couple of very nice ladies at the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel the doorman started to talk to me.  He said, he really doesn’t like the Uber or Lyft drivers because they are stupid!  His words not mine.  He said they will block the entrance to the hotel and drop off the passengers in the street or they will try and back out of the driveway into the interaction versus going down the driveway.  He is really pro taxi!  He even asked everyone that was walking out of the hotel if they needed a taxi.  He finally got a taker!  I took a very nice guy all the way across town!  Great ride!  He didn’t know but I was happy for the ride!

Okay, I think that is all the excitement I can send out tonight!  Thank you again for reading and I love you very much!

Drivers, crazy, favorites

Crazy week is behind me now.  At least I think it is!  This past weekend I was so swamped!  Busy, busy, busy!  When I talked to other drivers they said it was a slow weekend.  Sometimes it is just being in the right place at the right time but most of the time I am the unlucky one.  

Here are a few things that happened over the weekend.

A young man flagged me and wanted me to know that he prefers LyftLine over taking a taxi.  (Why did he flag a taxi then???  huh?)  He said it only costs him $6 for his ride to work but it would cost him in a taxi $12.  Okay, a savings but he sometimes has to share the car with 2 to 3 other people.  Good for the driver but according to the young man it is horrible for the passengers because it should only be a 10 minute drive it can and almost always does take up to 1 hour.  Yep, that is a savings.  I guess only paying $6 for a an hour ride to work is cheap for him.  I have always thought my time was more precious than the amount I pay for something.  It is kind of like when you drive all over town grocery shopping to save money but you spend way more in gas and time.  Not a savings for me.  

In the Marina District you can normally find douchebag men and bitchy women.  Well, on Friday night at about 1:30 am, three men were doing pushups in the street.  Why do men do things like that?  Crazy stupid.

Trying to get me some good karma, I give someone a free ride about once or twice a week.  I really cannot afford to give people free rides but I do it anyway because I cannot afford to help others any other way.  I do what I can.  

Are you obsessed with the Royal Family?  I know a little.  I had a lady in my taxi who knew ALL kinds of interesting things about the Royal Family.  She was fun to talk too!  I learned so much and I think I am going to start trying to learn what I can about the Royal Family.  So much intrigue.  

Saturday is 98 degrees in San Francisco!  98!!!  It never gets that hot in the city!  Never!  The wind typically blows cold air or the marine layer comes in after dark but it stayed very warm until about 10 pm and then it cooled off quite a bit but only went down to 68 degrees.  Also it was the night of the Naked Sparkly Penis Guy in the Castro.  Passengers from Texas asked if it was legal in California or San Francisco.  Nope, it is not legal but if the man has his penis covered it is okay and he has to put something down when he sits down.  Not many people go “mostly naked” in the city.  

Front seat drivers are my favorite!  Haha!  I had a guy sitting in the front seat of my taxi and his family sat in the back seats but every time someone cut me off, made me stop quickly or maneuver to get around someone, the guy in the front seat would do a kind of karate chop motion with his hands, not saying anything.  I was much less stressed than the guy in the front seat but he never said anything to me.  I guess it was okay.

Everyone thinks taxi drivers are very aggressive drivers but I don’t think they compare to Uber and Lyft drivers.  I feel they do not follow the legal way to drive because they have to make so much money an hour to make ends meet.  Cutting people off, beeping if you are not moving fast enough, illegal lane changes, turning quickly in front of people and stopping when and where they want to stop!  If you get into my taxi you will be treated like family.  I drive like a normal person.  I will listen to you if you want me to go a certain way but I will not drive like a crazy person for no one.

