Last night I picked up a petite young blond from a bar in DuPont Circle. She was trying to get home around Logan Circle after a bartending gig. She could have easily walked out to the street and flagged a cab off Connecticut avenue but instead she called Diamond Cab and paid the extra $2.00 charge for the service. But she was telling me that ever since she got robbed by a thug who was driving a stolen cab she was riding in, she stopped catching a cab off the street whenever she rides alone at night. Cabs get stolen all the time and who ever drives the stolen cab could have an open crime season to do what ever he wants if he decides to pick up people. I think she is lucky person that she is still living.
This is another reason why you should call Diamond Cab, especially if you are a chick riding alone at night. Don't call our only competition (Yellow Cab)! The drivers are ugly motherfuckers and they only take showers on holidays. Here at Diamond Cab, drivers are required by management to take a shower at least once every other week but most drivers I know are hygiene freaks and they do shower every Sunday.
Here is our call center number if you need it! (202)387-6200
Please don't forget the homeless,
Mad Cabbie.
52 comments:
Come on Mad,
I realize it is a plug in but can't you do it without implicating that people who hail cabs get robbed. I know buisness is bad in DC right now thanks to Mr. Kim Il Fenty, but I don't think it is fair for your honest Cabbie friends who are hard working.
Moi
I have heard of that one with the thugs.
Another problem with the hailing of cabs is that there is a high probability that the cab that you hail is driven by someone who does not have a hack licence. The Authorities are aware of the problem; they refuse to do anything about it.
Years back, many people who were quite capable of hailing a cab used to call, anyhow. The reason was that if there were a problem, they at least had some recourse. If they rode in Honest Abdullah's Camel Rental Service, a call there would usually produce a response on the order of 'He not for us working, he only teksee renting here'. Diamond would, at least, do something.
When the price of the call went from sixty-five cents to a dollar, most people did not complain, they understood. When it went from one dollar, to one-fifty, people began to notice it and decided to take their chances with Faceless Tesfaye, Unlicenced Abdullah and Illegal Igbwe.
People are frequently leaving things in the cab. They hail a cab. They leave something. They call 411 and ask for 'the D.C. Cab Company', they get Diamond and call there swearing that it was a Diamond Cab. You ask them what colour, and they say 'Diamond Colours'. You ask them to describe the cab, they persist until they see that they will not get anywhere until they answer the question that you asked. Then they say 'It was red', 'It was blue', 'It was Grey'. Sorry, not Diamond.
Then there is the description of the driver: 'It was a Middle-Eastern Cab Driver named Mohammed, he wore glasses, had a beard and drove a Ford sedan'. There are only fifty drivers like that at Diamond. Or; 'It was an African, you don't have very many Africans, do you?' Nope, only 192, and that is if you do not count those from North of the Sahara or from Aegypt.
Or; 'He had a real unusual name, it was Getachew'. Every sixth male in Aethiopia is named 'Getachew'.
Then there are those who call a Diamond Cab, but take the first thing that shows up. Of course, they leave something, and call up demanding that not only must the driver return it yesterday, he must pay them for the privelege. 'Sir, you did not take the cab sent for you, there is nothing that I can do, since you can not identify the driver; I have no idea who drove you'.
brokemoto,
Okey doke! "Aethiopians" with funny names like “Getachew” and those Middle Easterners with scary sounding names like Mohammed are thieves disguised as Cabbies to rob you of your possession, beware specially if those Mohammed's are wearing glasses!! So, what is that about 75% of Cabbies in D.C?
In other words all the good folks who like to visit the District or who are unfortunate enough to live in it should watch out from all these foreign thugs, eh!! ‘Cause these scary foreigners who don't even speak the King's English without a stupid accent are swarming D.C. in Ford Sedans, crown victories….. and what notes.
Moi
Moi, Don't you think I had all the chances to plug Diamond Cab every day for the last two years? I never suggested that the rest of non-radio drivers are thugs....but your chances of getting robbed by a radio cab is next to ZERO!
Hey Moi and brokemoto, can't we just get along! BTW Phil all our Ethiopian drivers are fleeing to Yellow, what's up with that? Phil, Moi has a legit concern about your comment and you may need to respond!
