5/13/11 Day 11
TIP UPDATE. I like to name the blog entries sometimes. Such as “TIP UPDATE.” It makes me believe that it will be a part of an ongoing series, but the reality is that I will forget all about it and never actually do an update. Anyway, my observation today is similar to an earlier post. I just received a generous $5 tip from a well-pierced young man finishing up a thirteen hour shift at Jewel ( a grocery store for you non-Chicagoans). We drove 4 miles together. My first fare tonight was an executive coming home from closing a “big contract” in New York. It was a 22 mile ride in hellish traffic, on an ugly toll-way. She talked at me for most of it. Same tip. I am thankful for the tip after this airport ride, and would argue it as fair. My thought really rests on how generous and appreciative the young man was.
HEY- Just drove by Horse-Drawn Productions (the recording studio I use) in Berwyn. Hi guys.
HEY- Just drove by Horse-Drawn Productions (the recording studio I use) in Berwyn. Hi guys.
THE STAMP: Okay, I really didn’t need to name this post THE STAMP, but I am striving for consistency here. In my very first or second post (Day 2?), I wrote about the $4 tax cabs and limos pay at the airports. They are sold in books of 10 by unfriendly humanlike creatures that sit behind 15-inch thick bullet proof glass. As soon as the many loitering cabbies from the United Nations Convention being held near the brick ticket-selling building saw me go for my wallet, they pounced. I now know what fresh roadkill feels like as the buzzards swoop in. Each buzzard knows how to say the word “share” in English. Each buzzard holds out four $1 bills in the same fashion, so that I can see that their wad really is $4. Each buzzard wants one of my 10 stamps, so it can avoid buying 10 stamps. Yes, I said “it”. I am all in I get it. I can help. I am part of the solution. I don’t want to hold onto 10 stamps. It’s a win-win.
While waiting for our next fare, we often “post up” at the LaGrange train station. It sits across from The Grapevine restaurant. Good stuff, Grapevine is. It is one of those joints that is many steps above fast food. You order at the counter, get a number, and then they bring you your food when it is ready, which is how I prefer my food. These order-at-the-counter joints are the best. What they really do is eliminate the possibility of bad service, and the need to tip. Again, I believe in good tips for good service, but I don’t mind cutting out the middleman. Sorry ACLU, middleperson.
MILE HIGH CLUB? I picked up a well dressed couple from a posh wine bar in Burr Ridge. They seemed to have sampled most of the wine. They needed to get to another imbibing establishment about 15 minutes away. I don’t think they were married based on how “in to” HIM that SHE seemed to be. The slurping sounds came quick. She liked to kiss. “Hey, this is like the show Cash Cab!,” HE blurted. More like Taxicab Confessions, I thought. During the first few minutes, SHE was really trying to get HIM to mess around. Though they were hoping I could not hear them, drunk people cannot whisper. She really wanted IT, but he was embarrassed to perform in a cab. I was gripping the wheel tightly, unsure what I wanted, and pretending I could not hear the conversation. “But what about the mile high club?,” SHE asked. Any success would get you into the 18 inch club I figured. (Thanks HS). I finally put HIM out of his misery and announced they had about 2 more miles to figure it all out.
METAMORPHASIS: The couple that I dove to the Murray’s Bar at 8PM was NOT the same couple I drove home from Murray’s at 2AM. Beer changes people. It also makes them throw up. They did like my story about the mile high club couple. They wanted to know if I would have allowed the wine bar couple to complete their mission. I had to admit I wasn’t sure. Are there laws about this sort of thing? It was concluded that if the wine bar couple had been less than attractive, that I would have announced, “hey, you can’t do that in here! There are laws about this sort of thing.”
