Friday, August 31, 2012

Passenger Rescue, pt 2

A few nights after my last diary, about the passenger rescue, I had a series of fares that put me in the north-east corner of the valley. The zone in this area that most cab drivers want to wait in is 225, which is north of the intersection of Scottsdale Rd. and Bell Rd/Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. There are some nice hotels, jaguar/porsche/audi/etc dealerships, and well-to-do neighborhoods on the outside of the loop 101.

When I visit zone 225, I typically wait in the Whole Foods parking lot, where I pick up a carrot, coffee, or something from the hot deli (which is rather expensive for a humble taxi driver, but I am very picky). There is also a Trader Joe's in this zone, and they have free coffee samples, tapioca pudding, etc.

On this particular night I had no interest in being fourth in line in 225, so I went to 223, which is just west of the Whole Foods on Mayo Blvd. Zone 223 and 224 are shaped a little oddly - 223 is north of 224, when the the #'s usually count up west-to-east. 223 is rather barren, so I headed south to 224.

Inside: youtube link, etc



224 isn't a high-traffic zone either, but after a few minutes of waiting at that Circle-K on Bell Rd. I was offered a fare. I accepted and started towards the given address. And when I went to dial my new passenger, I was a little surprised to find that his number was already saved in my phone.
Jonathan was already standing on the corner of ... 50-something & Bell. He was surprised that of the hundreds of cabs on the road, he'd get yours truly as his driver, again. He said that he thought I'd have had enough of him, after the drama of our last encounter (9 cop cars and the helicopter, etc).

Jonathan told me that the group of former-friends had indeed followed him to Scottsdale. They were upset with him because he'd put something on craigslist for them, and payment on the item had been delayed.

I pulled out my phone & showed him his video. He thought it was great, and watched it a few times. He said the guy up against the wall was him - the cop had accosted him on emergence from the apartment, and that he had a hard time putting his hands up against the wall on account of his little dog.


He asked if I'd email him the video. I said it was already on Youtube - that he could find it by searching for Passenger Rescue.

Somehow the views got up to 51, so he must've shared it with a few of his better friends.

On this particular night we first went to look for Jonathan's Russian friend, who already smelled of alcohol. Then we went to Mesa, picked up 2 more people (M/F couple), then went to a different house.

Haven't heard from him since - I wonder how he's doing.

I don't remember all the fares that set me up to show Jonathan his video. But the one immediately before was a guy who worked at the Japanese restaurant on Scottsdale Rd, Zone 234. He called his girlfriend in route to his apartment. It was a slow night, so I waited to take him the rest of the way. She lived somewhere north of the 101, and east of Scottsdale Rd.

The great spirit has an impeccable sense of timing - if Jonathan had called for his cab 5 minutes earlier he would've never gotten to see his video.

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