All jokes aside, a collegue of mine was sexually assualted by an Alexandria city cab driver about ten years ago, later they found out the real driver of the cab reported the cab missing couple of days prior. She waved the cab down from a bar around courthouse in Arlington...point well taken Mad Cabbie.
I don't think Diamond Cab Company needs a plug, we have a hard time handling the night business as it is.
Diamond #888
Hey Mad Cabbie,
I just moved to the DC area a little bit ago and I've got some friends coming in this weekend and want to go a club or two. What's a good spot for a couple 23 year olds without too many thugs to hassle us?
Thanks,
Jackie
Jackie, as cheesy as it sounds I think you should take them To Adams Morgan...You guys can hop from one club to the next without worrying to take a cab or drive. It's a cool place to hang out for the twenty somethings...It's diverised and relatively safe.
Are you friends hot, Jackie?
Sorry about your friend Trish, I hope the scumbagg who did that to her is behind bars!
Diamond 888, everytime I turn the radio all I hear is your number, you must be making a shit load of cash. The night work is okay but it could be better.
It AIN'T me that needs to respond, it is 'moi'. He needs his glasses fixed. There is nothing in my reply that states that Getachew robs passengers. Had he bothered to read, he would have seen 'People are frequently leaving things in the cab'. I then relate the descriptions of the drivers in whose cab these people left these things. I never stated that Mohammed, Getachew or the African stole their possessions. These are the descriptions of the drivers that I get when someone calls who left something in a cab.
Look, do not buy your glasses at HourEyes, get 'em somewhere else. READ THE POST.
Now, I did state that the unlicenced drivers are thieves, and they are. They overcharged without fear of the consequences and they were, and are, out there stealing my customers. But, I did not state that Getachew or the African or Mohammed, in whose cab these people left property, had stolen it. READ THE POST, and DO NOT buy your glasses at Hour Eyes.
The Flight of the Ethiopians started with the Van Ness Texaco Sharpshooters Club. They left while I was at Schaeffer, so do not try to blame that on me (that goes double for Diamond's current management--DO NOT try to blame me for that). They left because of incompetent dispatchers and crooked operators.
See, the dispatchers no longer know to what airport the jobs are going. I do not agree with that policy, and there are numerous reasons why it is asinine, but I will not go into that here. Anyhow, the operators still know. More than a few of them have payola clubs. My wife is one of the few who do not sell jobs. Anyhow, the Van Ness Texaco Sharpshooters Club got tired of not being able to get anything, because the dispacthers, with one or two exceptions, could not put out the work, and, many of the operators were not giving the dispatchers anything good to put out.
Then there was Leon and his wife, better known as King Jive and Queen Nasty. She took the calls and gave them to him to sell. He never brought home much of the money he took from the drivers; he used it to finance his crack habit and chase young girls. I popped him, submitted photographic proof and management responded by firing me.
There were a few other crooked dispatchers, who managed to browbeat certain operators into telling them where the jobs were going.
So off they went to Yellow and its satellite dispatch. They liked it; it was certainly better than Diamond's crooks and incompetents. Anyhow, the Sharpshooters Club told Bushera and Habona about it, so off they went, too. I seem to recall that Bushera told me that he needed a car, too, and that he did not like what Best had to offer; he was much happier with what Andy Schaeffer had to offer him. Anyhow, where Bushera goes, Habona AIN'T far behind. After those two, there were a couple more. By the time that I got back, it was pretty much over.
Some of the Ghanaians and Persians also went, but a few of them came back. They did not like going East of the Water.
Then, there is Negassi. He will try to blame me. He got busted throwing his hood by two drivers, so I put it on the air. I hate rubberhooding. The truth is, back when Diamond was in real financial trouble, it cut back to one operator per shift. The telephones were not getting answered, and Negassi was not making any money. He likes vouchers. If you like voucher work, Yellow is the place for you.
Mad,
Sorry if you took offence. I know you could have plugged in for all this time and there is nothing wrong with it. I just thought it sounded kind of not fair for the others.
brokemoto,
Sorry for the rant but I think it was warranted. The poor Cabbies are having to struggle with the lower income because of the new and reduced fares thanks to Mr. Fenty, and I felt that they did not need a sublime message implicating that they might be in the buisness for more reason than making an honest living.