Best ride of the night by far happened at about 2:15 am!  I was flagged by a guy who came up to my passenger window and in a deep quiet voice to ask me if I would take him and his friend (who was standing by a tree on the sidewalk) to Oakland.  I kind of was a little spooked.  He seemed to take a little offense but started to joke with me.  I said I would take them where they needed to go as long as they were nice to me, then the smiles happened.  We chatted and joked all the way to Oakland.  I asked what they did, one was a musician and an artist and the other one was a radio sound guy.  The only sound guy I know is Anderson from the podcast of LoveLine, so I asked if they listen to podcasts.  The radio guy asked me to name 5 of my top favorite podcasts.  I was on the spot and couldn’t even name five.  I listen to so many podcasts, I had to take them off of my iPhone.  One of the podcasts I did say was Snap Judgement.  If you haven’t heard this podcast, I would suggest you listen to it!  It is all about different people and the judgements they have made, not necessarily good or bad.  I love all the different stories the people tell plus the host is from Michigan and lives in Oakland now.  Well, as we were driving along I asked if anyone had plans for the weekend and the sound guy said he was going to papier-mâché fruit.  I was a little shocked at his answer but I went along with it.  I asked him what happens to the fruit when it hardens.  He said he has power tools to get the fruit out then he eats them.  Since he has been papier-mâchéing the fruit he has been forced to eat different kind of fruit.  He takes the papier-mâché fruit and hangs them all over his ceiling in his living room.  I asked if he had have papier-mâchéd a dragon fruit and he said no because it is too spiky.  Funny.  He said he had mostly pears because he loved pears.  I asked what about vegetables, he said he buys them and eats them too fast to use papier-mâché on them.  Well, we made it to his place and I still had to take the musician/artist home.  As soon as the sound guy got out of the taxi the other guy said, you know that podcast you were talking about, Snap Judgement?  I said yes, he said, you know that Pat Mesiti-Miller is the guy you just dropped off.  He works on Snap Judgement.  Why didn’t he say anything to me?  The musician/artist guy said that Pat really enjoys “real” conversations with people and he was really enjoying our conversation.  I really did enjoy the conversation but I had to ask if Pat really did papier-mâché fruit and his friend said, no.  That made the ride so much better!  I did make too much of a fuss about Pat, I felt sorry about not chatting with the musician/artist much more.  I did apologies because I am not normally “start struck” but I really was.  Crazy as it sounds. I did post on twitter .@snapjudgement enjoyed the ride.  What is the new papier-mâché fruit for the weekend?  No response yet to my tweet.  Not hoping for much but it would be nice.

Getting a little sleepy right now so I will add more tomorrow night.  Thank you again for reading my blog and I love you very much!  Good night!

Angry men, pat downs, orange moon and many more

Normally I am a very patient and easy going person but sometimes people rub me the wrong way.  On Friday night my first pick up in the city was an extremely drunk man.  He had a hard time telling me where he wanted to go.  I waited patiently.  He said Grant and Green at first, we were on Columbus and Green which was a right turn and one block.  He said, No Post and Polk.  I pulled away and he said I need to pull over so he could pee.  I asked him if he really wanted to pee in North Beach with all the people around.  He said, all the cabbies know me and let me pee where I want too.  I asked if he just wanted to get out, he said no just find a place for me to pee.  I got to Columbus and Union trying to turn and he kept saying you could have gone when there was very little space for me to turn.  He kept saying you are too slow and he wanted me to turn quickly and pull over so he could pee.  I said there are way too many children around here to pee outside.  He asked me where I would take him to pee and I let him know I would take him to Post and Polk.  He said that was okay he could wait.  He did continue to complain about how fast I was going, too many cars on the road, me stopping at stop signs and just about anything else that I was doing or not doing.  I turned onto Larkin St because it was it is a much faster street than Polk St (always a lot of traffic and people there). He asked again where we were going because he didn’t say he wanted to go down Larkin St.  At this time I had just about enough.  I pulled over and asked him to get out of my taxi.  He said, no. I asked again for him to get out of my taxi.  This time as he was getting out of my taxi he said he was disabled and I was doing a very bad thing.  I said I am kicking you out of my taxi because you are a very rude man and he kept saying I was doing a bad thing because he is disabled.  I just do not think you should be that rude to anyone!  

Have you ever been to a strip club?  I have not (well, not more than the vestibule).  I watched a guy being patted down as he entered a strip club.  Is that normal?  Has it ever happened to you?

