Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:23 am Posts: 2589 Location: Des Moines IA
The title of this post is telling of the kind of day I've had. Let's start at the beginning:
The tourney is at 1 p.m., it's an hour drive, and I have to give myself enough time to wake up, get dressed, etc. So, I wake up at 10:30 a.m. Mistake no. 1, I mozy around the house getting ready. I gather all my personal effects, including a banana, a granola bar, and a couple of other things to eat and head out the door. I do this so I can eat immediately before the tournament so as not to get hungry, and therefore distracted, midway through. I gas up and hit the road at 11:35 a.m. Mistake no. 2, I left too late. The hour drive is uneventful, and I get there just after 12:30 p.m. Figuring I should just eat now and get it over with instead of what I used to do, which is go in, register, then come back out and eat. Mistake no. 3, I eat immediately. I get done and go in at 12:50 p.m., only to discover to tournament sold out 5 minutes before I came in. No alternates, either. FML. Not doing any one of these mistakes could have saved me enough time to get in the tournament. I run so bad in everything. Next opportunity for live poker will be February. I may forget how to play by then.
So I drive home and plop myself on my couch. After a 3 hour nap I wake up and get ready for the Primus show. I get there, and the doors haven't opened yet so the line to get in nearly wraps around the building. Thankfully, the weather is good and the venue crew has their stuff together and gets everybody in quickly. But all those people means it will be packed. In a room that holds 3000 people, every space is taken by a human body. I went to the front near the stage but was quickly surrounded by idiots who were already drunk or high or both. They were being very bothersome. Primus was about 45 minutes late to the stage, increasing the tension. As a former bass player, Les Claypool's playing is fascinating to me, so watching him was a treat. But, after about 4 or 5 songs I just couldn't take it anymore, so I went to the back of the room. After I heard them play "My Name is Mud" I left the venue. Stopped by another bar to wish a friend happy birthday but he wasn't there so I just went home.
Today was just full of fail. Someday this run bad will end.
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Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:23 am Posts: 2589 Location: Des Moines IA
The winds of change are a-blowin'.....
To start, this past weekend was a complete #fail in the taxi business. I made all of $110. TOTAL. $40 on Friday and $70 on Saturday. That will not do. It seemed that whenever I would leave a zone, then there would be a ton of trips there, natch. To top it off, they are going to start reserving cabs for the full time drivers, so those of us who work 3 or less days will have to wait and see if any are available. I understand why they're doing it, but at the same time us part-timers are getting screwed. I hope I get a cab this weekend, as Halloween party weekend is the third busiest, after New Year's Eve and St. Patrick's Day. (Fun fact- 4th busiest- go ahead, take a guess- is Valentine's Day) I'll probably end up picking up more hours at Papa John's, but that's regressing in my mind. I was hoping to eventually replace PJ's with driving a cab, but I guess not! Oh, well. I am watching the local casino's job postings like a hawk. If they post for a poker dealer position I'm going to be on it like a cheap suit. I'm really not sure why I haven't before.
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if u really wanted to make money driving a cab, cab drivers wouldnt refuse good deals, like when i offered $250 before to go about 200 miles away but instead they wanted the full meter of $750. better than sitting around earning nothing like u claim.
if u really wanted to make money driving a cab, cab drivers wouldnt refuse good deals, like when i offered $250 before to go about 200 miles away but instead they wanted the full meter of $750. better than sitting around earning nothing like u claim.
Tony, before you accuse zzjitterzz (Andy) of sitting around being lazy, let's consider a few factors:
1) Whether some other cabbie(s) accept or refuse your offer has nothing to do with Andy. He may well have taken you up on the fare, only he can tell you.
2) Andy works in Des Moines, Iowa. The amount of business he gets may be very different than cabbies get in a city like Vegas or elsewhere. I don't know where and when you tried to make that deal, but a cabbie in Vegas may very well make more money on a typical night by NOT taking your deal
3) Do you really think your low ball offer was a good deal? Let's work out the math. You want to go somewhere 200 miles away, that means in reality, the cabbie has to drive 400 miles to earn the $250 don't think that cabbie can pick up a return fare out of his area, and even if he can, chances are there isn't someone waiting at the other end to make the return trip). Depending on the car, the gas mileage can vary a great deal. Take Andy's cab for example (a Crown Victoria), it gets probably around 17-18 mpg on the highway. To make the 400 miles trip, it will take over 22 gallons. Assuming a fairly good gas price of $3.60/gallon, that is over $80 in gas. So we are now left with $170, out of which the cabbie has to pay the cab company for the use of the cab. Andy perhaps can shed some light on the amount, but my guess will be at least $70 for the shift if not more. That leaves a grand total of $100 for a full day's work. That doesn't seem like such a great deal. It may be better than waiting for regular fares or it may not, totally depends on the area and time of day/week.