For your info, I am a non-glass wearing, non-cab driving, female, Ethiopian-American, who is married to a great Ethio-American who hacked in D.C. a while back. We have friends who still hack in D.C. for a living and I feel their pain.
Moi
Who you calling ugly, Chris? Yellow is the King man! You're not even a real cab driver, you just waste your time at that homeless shelter on 2nd street with those crackheads. You, Phil and Best can go to hell.
Ex Diamond driver and a proud Yellow driver.
Hey Phillip why don't you talk about all those pocketful of jobs your wife feed you every night? Diamond is the most corrupt and racist cab company in Washington. I wish Fenty shuts you down!
What's rubberhooding? and what's considered "east of the river"? Is that SE across the Anacostia? Who's Schaeffer? A quick google search picks up a Jerry Schaeffer, who looks like he owns like eight cab companies? How's that work out.
Michael
Michael_3653@hotmail.com
Hey, anonymous, I sit on the microphone every night, so my wife could not 'feed me all those pocketfuls of jobs', even if she wanted to. Are you familiar with the term 'hoist by your own petard'? Well, you are hoist by your own petard. You accuse me of being a fake, you just exposed yourself as a sham and a fake, and an ignorant one, at that.
As for Yellow drivers being real cab drivers? That would be correct. They are a bunch of real prima donnas and real crybabies, and self-important asswipes, just like a cab driver. They AIN'T hackers, they are crybaby cab drivers. There IS a difference between a 'hacker' and a 'cab driver'. Yup, hoist, once more, by your own petard.
Diamond may be a racist company, but it AIN'T racist in the way that you think that it is, anonymous. Mad Cabbie has hinted at how it is racist, in previous postings and replies.
It is a good thing that Vaughn went to a satellite, because Yellow drivers' radio procedure sucked. Each one of them thinks that he is the only one out there and that the dispatcher is supposed to drop what he is doing an wait on him hand and foot. The drivers that gave and give me the most trouble at Diamond and gave me the same at Schaeffer, as far as being disruptive, violent and threatening were almost all Yellow or ex-Yellow drivers.
And moi, remember, read the text of the post. They call and say that they left their property in a cab driven by a guy named Getachew. I did not state that Getachew stole the property. As for the 'Faceless Tesfaye' remark, be aware that large numbers of the unlicenced drivers out there are from the horn of Africa, these days. They have no respect for anyone or anything. The unlicenced drivers are money grubbing thieves and do not deserve to 'earn their living' stealing my customers and blackguarding my reputation as a hacker. Unlicenced drivers are NOT earning an 'honest living'; marry, it is a 'dishonest living'. I never made a disparaging remark about a legitimately licenced driver from the horn of Africa.
'Aethiopia' and 'Aegypt', are archaic spellings of those places.
'Rubberhooding', 'stretching' or 'longhooding' are terms that refer to a radio driver's attempt to put himself closer to a call than he really is. A simplistic example would be that the dispatcher calls 'Logan Circle'. The driver tells the dispatcher that he is on Thirteenth at K, when the driver is really on Thirteenth at Pennsylvania.
Remember, with a two-way radio, the dispatcher can not see the driver; he must, as a rule, go on what the driver is telling him. There are ways around it, and there are ways to catch a driver in a lie and ways to know when a driver is lying and you can generally learn which drivers 'stretch' consistently and how far. Such abilities are acquired as the result of experience and being a dispatcher such as yours, truly; that is, one of the highest calibre.
When cab drivers say 'southeast', they are often referring to the part of that quadrant that is across the Anacostia.
'Schaeffer' is, in fact, Mr. Jerry Schaeffer. His father, Morris, built the Liberty Empire, although the family has branched into other things. Jerry's brother, Andrew, is in the cab insurance and cab financing business. David used to run the body and paint shop, but they sold that and David moved on to other things. I understand that he is in New York City doing cable televsion, but I do not know.
Moi, I wasn't offended at all, you may need to work a little harder to piss me off. But I do understand where you coming from! I also have a lot of friends who are street hackers and they are no criminals, maybe ex-cons!
