I finally got to meet Vegascabbie!
March 17, 2009
Forgot my Camera! So here is a slot win.
I had the pleasure this evening of meeting VegasCabbie. He agreed to let me interview him a few days ago. After some effort, we finally got our busy schedules opened up and stole an hour or so to talk.
First of all, I’ve gotta say, this is one great guy. He even came to my house to pick me up for the interview. My parrot, an African Grey who is afraid of everyone, loved him and made a bunch of chicken clucking noises for him. I think they are now secretly best friends.
We drove around the hood for a bit and checked out properties while I got used to his camera in front of me. I have stage fright, sad to say. The best grade I pulled in High School drama class was a D, and for good reason. A cruise class, my ass! This is the reason I write. I do not do ‘in front of people’ well at all, and a camera is ‘people’ in my book.
If you don’t know about Vegascabbie, you are missing out. He does video podcasts on his website http://vegascabbie.typepad.com and he also does a lot of twitter posting, especially when he’s working. He’s a lot of fun to follow, especially when he gets to pick up some famous guy. He’ll twitter about them, and he will twitter with them. Always a fun read.
When you’re riding with Vegascabbie, don’t worry, he doesn’t normally have the video camera on the dashboard. We decided to combine our interviews and he is making a podcast from the footage. Can you call digital video “footage”? Do we have another word for it yet?
I finally calmed down about the camera and we parked to talk.
Vegascabbie’s real name is Rick. He has been driving a cab in Las Vegas for about eight or nine years. Rick explained to me that there are no real independent cab drivers in Las Vegas, they all work for someone. There are ‘gypsy’ cabs out there on occasion but they are working illegally. He works for a cab company.
I asked him about ‘tunneling’. I thought that was when a cab took you down Desert Inn, which bypasses the strip. Shows you what I know! It is not. It is when the cab is told to go to the strip and they head out by 215 into the tunnel, the really long way around.
He explained, though, that there are times when this is actually the quicker way. If there is a convention letting out or an event at the Thomas and Mack Center, then the tunnel might just be the quickest way. So, getting tunneled may or may not be a bad thing. Usually, it is a way to run up a fare. You can turn them in and the fine from the authority is $150.
The cab driver is really pretty much caught between a rock and a hard place. They want to take care of the customer and do what’s right. If they have too many short trips, though, they have the cab company on their back for not making enough money. So when people get long hauled and taken far out of the way, it might be a driver who is under the pressure and not necessarily an evil creep by his/her normal nature.
I discovered I am a very bad tipper. Rick explained just how the pay works. They do not get an hourly wage to drive a cab. They are more like a hair dresser who rents a booth. The cab driver is required to fill the cab with gas, plus they have a fee they have to pay to the cab company. Really, they only make about a 1/3rd or less of what you see on the meter. Which isn’t much. Think about it, most of these cab fares are twenty dollars or less. My ten percent rule on cab fares leaves the driver at sort of a loss. My bad. While they are not just working for tips, they come close.
He offered, after my pressing for an amount, that five dollars is a good rule. If the cabbie is attentive and answers your questions, followed your instructions and took care of your bags, etc., then at least give him a five. If he didn’t take care of you and talked to his wife on his cell phone the whole ride in some foreign language, but he took care of your bags, then give what he deserves. Which would likely be my ten percent, I’m guessing.
The economy has been tough on cab drivers. The specials and room deals the casinos have been advertising have brought in a whole new type of tourist to Vegas. They are the coupon-special deal people. Yeah, the people who don’t want to spend much of anything. That carries over to what the cab driver is getting paid and tipped, or not tipped. A lot of his income disappeared with this ‘new economy’ we’ve got going now. People want everything for free and the cab drivers are suffering because of it.
It was fun talking with Vegascabbie. He is very friendly and easy to talk to. He also knows an awful lot about Las Vegas. He even used to live in my neighborhood back in the day. If I ever need a cab, I know who I’m going to call.
Vegascabbie works those hours when you’re likely to need him most, noon to midnight many of his workdays. If you need a cab, give him a call, he’s sure to take care of you. 702-845-5788, or send him a tweet on twitter @vegascabbie.
Vegascabbie is handling the video. I’ll be damned if I didn’t even get a photo of him with my camera. I was so worried about being on camera that I forgot to take my own! When he gets the video posted, I will embed it in this post. He did tell me a great Cuba Gooding, Jr., story that I won’t do justice, so you’ll have to wait for the video.
Written by Rick AKA The Vegascabbie on March 17, 2009 at 9:03 am
Pam,
It was a delight also talking to you, Ive got to say that most interviews I do like this end up in disaster because other just dont know how to do the interview. But you sweetie are one of the best at what you do here. The video is being worked on as we speak and will take a day or 2 for me to SPIFF up if you will. If anyone has any questions please feel free to shoot me an email to vegascabbie@cox.net and you can visit my website @ http://www.thevegascabbie.com and hook into my blog and my podcast. A lot of good things are popping up all the time. Again Pam thanks for the chat and we will look foreward to doing it again soon.
Rick