saturday night

Solid Saturday night. I was really rolling until about 1:30, but it's amazing how a couple missteps can really kill the profitability. From 6 pm, when I started, until 1:30, I was pulling in $44 every hour, which is terrific. Of course, my profit is less than that, because I have to pay for the cab, but it means that I was playing everything right.

I dropped Kayleigh off at 1:30 at her place in DC (after a tremendously long fare and generous tip; thanks Kayleigh!) and I turned to go back to Arlington. Getting to Courthouse around 1:45 would have been great because that's when those bars empty out and there's money all up and down Wilson Blvd. I decided to post where I was anyway in the city, and I got a call up by Adams Morgan. I thought for a hot second and decided to take the call, which was stupid.

Generally, getting a fare to take you out of the city is great, because it means the meter just keeps on running and running. And this passenger was gonna go to Alexandria, which is a pretty big fare coming from Adams Morgan. But it's rarely smart to take a call from Adams Morgan, especially late on a weekend night, because that place is crawling with crabs. The caller probably called us as a backup while she went to go find another cab, which she surely did. Anyway, that wasted twenty to thirty minutes that I drove up there and waited. Balls! On a night when I'm making $44 per hour, losing half an hour really sucks. And it meant I didn't get back to VA until about 2:20 - too late to get the bar closing traffic. What a dummy. I got a couple more fares, but they were little guys.

My favorite fares of the night were this one mid-forties couple that I took to a party down by Fort Hunt, which ran about $19 going there and $17 coming back (more traffic on the way down there). It's nice to get a call back, because it means they like me and that kind of business will keep me moving during the slow times. And, while taking time out of my night to go pick them up can sometimes slow down my income, the guy tipped great on the way down and I figured he might tip on the way back, too. ALSO, the real reason I liked this couple is because they were hilarious - he was the sweetest, most agreeable guy, and she was vicious to him! She thought he told me to take a wrong turn on the way down and just laid into him, which put me in the delightful position of cab driver/marriage counselor ("Oh! This way will work, too," or "We'll find it no problem," etc.) I wonder if they were like that with each other before they got married, because that guy clearly takes a lot of verbal abuse. Anyway, they were absolutely hammered when I picked them up later around 11:30, and homey gave me $40 for a $17 fare. Nice!

Example of how hammered they were:
Woman: "We should have a party. But this was TOO FAR. We should rent out the SPORTS PUB, make them come up too OUR area. That will be fun.
Man: "You know, that's......(silence for a minute).....wait, what did you say?"
Woman: (Not listening anymore, no answer)
Me: (giggle)