You think I am wasting time at the shelter Yellow driver? That shows your true colors! Phil, you think it's "Crybaby Negassi" who wrote this comment?
No, I do not think that it is Negassi, he does not, as a rule, talk like that, so I would assume that he would not write in that fashion. He does like to whine, but the post does not seem like him. In fact, I saw Negassi to-night. We were talking about illegals. I was at the DCTC meeting Wednesday.
I have my ideas as to who it may be. It might be Sonny, or one or two others, but it is no big deal, he can identify himself, if he chooses. If he does not, who cares? I am still not sure who you are, but, 'chaknowwhutt? If the worst things that happened to me to-day are, that I go to bed (which I am about to do, as I just got off Diamond's microphone, where I was 'running all those pocketfuls of jobs' as I sat on the microphone.)to-night, not being sure who 'anonymous Yellow driver' and Mad Cabbie are, I will have had a PRETTY good day.
Phil -
I think that the issue with the illegal drivers can be mostly cleaned up in a simple way: start offering the Hack test again so they can actually get their face. It is my understanding they haven't offered the test except for to a couple hundred people back in april, in years. If you've recently immigrated or moved to the area or just never got your license, illegal cab driving is your only option. Letting those drivers get their face will bring them all into the system with insurance, etc. My guess would be most of them would rather be legal than illegal if they had a chance to.
Additionally, any inside word on when (if) they will ever start letting people take the test on a regular basis again?
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
Yeah, they got their problems, I got mine. They have no right to be out here without a hack licence. I went through all kinds of bother to get mine and go through all kinds of it to keep mine. They can wait until they can get it. Until then, they can work at 7/11, parking lots, hotels or flip burgers, but they CAN NOT DRIVE A CAB, at least not in the City. They can go to the suburbs, if they must drive a cab.
They have actually started up the test, again. They sent out one-thousand notices for Round One, about eight-hundred showed up and there was a pass rate of about fifty-eight per-cent. They sent out one-thousand notices for Round Two, again, about eight-hundred showed up; there was a pass rate of forty-two to forty-eight per-cent. One thousand notices for Round Three will be going out soon.
Even if all of them passed, we would not notice much difference, as most of the illegals were those who had taken the course, and passed it, but could not write the licencing examination. Still, I have no sympathy for them; they have NO business out there in a City cab. They are on hold at 7/11, the parking lot, the hotel or paying those outrageous rents on suburban cabs until the D.C. Gubbamint does something. I am not responsible for the gubbamint's shortcomings or failure to act. Let them file suit, if they are unhappy. Peter Nickles steals my tax money as it is, and calls it his 'salary'; let him earn his living.
I agree that they shouldn't be out there - you should go the legal route and get the hack license like you did. It's illegal, the insurance implications especially for the passengers, sure.
but...
I guess I fail to see how illegals impact you so much? Like you said, if they all passed you wouldn't notice much difference. It'd be the same people out there driving cabs, just now they'd have licenses and be legal instead of illegal.
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
They have impacted me because they have been out there for years, taking away my customers. As Dear Revered Leader Kim il-Fenty has granted me the privelege of working for 1989 rates, and the People's Progressive Authoritarian Gubbamint suffers the illegals to drive, that means that I am bringing in less revenue than I did before. It used to be that illegals were issued summonses and the cabs were impounded. Under the Zone rates, I could bring in enough revenue to pay the excessive and oppressive fines, fees and taxes that the Demokratik People's Republik of New Kolumbia required.
Now I have been handed a pay cut, have a harder time bringing in that cut pay, but I must pay ever increasing expenses. There is talk that the People's Taxikab Kommissariat, on orders from the People's Supreme Kommissar, Dan-Chi-Minh Tangherlini, and Dear Revered Leader Kim il-Fenty, is going to raise the already excessive and oppressive fines and fees, since the People's Fiskalburo is running short, these days.
The People's Taxikab Kommissariat and the People's Metropolitan Police have been aware of the problem of the illegals for years, and have been doing nothing about it. Instead, they choose to pick on the legitimate drivers.
The illegals mistreat the customers, and it ruins the reputation of anyone who drives a cab.
