Monday, March 6, 2017

Two Breakdowns In Five Days---Going Nuts But Not Nervous

Wednesday the alternator went out, meaning I had to fly back to Seattle and deal with a broken down car on a major roadway.  A pain but early yesterday, meaning about 11:00 AM Sunday morning I noticed what no cab owner wants to see: a slipping automatic transmission.  The only good part was that I was able to make it back to the shop in second gear, thus avoiding a tow.  Wednesday night we had called for a tow but disappointingly I was actually able to beat the tow truck to the cab, allowing to me skip the tow and get the cab both started and back to our usual parking place.

Nobody should have to wait an hour, especially when you are blocking traffic near Costco on 4th Avenue South.  There are more details but given a couple bad choices by Raymond, I was truly ready to kill my friend, more angry than I have been in a very long time. Yesterday I stopped by his house and shared some strong coffee. Peace again reigns supreme. He is a good guy and always pays his lease. Who can ask for anything more?

This second breakdown is more than inconvenient due to this week I am transferring 478 to my new 1092 medallion, translating to having to shift everything around an extra day.  At the moment it is 10:40 AM and I am still in Tacoma. Taki (the lead mechanic and shop owner) said the used transmission should be in by sometime noon, one-o'clock. And here I am composing the blog ,which this week will be necessarily shortened.

Who has time?  I have no time, on top of having to get everything changed over to # 1092 so Raymond can work Wednesday night and Tom can drive Thursday morning.  I am glad they both can afford to miss a few days.  Me, I have make up for the $800.00 I am paying today in addition to a bunch of smaller costs associated the the medallion change.  Ah yes, as has been said perhaps billions of times, oh the joys of business ownership!

Given all this, my detailed explanation why I decided not to run the Yellow Fleet side will come next week.  If only I had two simultaneous bodies!  What a help that would be.  And by the way, I'll tell you a secret.  I hate taxi!

1 comment:

  1. Welcome to the club , Joey !! I've been associated with
    the industry for over forty five years , first watching
    and talking to drivers then getting involved as a driver
    myself 35 years ago and NO one has ever liked driving !!
    It's long been assumed to be the bottom of the barrel as
    far as jobs go , so no wonder it's always had a ' revolving
    door .' Oddly through , even when times are financially bad
    for the guys , some tend to believe in sticking - it out !!
    This can be quite traumatic . Guys will go nuts !! As they
    used to say , you'll never get out cab driving alive or
    sane !! Prove me wrong ...

    ReplyDelete