Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Jun 16, 2004
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Taxi Driving
There were a few times in my working career when I was what we call today, between jobs. When these times came along I used to do various types of work, other that my usual work in the oil construction business, one of these was Taxi driving.
I had already sat and passed the taxi driving test which was carried out by the local police, so I kept my license updated all the time, just in case. I used to work for one of the larger taxi firms in my home town, but found that that they were too mean and always pushing their drivers by giving them impossible dead lines. So I was more than pleased when I was approached by the man who became a friend to us as well as a boss. He only had the two cars and a mini van and it was more of a family business, and this was shown in the way they treated their drivers, like part of the family.
Another advantage of working with The Family as we called them, was that we could work commission or by the hour. This worked out very well for me as I would always check the local paper to see if there were any weddings or big functions going that evening when they called to see if I could drive for them. If there was it best to go commission as you knew you were going to be busy, and if you kept going you could make a lot more money, than if you were paid by the hour.
In fact I could earn a lot more working for The Family than the other firm that I used to work for. It could get a bit hectic when we were working flat out, but Ma, as we called her, was really good on the radio, knew the local area very well, and could give customers an accurate time for our arrival. In fact we were a well-worked, small team, who seemed to get on well together, even on the busiest nights.
The time came round when the cars were due their annual inspections, and the boss was less than amused when one failed for a small cigarette burn on the back seat, not least the cost of another inspection that had to be paid on its second attempt. The answer was simple enough; all we had to do was swap the back seats over, then back again after the inspections were over. Both the cars were the same model and year, in fact they were both bought on the same day - they were twins. Both were white, which made them very popular for covering weddings but this meant we had to keep them as clean as possible. It was right after the inspections that the boss laid the law down about smoking inside the cabs, so we had to watch everyone as they got in.
It was quite common for me to pick up the fares on the main street, as Ma would send the customers downstairs from the office just as I arrived there, this way I never got done for parking, as the main street had a no parking law. On one occasion on a busy Saturday afternoon, I was asked to pick up two men from the front of the office over the radio and Ma told me at the same time to watch both of them as they were both smoking as they came down the stairs and that they were both drunk. I watched them like a hawk as they both got in, as did Ma from the office right above me. One of them had tricked me by keeping his cigarette hidden in his hand, but his trick had never escaped the watchful eye of Ma, who was not the type of person you wanted to fall out with!
Imagine his horror when this bellowing voice came out of the radio speaker, shouting 'Put the cigarette out!' This really put the fear of God into him, and he commented as he threw it out 'Bloody Hell, have you got cameras in here as well?' Needless to say, they were both as quiet as mice as I drove them back to the RAF base near by.
Like I said earlier, Ma was not the kind of person you wanted to fall out with. This point was made more than obvious to me one night when she was driving the other taxi with me on a busy Saturday night. We were running back and fore to a club that was around three miles out of town, which had a country and western night. It was late and we were both tired and all our customers were merry to say the least. I had just returned back to the club to pick up the next load, when I saw Ma was having trouble with one of her customers, so I called her up on the radio to tell her that I would right over there to help. I never needed to bother really because, as I approached, my headlights picked up the whole scene and I could see one of them starting to get violent and pushing his mates around. Apparently Ma had told him that she would not take him in her cab, due to his threatening and drunken behaviour, and his mates were trying to calm him down.
Suddenly he broke away from the grip of his mates and made a lunge for Ma as she was getting into her car. She immediately saw the threat and moved out of his way while throwing opening the taxi door at the same time. He could not stop in time and ran right into the open door, whereupon he bounced back his arms waving as he screamed at Ma. This did not seem to bother her at all and, as he made the next desperate attempt to get at her, she moved forward putting out her foot, which he fell over and landed on the car park floor. Then she calmly got into her cab and asked his mates to move him so that she could drive the car over to the club door to pick up her next fare. So my assistance was not required, but it was good to watch all the same.
A few days later, a rather sheepish and heavily bruised youngster came into the office with a bunch of flowers in his hand, to apologise to Ma. After a few harsh words, she accepted his apology and the flowers, then went and made him a cup of coffee. That's the type of person she was, hard but forgiving, loud and yet gentle, and if ever you were in trouble, Ma was the one you wanted to be with you. There were a few more events that I can recall for that era, but I think that one was the one that stuck in my mind.