That is how illegals impact me.
Well said Phil!
Diamond #888
I couldn't agree more on what Phil said at 12:43 am. I think it was the illegals charging absurd amounts of money and abusing customers that was used as an excuse to reduce cab fares in D.C. So, instead of trying to actually do the work and catch those who were doing this the D.C. government chose to penalize all Cabbies in the city who also happen to be individual business owners. What can you say; this can happen only in the Socialist D.C., where small business is asked to subsidize the masses.
And from what Phil is saying there might be more in the form of taxes coming from office Kim Il Fenty because there is less revenue. And I hear that businesses on 9th street are on the brink of closing to because guess what most of the Cabbies, hundreds of them, used to eat lunch there but not any more because they can no longer afford it. So Mr. Fenty was pretty short sighted when he put in the new fare, the snow ball effect is coming to bite him back in the form reduced revenue for his School with a shiny and new superintendent.
Moi
I agree 100% that the new meter fares are too low. Whenever I ride in a cab i always tip at least 20-25% over the meter. I haven't lived here long enough to really remember the zones, I moved to the region just as they were going away.
My point is, though, that the free markets should be able to work without excessive government restrictions. Personally, I think all cabs should be able to set their own price (let competition really work). Now all the cab drivers have dealt with obtrusive government for a while now and you're all right that it's probably only going to get worse.
However, two wrongs don't make a right. If there's a lot of people that want to become cab drivers, then the government should let them drive a cab legally. If there's too many drivers out there for you to make sufficient money then it's probably time for you to find another job. There's no limits on the number of legal secretaries or waitresses allowed in the city imposed by the government. Those jobs are all about supply and demand. As well the cabbing industry should be too. You can't invite the government in on one issue (limiting the number of drivers) and tell them to fuck off on others (zones to meters, or whatever).
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
Michael, Michael, Michael,
Now you are sounding too lawyer like to be a simple wannabe Cabbie. But to come to the point, IMHO the District's Cabbie market is saturated as is. Add a thousand more Cabbies to the Market and the guys at the Capitol themselves will come and try to stop giving D.C. it is own representative because the roads will be clogged by Cabbies driving around the city. And the District is not Unique in limiting the number of Cabbies even in the surrounding Counties in Virginia and Maryland the number is increased on "demand" basis emphasis on demand. New York also has limited the number of Cabbies even with the volume of people that it has because they took traffic congestion and market feasibility into consideration. (Of course, it doesn't hurt that those companies have strong lobbyists who are powerful)
As to the market dictating the fare, I will let Phil handle that 'cause I don't know about it much as I have never driven a Cab.
Moi
Moi -
My argument is sorta abstract. You make a decent point about the streets being blocked up with cabs - that's the only reasonable argument that I can see for rationing the number of cabs. This is a problem currently in Dublin Ireland, if i'm not mistaken. But, if I understand it correctly (plz feel free to correct me here if I'm wrong) NYC and the VA 'burbs limit the number of CABS not DRIVERS.
Here are some of the effects of this in NYC:
1)very very few drivers own their own cabs, even less own their own medallion. Medallion can run upwards of $500,000 just for the privilege from the city government to run your car.
2)try to get a cab out in the outer boroughs? nearly impossible. The cabs typically only work in Manhattan market because they need to pay their 1200$/week in cab rent/medallion rent. Because there are only 13,XXX cabs in a city of 8 million people, its a severe shortage. So what flourishes in the outer boroughs and the less-than-desirable parts of Manhattan? So called unmetered (also no zones) "gypsy cabs" who are licensed New York TL/C drivers but they are only supposed to respond to radio calls (they typically drive black Lincolns and are chauffeurs when they can be - NYC Yellow cabs do not have radios). This is 100% illegal for them to pick up street flags but the outer boroughs need some sort of service that the yellow cabs cannot provide BECAUSE of government regulations. This is unsafe to the passengers of these vehicles because they can hop in any black lincoln and be robbed by someone (like what happened unfortunately to the woman that Mad blogged about in the first place to generate these comments). It's also unsafe for the drivers who often have to argue with passengers regarding fares and are restricted to working in the worst neighborhoods of the city.