Did you happen to notice the moon on Saturday night at about 1:31 am?  Here the moon was a deep orange silver hanging really low here.  I love looking at the moon!  Always something interesting happening around the moon too.  There is suppose to be meteor showers for the next couple of nights.  Tonight I was able to see a shooting star when I was taking a passenger home to Berkeley.  The passenger remind me to make a wish.  I did.  Still hope to see more, I have more wishes to make.  haha

Taking home drunk people you are never sure what is going to happen when they need to pay.  Dropping off a guy and he kept searching through his pockets looking for his wallet and not finding it.  He asked me if I had it, nope.  He kept searching through his pockets again, like it was going to show up, it didn’t.  He asked me again if I had his wallet, again I said I didn’t have it.  He said he needed to go inside to get his wallet (I guess I really didn’t have his wallet after all, haha).  He went to his door but had to be buzzed in.  Whoever let him in asked him why he wasn’t using a key but I didn’t hear his response. On his way back out he did say he was going to need help with the taxi.  He did pay me without any problems.  

Outside Lands was this past weekend.  It was a fun hearing about all the different bands that were playing at the festival.  There were a few shocking groups that played but most I had never heard of.  Sam Smith and Mumford and Sons was there and I would have to see either of them.  I heard Billy Idol was there, crazy!  I heard he was amazing too!  The person that shocked me the most was Sir Elton John was the main headliner that everyone wanted to go see!  This festival is attended by 30 somethings.  Most were not even born when Elton John was really big.  I did hear that he has a new album out.  It was strange to hear the young men being so excite about seeing someone I loved when I was young!  Elton John still has it!  Talk about staying power.  

I took a passenger to Walgreens in Daly City and while I was waiting outside in my taxi a guy was pushing a shopping cart with a thing of water in it and a container of fruit.  As he pushed the shopping cart off the sidewalk and into the parking lot the container of fruit fell and spilled all over the ground.  The guy just continued to go back to his car doing nothing about the container of fruit.  I am not sure what I would have liked him to do with the fruit but I at least would have picked up as much as I could.  

Often times I have troubles understanding where people want to go but if English is their first language I don’t normally have much trouble but a guy asked me to go to “sorry towed” and I had no clue what he was saying.  I asked him where it was and he said 24th and Mission.  As we chatted a few more minutes on the way to 24th and Mission I figured out where he wanted to go.  El Farolito.  I have not been to this Mexican restaurant but I have heard it is yummy.  Always packed, even at 3:00 am.  Maybe next time my family wants real Mexican food and we are close to the city.

Very sleepy tonight!  I have actually been writing this blog post for 4 days!  I just couldn’t find the words correctly.  I am hoping it makes sense but not sure.  

I did think of one more tip when taking a taxi.  Please, we know you enjoy taking Uber/Lyft please do not say how amazing it is to take one when you are in a taxi.  If it was so amazing why are you taking a taxi?  Must not be that amazing.  Sorry.  Just annoyed with it tonight.

Okay, thank you very much for reading my blog!  I love you very much and hope you get to wish on a shooting star like I did!

Interesting people

The city of San Francisco has so many interesting people walking around.  A man walking around carrying a 11x18 sized framed mirror and looking at himself.  He was also talking to himself as well.  He then showed other people what they looked like, not that those he showed really wanted to see themselves. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

Still living in a bubble I guess but in my life I have not seen many little people.  A few over my life but not many.  In the past six months I have seen about 50 driving all over the city.  I hope I haven’t offend anyone, it is just an observance.

Last night a young male was wearing tall bacon socks!  Well, they said bacon.  Cool kid!  He was wearing shorts and riding a skateboard.  Bacon is awesome but I am not sure I would wear bacon.

A few things passengers complain about other drivers.

1. Drivers not wanting to take passengers to Treasure Island, Oakland, Richmond, Stonestown areas.  

I will drive you 1 block to far, far away!  I do not care.  It is my job to drive you where you want to go.  Need to go to New York, I will take you!  Haha!  I will just have to make a few arrangements first or on the way.

