XIII

You may recall a few editions ago my adventures in cab #5149. The flagship of all my employers vehicles there is no question. And by "flagship" I mean biggest piece of shit in the fleet. Since that day, I dont believe that I had been given that cab again, until last Thursday that is. The strange part about this is that the irony of the situation did not occur to me until days later.

I was working on a Thursday which is actually my Saturday. I picked up an extra shift to help my boss out with all the extra cabs the company had for CES. Its not a bad deal though, there is a lot of money out there that week. My day started out good, I got a couple of good rides from the convention center. I always like impressing the tech guys with my knowledge of the shit. I was a supervisor of the video dept. at Best Buy and commission sales "expert" at the Good Guys for the last five years prior to becoming a cabbie. I remember I had a Monster Cable guy in the car and I was reeling off everything from the 100 series up to the Z & M series...and the guy was going nuts about the fact that I knew more about his products then he did seemingly.

At about sundown I had found a ride DT and after clearing there I grabbed a spot on the Casino Center stand by Binions. Thinking Id have a few minutes with two cabs in front of me I pulled out the cell phone and gave a call to my brother in law to check up on my sister who had been in the hospital. As im having that conversation I notice a black woman, kinda long dready hair, messed up grey t-shirt and blue jeans on. Shes trying to get in the first cab and this guy drives off before her hand can get anywhere near the handle on the door. The cab in front pulls up and I pull up and this lady is visibly upset about what had just happened. The cab in front of me talks to her through the window for a minute and then she gets in. They sit there for a minute and then shes getting out, now even more pissed than she was two minutes ago and shes looking right at me.

Hey Tom I gotta let you go I got a psycho bitch 12 o'clock

My doors are locked (they were already) and I crack the window. Lady tells me that she needs to get to the UPS store on MLK & Bonanza.

Bingo, the reason other cab made her get out. This is whats considered a "short ride" Generally when you pickup DT you're headed back to the strip which pretty much guarantees you a 15+ ride. However a ride to MLK & Bonanza is only going to net you around 7 bucks, you're going to be stuck in traffic the whole way and there wont be a ride waiting there for you when you get there. However what they did was illegal. The law states that if:

1 a passenger can give at least a major intersection as a destination

2 Is orderly

3 Has money, enough for the ride

A cab driver must accept that ride.

Anyway, the lady actually looked pretty clean, and she had in her had a stack of twenty's folded in half. Prolly 10-12 bills. So at least 25 bucks. So having figured out what the deal was, realizing there was no danger and the fact that I like to do good deed once and a while, I loaded her. Hoping that she would take care of me for my kindness. Especially considering I wrote down the cabs number that was in front of me and called TA and explained the situation to them as we were on our way to the UPS store. Hopefully that guy will get a ticket.

Shortly after arriving at the UPS store I realized that my first mistake of the day was not made in loading this lady, but in unlocking the doors before she paid me. She got out of the cab and strolled into the UPS store like I wasn't even there, and also like she had done 100 times already. Fuck that...not on my watch. So I park the cab and walk into the UPS place and she's in there filling out her forms and shit.

I start getting into it big time, and everyone in line is now looking at me. Shes going off to me about cabbies are scum and this and that....on and on and on, then she just gives me the ignore treatment. Im standing right in front of her and explaining that im calling the cops and shes just staring off into space, saying nothing.

I walk outside. Fuck this bitch, I cant kick her ass but I can send her to county. Which is the next best thing I think. So having just called TA 10 minutes ago I hit talk twice on the phone and explained to the officer what must have sounded like the dumbest driver he had ever heard. I mean, think about it......I just called this guy so he could write a ticket to a cabbie for refusing a ride,...that I picked up and now need assistance in retrieving funds with. Perhaps those first guys aren't such ass' after-all. Nonetheless the officer tells me that they are busy and cant send an officer over.

So I shoulda just ducked tail and go the fuck out of there at that point. The meter amount was nothing compared to the business that I was passing up by being there. But no, I had to wait outside for this bitch to come out of the UPS store. I wait 10 minutes maybe, and she comes out. She sees me and starts walking towards the street. I pull up alongside her and just following, but laying into her at the same time. Saying some really bad stuff actually. So we make it to the street, (Bonanza) and she makes a turn to get onto the sidewalk and starts walking eastbound. Im still yelling as shes walking away from me.

As im pulling out of the parking lot there is a lot of traffic in the WB lanes. Stopped traffic actually. I need to go EB so im trying to inch my nose in the first lane and get the cars to stop so I can cut through and go the other direction. The first car stops and I wave and the second kinda looks like she wants to go but then stops and waves at me to go. Im inching forward, now blocking two lanes of traffic, looking west to see oncoming traffic. Just as my nose gets into the turning lane (or suicide lane)

BAM!

I nailed a car I couldn't see in the turning lane. My front end fucked up the whole passenger side of his car. If I had been 4 feet further ahead at that exact moment I would have gotten it right in the driver door. Luckily just the whole cosmetic front end was ripped off the blazer. Right away I knew it was my fault. Regardless of the fact that he shouldn't have been traveling in that lane, its his lane and I didn't yield. Ultimately the officer explained that we were both at fault,we were both cited however I was listed as the number 1 vehicle (at fault/most at fault) b/c I caused it.

As soon as homeboy gets out of his car I had accessed the situation already (thinking we were both at fault) but he gets all up in my window talking shit and the first thing I asked him was.

are you alright?

the motherfucker thought about and then comes back with

I dont know

What an ass. I guess you cant blame him though, lawyers see $$$$ for this type of shit I bet.

So I got suspended for a week, had my job held over my head. $2000 out of my pocket, plus my lost wages. And as if that weren't enough I gotta spend $200 for a driver safety class w/ skid car training (X100). All of that might have been worth it if I fucked up 449 enough that I wouldn't have to drive it again.

**Now watch the actual video footage from the crash**

Front View-http://youtube.com/watch?v=F-CeitLZkvk
In Cab View-http://youtube.com/watch?v=1W19cnojM1s