The bottom line is that simple limiting of the number of drivers cannot curb supply and demand. We can look at prohibition and the drug wars of today to know that if people can make a few bucks out of it they will defy the law of the man. Limiting the supply of drivers doesn't work nor should it work.
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
Michael,
You can't compare New York to D.C. it is not even close to apples and oranges. But as I said the limited number of Cabbies in New York is mostly 'cause of those big muscled Lobbysts (shhh... the ones whose friends that live on K-street lobbied to have the D.C. cab fare reduced. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/DCTaxiRates/ )
Not having enough Cabbies could be the story in New York but in D.C. that is not true. There are plenty of Cabbies per capita. And if you add more, all you get is just traffic jam and in D.C. that is one thing we all can agree up on that we do not need.
The Annony above is me(Moi)
My main point is I'd rather have markets decide that there are too many cabbies than government bureaucrats.
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
Michael,
Have you ever been to D.C. lately? Go to a street corner and try to hail a Cab, from what my friends' tell me you will almost cause an accident because three or four Cabbies will try to get there first.
Moi
I work in the District and I live in Arlington. There are plenty of cabs in DC - I'm not denying that. I never said there was a shortage and I've never heard anyone make that argument.
My argument is that if you invite the government in your bedroom on one issue (limiting drivers), why should you expect them to stay out when you want them to? (reduced meter fares, more regulations, etc). It's about maintaining a consistent political philosophy instead of bending it to meet whatever personal needs I have.
I try to be consistent and honest with my reasoning. Yes, there is part of me who would like to drive a cab in DC. However, if I were to become one I wouldn't welcome the regulations to restrict drivers. Let the free market live!!!
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
"Michael
My argument is that if you invite the government in your bedroom on one issue (limiting drivers), why should you expect them to stay out when you want them to? (reduced meter fares, more regulations, etc)."
O.K. Mike,
I get it just like the gay and lesbian community wants the government out of their bedroom but then want the government to allow them to marry.
Anon -
Sort of, yes. I personally don't think the government should be involved in marriage at all, for straight or gay, but that's for a different blog at a different time.
I was thinking more of like smokers who don't want the government to tell them where/when they can smoke (which I totally agree with) but want government health care so when they get lung cancer they'll be taken care of. They want the assistance when it suits them but not when it affects them negatively. There's probably a better analogy that's a little more relevant but I wanted to post before I leave my day job for the day and go home. But, yeah, you've got the right idea. It's about maintaining consistent philosophy.
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
MOI FOR TAXICAB COMISSIONER!
I have no problem with the goverment setting up the fare rates for cabs, otherwise the city will be jammed with traffic by passengers who try to negotiate their fares with cabbies before they get in, if you let the market decide the rates. But at the same time the district goverement needs to address the issue if the cirrent structure is a fare wage for the drivers. The problem is, in most American large cities the majority of drivers are from other countries and foriegners are treated as second or third class citizens, nobody gives a shit! That's why companies like Red Top in VA and Barwood in MD are given the right to inslave drivers mostly from Africa by charging them unjustified $120 a day.
Ms Moi, I don't do black girls but I don't mind having a little bit of fun with an Ethiopian bitch.
Do you have any of your country girl who is interested in a fine strong white boy?
Blue Eyes
Ethiopians are more racist than you are Blue Eyes. No Habesha girl would look at your KKK ass.
Viva Eritrea!
Blue Eyes,
There are none I am afraid, Ethiopian b... that is . Ethiopian women are respectable women and they like to stick to their own kind who tend to respect them as well. Why don't you look for those b... among your own kind they might be more.... accomodating?
Moi
Blue Eyes, I think Moi is politely trying to say that you better hold to on those toothless hoes at trailer park .
Viva Eritrea, I think Ethiopians are proud and at peace with their identity than most African nations. I don't think that makes them a racist society. I spent a few weeks in Ethiopia and it was one of the greatest experince I ever had, I felt at home the first day I got there. I know the history between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the silly comment you made is so predictable.
Perfect translation mad!!
Moi
Ya' know what they say about toothless...........? They say that there is a reason that Bubba punches out the teeth of an inmate or two, here and there. I would not know, but I do hear tell.......