2. Drivers not wanting to take credit cards.

I take credit cards.  They do charge me a fee but it is the price of doing business.  I personally do not carry cash very often so how could I even complain about taking a credit card.

3. Drivers talking on their phone while they have passengers.

I never take phone calls.  I apologize when I do get a phone call but I do not answer it, just silence it.  The only time I have taken phone calls is when the same person calls me twice in a matter of minutes.  I let my passenger know I need to take the call and then I answer quickly and let the person on the phone know I have a passenger.  End the call as soon as I can.  I then apologize again.

4. Drivers not wanting to take ParaTransit

I don’t often get ParaTransit but I always try to run it through the machine first so it will not take a long time.  I hate making the passenger wait any longer than they have too.  Most of the time it works with no problems but sometimes there is no signal and I have to call them in.  It takes much more time but works just as well.  Happy the passenger seems to be okay with me having to call it in because it happens often.

This weekend is Outside Lands.  A major music festival that lasts 3 days in San Francisco, thousands and thousands of people attend.  The weather forecast is actually very good!  Not too hot or too cold which is wonderful!  Many more people will go and need rides there and back!  I will be in the area, so if you need a ride!  Call or text me.

Well, thank you again for reading my blog!  I love telling my story.  Comments are fun too!  Helps me know how I am doing.

Thank you again!  I love you very much!

Tips for taking a taxi

I have a few tips for taking a taxi, well, taking my taxi.  I cannot speak for everyone, just for me.

1. When you hail my taxi, it is awesome if you do not wait until I am almost past you to raise your hand so I do not have to slam on my brakes or cut people off to get to you.  Makes things easier and safer for everyone.  

2. If you need to say goodbye to someone waiting for you, do it before you hail a taxi.  I understand you need to say goodbye but sometimes it takes more than a few minutes.  Hail a taxi after you say your long good bye and maybe a quick goodbye after you hail that taxi.

3. Say hello and give me a cross street or place you want to go.  I know where most cross streets in the city but not addresses.  If you do not know, I can and will gps it, so we do not go the wrong way.

4. If you have a prefered way to get to your address please tell me, feel free to be my backseat driver!  Or if you are only kind of sure, ask which way I am planning on going and let me know if it is okay with you.

5. Talking, it is okay with me if you do not feel like chatting.  If you do feel like chatting, I love to talk too!

6. At the very least, pay attention to the route we are taking, sometimes I mess up.  I am human and sometimes go the wrong way.  I am okay with you letting me know I am going the wrong way.  

7. If you are going to get really wasted, please make sure you have something with your current address on it.  It will make me taking you to your home so much easier!  I have no problems picking up someone who is black out drunk as long as you know where you live.

8. If you sit in my front seat, please put the seat back to where you found it or at least move it forward a little bit.  There is a reason why the front seat is pushed up as far as it can go, so when someone gets into the back seat, it is easier to get in and out of.  Often I have to stop after someone sits in the front seat and fix the seat.  I am not unhappy or mad about it but it would be nice if someone did fix it.

9. Tipping would be awesome.  Not sure everyone knows we live on tips just like hairdressers, waiters and bartenders.  Tips are the same percentage as they are in a restaurant, depending on service.  

10. Thank you again for riding in my taxi.  It is always a pleasure to take you to your destination.

Okay, not too many and not too hard to follow.  Right???  Did I forget something?  Hope not.

Thanks again for reading my blog!  I love you very much?

Wild, strange, dark, not sure weekend.

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Just your average Wednesday

Today was an average Wednesday in the city.  Nothing much going on really anywhere but I kept hearing that there was no taxis anywhere to be found. I don’t know what they were talking about because I saw many empty taxis and not many people out tonight.  Happens.  

I did see a guy riding a scooter with a green helmet and his hair in dreadlocks that I had to look at a few times because I thought it was an octopus!  Crazy!

I still have a cough.  It is driving me insane!  I wish I knew how to make it go away faster but it needs to run its course. I know.

