Mental Schmental

Its been a couple of weeks since I switched cab companies. I switched because I planned on buying my own vehicle and wanted to save some money. The company I was driving for charges about $200 more a month for their "brand" than the one I am with now. More on this cab thing later.

What I want to talk about is mental energy. If you read between m y lines, you will notice a pervailing sense of melencholy. The symptoms I describe follow very close with that of depression. Sure I took a lot of hits all at once, but the groundwork had been laid long before my dog got hit by a car, and I had to put my cat down. I do not think I shared that last fact.

Anyway, it was only after I left the red cab company and switched to the white, that I realized just how much negative energy the former had. No one was happy there. The drivers were unhappy, the dispatchers were unhappy, the managers were unhappy and even the owners were unhappy. At my new company it is like a boys and girls club. Every time I go in the office it is like "hey gang, lets go solve a mystery!" or take someone to the airport, as the case may be.

After about a week, I noticed an elevation in my general mood. Sometimes, until you are out of a situation, you do not or cannot realize how it is affecting you. I think the red cabs were bringing me down. I had no direct complaints on how I was treated. In fact I was treated like royalty there. In that I was the only driver that received noc omplaints, and paid my lease on time every day. So it had to be everyone elses mood that was bringing me down.

Two of my fellow cab buddies had long switched over, and had been lobbying hard to get me to come over. I told them over and over, I was not going to switch until I bought my own cab, and even then I was probably going to go to black. Black was the lowest priced fees in the business. Finally the owner of white called me and arranged a meeting. He asked me what it would take for me to switch to them. I told him I was going to buy my cab, and was thinking abotu black. He asked what it would take to go to white instead.

Recently I had spoke with some other drivers and it got me to thinking. When my cab is in the shop, I am essentially out of work when I own my own cab. Black is a strictly owner operator outfit, and there is no real organization. It operates like a loos confederation of cab drivers. Not unlike the CIS nee USSR. A Commonwealth of Indpendant Cab Drivers, so to speak.

When my cab is in the shop, not only will I be deprived of income, but also be racking up repair bills to boot. So, what I told him was that I would like to be able to drive a fleet car when my own was in the shop, and he agreed. I also got the company insurance included and will not have to deal with getting my own individual policy. I traded a little more money a week for a lot of peace of mind and security.

So I suspect some may be wondering how a part time cab driver scraping by on disability income can aford to buy a minivan? Credit. I have been a member of a credit union for about twenty years. I called them up and was able to secure a loan for 4.2%. This with no money down. The differnece between what I paid red cab and what I was to pay white cab amounted to $175 per week. My car payment is less than $200 a month. If you do the math, even with rounding it is easy to see I come out about $500 a month ahead each month.

But thats if everything remains the same. I really did this so I could cut back on the hours I was working. It was taking its toll I believe. I was stressing out over making my daily quota on the slow days. Such it was, I was tempted to work beyond what my body was telling me to, so that I could meet my expenses.

I have a built up a pretty large client base. I am often engaged in calls from personal clients as opposed to the general public. This is much prefered, and much safer. A lot of people worry about my picking up strangers in the night and taking them to destinations unknown. With my regulars, it is like we're on auto pilot. With my lower expense base, I can more depend on my regulars.

Once I getthe car paid off, things get even better. Now when I have a windfall day, I will be paying extra on the car. With the credit union the interest is "simple" in that there is no early pay-off penalty like with some car loans.

So anyway, I am much happier, and realize how much my mental state seems to affect my general well being.

Kronick
aka Kevin 3.1

[...driving by in the White Car...]