It does appear that the women from that part of Africa tend to stick to their own kind, but that has always been the trend of any group of recent immigrants to this country. It is not just the women who do, or did, this, it was the people in general and in their affairs, in general.
Still, I have, in my youth, known more than one woman from that part of the world who was not averse to, shall we say 'a little cream in her coffee', from time-to-time, but this AIN'T the place to discuss such a topic, nor do gentlemen go into the minutiae of such a thing on a public forum.
What really messed things up in that part of the world, was the arrival of an Italian missionary in the nineteenth century. He bought a huge chunk of land from some local official, who was nominally a vassal of the Ottoman Sultan. After that, the Italians showed up in force. Their unsuccesful campaign against Menelik checked their expansion, down there, until Mussolini showed up in the late 1920s/early 1930s with tanks and aeroplanes, and, bigger rifles and cannons than Giolitti's boys had available for use against Menelik's boys. Haile Selassie's forces di'n't do none too good against them thar' tanks and erryplanes. The forces of the British Empire kicked out the Italians in 1941. Sometime after the end of the war, the English/UN handed Eritrea to Ethiopia without asking the Eritreans what they wanted.
You must remember that at one point, most of what is to-day Eritrea did belong to one of the Christian Ethiopian states, but the Moslem forces wrested most of it from them in the Middle Ages.
The French and English cut up the Italian-held part of Somaglia, (the English and French did also hold chunks of Somaglia before the Italians showed up) and, well, we know what is going on there , these days.
So there it is, the Europeans went buying land and whatever in Africa, and things are still a mess to-day because of it.
Mad Cabbie is on the trail with his remarks about the District Building and the foreign born. The meters and this other mistreatment was not as bad when Barry was Mayor. Why? Capitol Cab Co-operative, for one. Capitol Cab Co-operative was a radio company made up of mostly Black-American drivers who were District residents. On Election Day, not only did they go to the polls and vote, they got out there and drove Barry supporters to the polls. They also did this for City Council candidates whom they supported. Thus, neither Barry nor the City Council were too willing to do anything that the cab drivers did not like. Damn Willie Wright all that you will, but he did all kinds of work to keep meters and the big companies from taking our livlihood away from us.
As everyone knows, change happens. The Americans doing this job got old. They died, retired or just hung up their keys. Fewer Americans came to replace them. First, it was the Nigerians, Ghanaians and a Kenyan, or two, who came. Next came the Arabs/Persians/Indians/Pakistanis.
The above moved on to other things, as has been the wont of more than a few immigrant groups to this country. The latest replacements have been those from the Horn of Africa. Most of the people from the immigrant groups chose to live either in the State of Maryland or the Commonwealth of Virginia. The last group seems to prefer the latter to the former. Few of the immigrants live in the District of Columbia. As Mad Cabbie correctly indicates, no one at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. cares too much about any immigrant, ESPECIALLY one who lives in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
As Mr. Withrow, Diamond #32, has told me more than once, "If ya' AIN'T got no money, and ya' AIN'T got the votes, ya' gotta' dance to their tune". Money is one thing that we AIN'T got. We had the votes, but they died or retired and/or moved to Maryland (some to Virginia). What has replaced the Old Ones do not live in the District of Columbia, so the votes DONE GONE and AIN'T been replaced. There is a third thing that can keep you from 'dancing to their tune', but I will omit it here, lest the FBI come knocking on my door, to-morrow.
Mr. Withrow did miss something, though. A Community Activist from Anacostia, whose name now escapes me, did allude to it when he spoke to a group of drivers at Balwinder Singh's garage, while we were waiting for Mrs. Bowser to address us. The short version is this: give me twenty drivers, one other dispatcher and one-thousand drivers to put up five dollars apiece, and we can STILL do something to make a difference. It is something parallel to what the anti-Bottle Bill concerns did in the late 1980s, here.
There are some of us who do live in the District, such as Yours Truly, but we are not enough to make a difference. Dear Revered Leader Kim il-Fenty can afford to write off our votes.