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:38 pm Posts: 380 Location: Center Point, IA
sevencard2003 wrote:
if u really wanted to make money driving a cab, cab drivers wouldnt refuse good deals, like when i offered $250 before to go about 200 miles away but instead they wanted the full meter of $750. better than sitting around earning nothing like u claim.
This is obviously excellent advice, Andy.
-Ryan
_________________ "Ladies and Gentlemen, take my advice: pull down your pants and slide on the ice."
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:23 am Posts: 2589 Location: Des Moines IA
Pokerdogg wrote:
sevencard2003 wrote:
if u really wanted to make money driving a cab, cab drivers wouldnt refuse good deals, like when i offered $250 before to go about 200 miles away but instead they wanted the full meter of $750. better than sitting around earning nothing like u claim.
Tony, before you accuse zzjitterzz (Andy) of sitting around being lazy, let's consider a few factors:
1) Whether some other cabbie(s) accept or refuse your offer has nothing to do with Andy. He may well have taken you up on the fare, only he can tell you.
2) Andy works in Des Moines, Iowa. The amount of business he gets may be very different than cabbies get in a city like Vegas or elsewhere. I don't know where and when you tried to make that deal, but a cabbie in Vegas may very well make more money on a typical night by NOT taking your deal
3) Do you really think your low ball offer was a good deal? Let's work out the math. You want to go somewhere 200 miles away, that means in reality, the cabbie has to drive 400 miles to earn the $250 don't think that cabbie can pick up a return fare out of his area, and even if he can, chances are there isn't someone waiting at the other end to make the return trip). Depending on the car, the gas mileage can vary a great deal. Take Andy's cab for example (a Crown Victoria), it gets probably around 17-18 mpg on the highway. To make the 400 miles trip, it will take over 22 gallons. Assuming a fairly good gas price of $3.60/gallon, that is over $80 in gas. So we are now left with $170, out of which the cabbie has to pay the cab company for the use of the cab. Andy perhaps can shed some light on the amount, but my guess will be at least $70 for the shift if not more. That leaves a grand total of $100 for a full day's work. That doesn't seem like such a great deal. It may be better than waiting for regular fares or it may not, totally depends on the area and time of day/week.
This is 100% correct. Well put, dogg.
_________________ This post is my own and does not represent the views of All Vegas Poker, its hosts, management or sponsors.
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:23 am Posts: 2589 Location: Des Moines IA
First of all, just to answer the question, I did get a cab this weekend. Didn't even have to beg or ask. I did get called for a random drug test, tho. Since I've never taken a single illegal drug in my entire life, I would just rather sign an affidavit stating so, under penalty of death. But, it's part of the job.
This weekend was as advertised- third busiest. Friday wasn't super-busy, but it was 3 times last Friday, a good harbinger for Saturday. Lots of ladies in revealing costumes- thank you, girls, you're nice to look at. Saturday was when the fit hit the shan. It got busy and seemed to never stop. At one point, we have 96 fares waiting and 49 cabs on duty, and in addition, somewhere between 75-100 people waiting for cabs at the busy downtown cab stand. Needless to say, it was a lucrative night, exactly what I needed to pull it out of the muck. I suspect it won't be that busy again for a few weeks, but that's ok, as long as it's somewhere in between, it'll be alright.
_________________ This post is my own and does not represent the views of All Vegas Poker, its hosts, management or sponsors.
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:23 am Posts: 2589 Location: Des Moines IA
No worries. Starsky says I should move to Vegas and drive a cab there, but, as I understand it, it's even more cutthroat than here.
On twitter, there's a guy who drives a cab and tweets as LVCabChronicles who doesn't long-haul and generally isn't a jerk. Several AVPers have used him before. I never have, but that's simply because of my bad timing. He's currently on vacation, but he should be back if it's going to be a few weeks before you get there. Follow him and tweet at him to see if he's available. Good luck!
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don't think that cabbie can pick up a return fare out of his area, and even if he can, chances are there isn't someone waiting at the other end to make the return trip). Depending on the car, the gas mileage can vary a great deal. Take Andy's cab for example (a Crown Victoria), it gets probably around 17-18 mpg on the highway. To make the 400 miles trip, it will take over 22 gallons. Assuming a fairly good gas price of $3.60/gallon, that is over $80 in gas. So we are now left with $170, out of which the cabbie has to pay the cab company for the use of the cab. Andy perhaps can shed some light on the amount, but my guess will be at least $70 for the shift if not more. That leaves a grand total of $100 for a full day's work. That doesn't seem like such a great deal. It may be better than waiting for regular fares or it may not, totally depends on the area and time of day/week.
