Why would I tip the cashiers at the cab company? I just learned this week that they only get paid $7-something plus tips. Plus tips?!?! And I saw people tipping them. I don't understand. It's their job, right? I'm a clerk/cashier at my part-time gig on the weekends and nobody ever tips me. That would lead to major corruption in our department knowning the caliber of people that I work with.

Speaking of my part-time job, I put in my notice last weekend. I gave them seven weeks to figure out a plan for covering my shift. I timed my last weekend to be the weekend before my birthday. Right now I'm working seven days a week - and I can't wait until I can take Sundays off. I might even take Saturdays off.

I'm so excited! I'm turning 29 next month and I feel like there are some big changes in store for me and my life. I'm thinking about returning to college. I'm thinking about big things. I've been in the technical support/software quality assurance fields since I graduated college in 2000. I realize it's probably still the honeymoon stage, but so far I love being out of the corporate cubicle rat race and into the taxi cab.

Along the same lines, I am bringing home more than I was making at my most recent regular job. Finally I feel like there is hope for getting out of the hole of debt I have created for myself. I put in a lot of hours every day, but I actually don't mind because at least I am being productive. At my other jobs, I would commute to work for an hour, sit in meetings all day, rush back to the desk to answer four hundred e-mails, always be back late from lunch, surf the internet for a bit, talk with coworkers, and then stay after hours to work or bring work home. It's totally different in the cab. At least for me. I'm always hustling. I'm always trying to bid on calls. I'm always cruising for work. I try not to take breaks and use my time wisely.

It doesn't seem like everyone operates that way. I was at line at the cab company the other day and two drivers were talking about working the airport. They said they were lucky if they scored six fares a day! SIX FARES?!?! Are you kidding me?!?! How do they make any money? I normally take over 20 fares per day. On my best days I take 30. And I don't feel like I'm working as well as I could.

Another example, I was in line at a hotel the other day. Some taxi driver in the line walked up to me and was complaining about business being slow. It is definitely slower than I've seen in a long time, but I'm a newbie and I'm making it - THANK GOD. Anyway, he told me he hadbeen downtown for TWO HOURS without a fare!?! Are you serious? If nothing else, go hang out at the grocery store or Wal-Mart and pick up a few fares an hour. It's not a $30 airport trip, but money is money and it still adds up.

Speaking of hotels, in all honesty I have been really frustrated with that aspect of the business. There should be a How To Work Hotels For Cabbie Dummies. They didn't teach me a blasted thing about working the hotels when I went to the training class at the cab company. I was completely unprepared. I still don't understand what is going on half the time. My brother says the competition in Austin is not so fierce and he does not experience the trouble I have with getting hotel business.

This morning there were easily close to 3000 checkouts downtown. Great business, right? Not so much. Yellow Cab drivers are not in abundance but the other cab companies that are not computer dispatched have the downtown on lock! They have like every corner under their watch. I was really intimidated by them at first. Now I just try to watch and learn. I wish that Yellow Cab drivers communicated as well as they do. They are forced to rely on each other because they don't have the luxury of all the Yellow Cab business all over and to the far reaches of the city. At least that's how I see it.

So, besides the other cab companies, the airport shuttle buses scoop up a lot of business. I don't understand why people take those buses. I mean, if you work one week as a cab driver you know where the airport is. Those buses take so long to arrive, then long to load, and you're crammed in next to someone else, then you have to wait to unload, and you pay $18 per person!! In my van, I can cram six people in, stack the luggage up in the back, and they can all go to the airport for $25 and split it amongst themselves. Sounds like a deal to me, but the shuttle buses still get a lot of business from the hotels.

On top of that, we have the usual tourists who bring their own cars or travelers who rent cars and drop them off at the airport. But if you do the math, that still leaves several hundred checkouts for cabbies to take to the airport. But the competition is brutal!! I don't even bother going downtown after noon. The best times for me are before the airport shuttle buses start running. However, there usually are not a lot of people checking out before 7am. Today there were over 600 checkouts at the Grand Hyatt. For some reason, a lot of them were checking out before 6am. The cab line was moving almost as fast as the street light in front of the hotel. I only had to wait less then 30 minutes each time to score two $25 rides to the airport. Not the norm!

You want to know what the norm is? Let me know if things are different in other cities. I'll use the Marriott River Center as an example. There are no city cab stands in front of the hotel. The hotel lets five cab drivers line up in the hotel driveway. The cabbie at the front of the line is called by a whistle or a handclap or waving the arms. If the cabbie in front doesn't see the signal from the valet, all the other cabbies start yelling TAXI or honking their horns.

Then when the first cabbie drives up to pick up the hotel customer, the other cabbies pull forward. Then one cabbie gets out and runs to the corner of the hotel and faces the next block and waves his hands in the air to signal to the cabbies waiting on the next block that there is a space free in the hotel line.

Now down on the next block, there is a city cab stand with space for three cabbies. The first cabbie in that line is watching down the street for the signall from a cabbie at the hotel. He then has to wait for the light on his block to change to green, oncoming traffic to pass, and pedestrians to cross the street. Then he speeds down the block and waits at another light to make a right turn into the hotel. The last driver at the hotel line is supposed to "hold" the spot for the driver down the block and not let any other drivers cut the line. I guess you could try to cut the line, but they would probably cause bodily harm.

Now, back at the city cab stand, the cabs move forward. In addition, there is a city cab stand with room for six cabs that are waiting to get into line at the cab stand with room for three cabs. That's 14 cabs waiting for a trip from one hotel to the airport. The city ground transportation department even sends a cop out to monitor the flow to make sure cabbies aren't clogging up the intersection waiting to get into line. The first time I was number 14 and waited an hour for a $30 trip. Worth it? I'm not sure yet. Is that normal?

Now I won't even work that hotel if I have I'm not number 1-9. The problem for me is that the cabs park so close together that I can't get out of the line if I get a dispatched call - without making everyone mad. The worst is when you sit in the line for an hour only to get a $5 trip to the convention center.

I feel like I'm fishing when I drive a cab. Or playing poker.