 One of those Thursdays So, well, sometimes... a lot of little details combine to help me fall into an un-work week schedule. There have been points when, sometimes for a stretch of several weeks, I found myself working 2 days, and then taking the next five off. Then work 2 days, then take the next five off. I don't know, except for the lack of pay, it kind of works for me... One week I remember, it was labor day- forget it, I ain't working if there aren't any desperate commuters to give me their money. Then there was "wait-at-home- for-the-plumber day" (kitchen sink, not my fault). And then there was... well I just drank myself into such a stupor that I overslept by about 5 hours... which led to my motto with this job- "better never than late...". So Thursday finally rolls around, and I go into work. My usual (except for Tuesdays and Fridays, when the driver with the bad back gets it) cab was sitting on the lot waiting for me. "Alright..." I'm thinking. "I'm all ready to try my luck..." It isn't until I'm at the gas station, putting my money into the tank, and throwing my bag into the trunk, that I notice it's still got no spare tire. I'd totally forgotten about it, figuring that the problem has been taken care of since the Friday before when the night driver had to use the spare when a bald tire blew on the Bay Bridge at rush hour... "Ohh shit..." says another piece of my mind at that point. That's when I remember that one of the other tires was worn to the point where I could practically count the steel belts. And, sure enough, it's still there on the car. It's been nearly a week, and it still hasn't been changed. "Hey man," I remember, distinctly, painfully clearly even, asking the mechanics... "this other tires bald too..." "No... we don't have any more tires." the mechanic
answered me. 6 days ago he answered me that... and still there's
no tires?!
What more was there to say or do? I'd already put my gas money into the tank. There was now no choice but to try to work it and make it back, or fold and lose it. So off I went, this morning, to face the streets on a very bald tire, with no spare... just trusting to dumb luck to see me through. It turned out to be a busy day. I made money. I only slept for maybe 45 minutes of my 12 hour shift. And the tire held... I think, after doing the job for 5 years, I should start playing poker again. I'm hell at bluffing my way through shit these days. I only wonder if the night driver I was sharing the cab with at the time wound up stranded on the streets somewhere. I hope not. Smoking Joe's a good guy. What I really hope is that the bastard with the bad back who was driving it Fridays got stuck somewhere, and had to wait an hour and a half for the company tow truck to rescue him, and that he then had to deal with being lectured for going out without a spare... Better him than me... Of course, when you hit a stretch when you can't get the company to spare you a cab more than 2 days a week... you kind of lose track of what befalls your fellow man, so I guess I'll never know what might've happened. the Old Waybills There's no place like home... You've got to be shitting me Alex... |