Is That All You Care About (WTF 2)

After being told to go back to the yard in “Who Needs a Door Handle” I did just that. I was only about 2 miles away so I was there In just a few moments. When I got there I didn’t see the road supervisor I was told to meet so I went into the shift coordinators office to ask what I needed to do. Per usual they didn’t know a damn thing about what was going on. So after I filled them in on what happened they asked why I was there. I told them I was told to come here and deal with it here. I asked if I need to feel out any paperwork and once again I got the response of, “I don’t know”. I found an incident report on the wall of information racks and took things into my own hands and filled it out.

After I was done the road supervisor finally showed. He asked for my license and the registration for the car. I gave him he stuff and waited while he filled out paperwork. I got a shift coordinator to download the camera while he finished. When the road supervisor was done he asked if I had any questions and was trying to wrap it up. I asked when the cops were coming and if he wanted my report of what happened. He really wasn’t interested in what happened. He said, “well I have what I need and the video will help us get them to pay for it.”. I asked about when the Taxi Authority is coming and if Metro was on the way. He said that the Taxi Authority should be on the way and if I want to file a report with Metro I need to call them. He said they were called and told about the car so they can use that in the clam for repairs.

At this point I’m getting mad. I asked dispatch to call for metro and the Taxi Authority so I can file a report about the assault and it seems the only thing they care about is the car. This was made clear when I called Metro and asked if they could come take a report on the assault part of this. The dispatcher asked if this was part of the vandalism call at the hotel. I said yes and asked what was reported. She said they only gave them the make and model of the SUV and was reporting a vandalism. I asked if they knew about the assault and she said no. I then told her what happened and asked if they could come make a report. She said to stay at the yard and got the address. She informed me that someone is on the way. So I hung up, text the wife to let her know what’s going on and waited.

I’m a bit upset at this point and can’t believe the company could really careless about what happened to me and only was worried about the car. Maybe it’s just me but when I was in charge of field employees I made sure if something happened to them at work we did everything we could to help them. I mean they were my employees and were doing their job that made the company money. Yet I’m now all alone waiting with no support and no one to ask for help. So there I sit waiting…..

Who Needs a Door Handle (WTF 1)

Yesterday was a bad day all around. But no bad day is complete without a cherry to top it off. This is going to be part one of a look inside the inner workings of the taxi industry during an “emergency”.

I pull up to the hotel to let my fare out and when I get back in the car to leave a black SUV pulls around me and stops. I give him a minute to figure out what he’s doing (car had out if state plates). The driver gets out and started to unload a ton of bags. I tap my horn to get his attention and point to the sign saying it’s a “thru lane”. He just kept unloading. I then lean out the window and tell him, “hey, this is a thru lane you need to pull forward to the side to unload your car so everyone can get thru”. Well that didn’t go over well. He grabbed the next bag and slammed it against my cab. Thankfully staff at the hotel saw what was happening and went up to the guy and asked him to not unload there and told him he can pull up to the side to unload.

He got back into his SUV and pulled down the driveway. I put my car in drive and off I went. As we get to the edge of the property he stops and puts his SUV in park. Next thing I know his two doors fly open and two guys jump out and run at me. I’ve seen this before so I know what’s coming. I hit the panic button on my camera and I start to roll my window up as the driver reaches my door. Before I can get the window all the way up he takes a swing at me. Thank god he missed and my window is now up. They start yelling and I yell back, “WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR DEAL? why don’t you get back in your car and get the fuck out of here”.

Well as I’m sure you’ve guessed, leaving was not what was on his mind. He wanted blood and wasn’t going to leave till he got it. He grabbed my door handle and in one swift tug ripped it right off the door. His buddy then got a freaked out look on his face and pulled the driver back to the SUV. They sped off and I switched my radio to “emergency” (as per company policy) and called it in. I started to follow him to get the plate number and make and model of the SUV.

Once I got that he noticed I was behind him and started to run every red light for as far as I could see. I turned back around and started back to the hotel to wait for the Taxi Authority. Before I could get there my dispatch came back on the radio and said I needed to go back to the cab yard. I asked about the Taxi Authority and was told that per the road supervisor I needed to go back to the yard and everything would be handled there.

This isn’t out of the ordinary. The Taxi Authority does this a lot. I have yet to find out why but it happens so I started back like I was told.

This mini-drama will continue for the next few posts. You can track them in order by the (WTF) plus a number at the end of each tittle.