The Cadre

Mother Jones did it, Cesar Chaves did it, and now I am doing it. Not a union per se and not a cartel either, I have joined a cadre. They do not term it such, but that is exactly what it is. Its a group of good cabbies that jointly market themselves as individuals to take care of the needs of customers. The eventual goal of some of them is to start their own cab company. At this point, I am using it like a referral service and a relief valve for my own overflow. They recruited me. Word within the group was that I had a lot of private business and that I am reliable, fair and trustworthy. So far so good, in that I made some decent money off the group last weekend and early this week.

Today I had breakfast with one of the thinkers in the group, and we discussed how many "Signal Tens" (10s) we had yesterday. First -- 10s are personal request calls. They are most often direct to your cell phone. I think in the olden days of dispatch only, callers were allowed to request certain drivers and the standard number codes were assigned to it, and 10 became that number. It is not unusual to hear the phrase "A ten of mine was out at Keeneland and I had to shoot him to (driver 66) and he totally ripped the guy off" Translation: "One of my regulars called me and I had to ask driver 66 to get him and he took them the long way home and ran up their fare". Anyway, yesterday was pretty slow. (driver)11 told me he had one 10 , and that 44 did too. I counted inm my head and counted 5 or more. This impressed him.

I even knocked off early and got ready for bed at 11 o'clock to watch Futurama. I got three calls after that, totalling $60. My daily lease payment is $65 plus $15 for insurance. I made that mucvh after I "quit" working for the day. of course I did not actually quit as I got out of bed to service the 10s that called me, but I was not out actively seeking work. My house is in such a central location I can, almost, sit on my porch and make a living just responding to direct ohone calls. Other drivers and the company are astounded by this. Granted the econonomics of my situation are unique in that I cannot work as much as the other guys, and my financial needs are much lower than the other guys because I am disabled and draw a check and have income limits. But fortunately for me I gain customers with ease, and had a ready made clientele with my associations with another super-cabby, my mentor, as well as a few cab hungry bars (LeSplat being one).

The sheer number of calls I get from my former customers at LeSplat almost insure my breaking even in the long run. I am also chipping away at my mentors base. Not actively, but when I am on time, and I am easier to get ahold of, and I match his discounts and I do not double up fares, people remember me. A few of them call me fist now, and several more call me first when he is gone regardless of who's number is on his recording. When I first started I was usually first on his recording with the statement, "I Highly recomend...". Now I am often fourth with no such lead in. But the ones I got before remember me and call me first. Some seem not to catre who gets him, they just remember my mentors phone number. It is painlessly easy to remember. Even the most drunk of riders can spit out a request for someone to call that number.

Some of the guys that call me have my number scribbled down on his card, and recognize it but do not remember much else. In any case, things are going good. I am making exactly the money I need, getting the rest I need, and most of all keeping active.