Okay, one thing that gives me troubles when I drive my taxi at night is having to go to the bathroom.  As a female in the city there are not many places to go to the bathroom that are safe and clean.  A few of the hotels let taxi drivers use their bathrooms but some lock their doors at midnight.  Horrible!  Parking can be crazy in the city as well and MANY restaurants do not even have a bathroom for customers.  

There is a gamer convention in town but the gamers, I think, stayed in their hotels to drink and be social.  They were not out and about at bars that was for sure.

Well, I know it is not much but thank you for reading!  

Smelly people…  In a taxi it is WAY worse!  There is no place for the smell to go!  I can open the window but it doesn’t always help the smell of people.  

First off I do not like the smell of marijuana, not at all.  I also do not like the smell of smoke.  Gross.  The smell of the vapor or e-cigs are not pleasant for me either.  

People eating lots of garlic is overpowering too!  

Bad people

I have been driving for about 2 years and in that time I have only had 3 that I would never want in my taxi again.  I am still nice and receptful of them in my cab, they are just not nice and receptful.

I picked up a beautifully dresses couple on Columbus/Broadway and they wanted to go to Union/Polk.  I complimented the lady on her beautiful dress and she seemed to enjoy it.  The guy just dismissed me.  Wonderful.  I started driving down Columbus and missed going down the first street I could turn around.  I don’t know what I was thinking at that moment.  I went down to turn right on Washington and before I could the guy in the back starts yelling, “where are you going?  We are going the wrong way.” So I said, I am sorry, I missed the turn on Pacific.  We get to about the same location as where I picked them up at but on Kearny the guy says “You are not going to charge us the $7.40 from this ride, right?”  I said a little sarcastic “sure”.  I took them to their destination without any further problems.  I stopped and said have “a good night”, they started to get out of the taxi and he tried to give me money, I said, “thank you but it is okay.  Have a good night”. He said he needed to pay but I said “Have a great night”  and they finally got out but the guy threw, a whopping $5 at me through the window.  After I started to pull away I said loudly but not too loudly “I don’t want your bad karma money”  I gave the $5 to a homeless man to make me feel better.  And it did!  The ride would have cost him an extra $2.00.

Stopped for a guy on Castro/18th and he asked to go to 19th/Guerrero, so it wasn’t a big ride but we talked all the way, it was an enjoyable conversation.  We get to his destination and he says turn left and go a little bit.  I said, please tell me when, and he kept saying go, go forward. I kept driving until I get to Harrison and tell him I cannot go any farther.  He then says “You took me too far!” so I turned around and drove him back to 19th/Guerrero and told him this was his stop.  He said this isn’t where I live.  I said, this is where you need to get out of the taxi.  He tried to pay but I just wanted him out.  Even as he was leaving my taxi, he kept saying he didn’t live here.

The last man I picked up was on Castro/Market, I really knew I shouldn’t have picked him up by the way he was acting before I stop for him.  You never know about people so I picked him up anyway.  As soon as he got into my taxi he was concerned with my backpack attached out of the way in the trunk of my taxi.  I let him know it was mine and it was fine.  He calmed down for a few minutes and then he again started obsessing about my backpack.  I told him again that the backpack was mine and I turned the corner so I could get out of the traffic.  At this time I was getting a little uncomfortable so I asked him to leave my taxi.  He said, “but I can pay, I just want to get to…” He tried to give me a credit card but I didn’t want it.  I just wanted him out of my taxi.  He didn’t want to leave, he wanted to a ride.  I let him know I was feeling uncomfortable and I needed him to leave my taxi.  He still didn’t want to leave, I told him I was going to call the police if he didn’t leave.  He finally opened the door but wouldn’t really leave.  He kept saying, I will pay you, I just need to get to…  At this time I started calling emergency.  They picked up and I started explaining what was happening to me.  The guy finally left my taxi and shut the door.  I pulled away quickly and thanked the emergency people. They asked me if I was okay and safe.  I said I was fine and thank you.  After a few minutes of driving away, I stopped to take a breather.  Maybe he didn’t mean anything but I was feeling really nervous.  Better safe than sorry.