…and yesterday was no exception.
I went into work late yesterday, the result of lingering over coffee with a friend from out of town and the lack of desire I had to deal with the downtown insanity. Union Square can be tough to deal with on any given day of the year but Black Friday is when it officially turns into a nightmare.
It’s so crazy they actually opened up Stockton Street past Macy’s and even though it’s only one lane, the fact that they halted a major underground subway project so that the unwashed masses can drive their cars towards trampling each other at Macy’s, well – that says a lot.
God forbid commerce be interrupted the day after the entire nation sits down and gives thanks for what they have, expending all their goodwill the day before so that there’s no compassion left for their fellow man as they get in fistfights over a discounted iPad.
So I went to work late, stayed away from downtown and went about my night as per usual.
Except there wasn’t much business to be done. If it was a normal Tuesday, I’d wonder where everyone was. But I’ve been through this weekend many times before in the taxi business, and I knew it would be slow.
San Francisco has always been a city of people from other places, and those people tend to leave for Thanksgiving weekend. They go back to Sacramento, to Los Angeles, to New York City and Boston and Chicago. Many of the folks from here go to the East Bay and Sonoma and Tahoe for the weekend.
There’s still plenty of natives who stay as well as transplants such as myself who can’t stand the thought of getting on a plane for such a short time spent back home, as well as people from Santa Cruz and San Jose who come into the city for the day or the weekend.
But it isn’t enough to keep the normal pace of business up on a Friday night. The city empties out and there’s just more cabs than there are people who need a ride.
Everyone who is in town goes out, but it pales in comparison to a normal Friday night.
So time after time, last night I found myself cruising down Polk and Union and Valencia behind three or more other empty cabs and my company computer, Flywheel and Instantcab were no better, barely providing any calls.
Thankfully, I had my cell phone and a couple of regulars to keep me busy but when I was counting my stack at the end of the night, it wasn’t really worth it.
Except it was, because my company sure as hell wasn’t going to fill my shift and I couldn’t afford to take the night off.
Between my homegirl coming out here for a pre-holiday vacation and my trip back east, I need to keep grinding until I step onto that plane December 22nd. I’ve got time off that’s going to cost some income, Christmas presents to buy as well as a tattoo to pay for and some dinners out while I’m home.
Then I’m back here in the city to work New Year’s Eve and kick off the slow season of taxi driving.
Speaking of which, tonight is gonna be slow too, so I might as well go in early.
I can rest tomorrow.