There is one piece of good news. It appears that Supreme People's Kommissar Dan-Chi-Minh Tangherlini is going to take a job with the Feds. Said Supreme People's Kommissar had a part to play in the harm that the Demokratik People's Progressive Authoritarian Gubbamint has inflicted on us, of late. Too bad Obama did not get elected sooner, perhaps much of the damage could have been prevented. When Dan-Chi-Minhh-Tangherlini jumped ship from the sinking A. Williams Administration to the Chief METRO job, more than a few of us breathed a sigh of relief. We expected that he would stay there, as METRO was an excellent fit for his background. Imagine our dismay when he took the job of Supreme People's Kommissar that Kim il-Fenty offered him.
Enough of the history lessons. I must hit the street. Since Best and Moses fired me, again, for no reason, again, I have to drive to pay my bills.
Excellently put together Phil! What's up with you getting fired again? To be honest with you I was surprised you took back that dispatching gig again. You better off hacking full time my brother. For a driver who knows his shit like yourself, you could make lot more money than the peanuts they pay you at that radio room.
Last time I was in DC, I remembered your blog and called your company.
:)
They chose to believe lies told to them by a some people. One of them works there, still, in a micromanaged position that is alleged to be supervisory.
Another one used to work there, but has not worked there since the First of the Year. She is a notorious pathological liar and was one of the most corrupt operators in Diamond's history. I tried to fire her three times, when I was Corporate Secretary, but the Board would not let me, even when Doug McGregor caught her TWICE selling jobs. She had a payola club going not only at DIAMOND, but also with gypsies, as one of her bigger boys left Diamond to drive gypsy at Schaeffer. He ran bag for her amoung the gypsies (some, but not all, were Schaeffer drivers). She had another guy who ran bag for her at Diamond. She also had that Ukranian as a single payer.
Then there is another guy, who is totally off his rocker, who called up there telling even more stories about me.
There are a couple of other suspects who made up more lies.
Then there are these drivers who come, and came, up to me and make, and made, critical comments about Best. They ask me questions about him and there is more criticism in the questions. I blow them off, do not answer the questions, say 'ask Best' or 'ask Moses', and say 'Yeah, right'. So what do these people do? They go to Best and Moses and say 'Phil said that you were XXXXXX and XXXXXX and XXXXX and XXXXXX', when it was THEY who said it. I simply acknowledged what they were saying to me, at the time, without agreeing or disagreeing.
Then, they told me that they did not approve of certain things that I was doing, while they tolerated the same from other employees.
They also claimed to have all kinds of letters and petitions from drivers demanding that I be fired. They would not produce any of the same, but they claimed to have them. Lies.
In fact, when I went in to buy my first sticker, after I came back as a driver, Moses was sitting at the front desk. One driver enthusiastically welcomed me back. Another driver, who disliked me, hugged me and BEGGED me to start dispatching, again. And here was a guy who did not like me.
They tried to say that I was yelling at drivers, again. The opposite was true. Certain dispatchers were saying worse things than I used to say. Some were even using foul language, which could cost Diamond its FCC Licence. Still, when they did it, it was allright. When I told a driver to ring the doorbell, or to stop yelling his cab number at me repeatedly, when I did not drop what I was doing to answer him, suddenly fifty drivers were threatening to paint out. MORE LIES.
More than one driver commented that it seems that the wind had gone out of my sails, this time around. Even you, Mad Cabbie, made a comment about it (Washington Post analysis).
A black pall has descended over 1101 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.; literally and figuratively.
No one, or few, at Diamond appreciate me. There are people there who would not even have a face, had it not been for what I did for them. There is one there, who would not even be in this Country, had I not helped out with his case. But I learned the hard way, when those people sacked me the first time, that no one there gives a damn about me or what I did for anyone.
Those guys at Schaeffer welcome me enthusiastically, even if I sit down to his microphone for only a minute. I will still drive at Diamond, until Best throws me out, at least. There is no money, for me, at least, driving a radio at Schaeffer. But I suspect that I need to go where I am appreciated if I want to dispatch. I am the best dispatcher in the City, it is just that few at Diamond appreciate it while almost all of the drivers at Capitol and Liberty do.
Phil sorry to hear about your job loss at Diamond. If your commentary there was half as interesting as it is here, I'd be sad to see you go too. You seem to know your stuff quite well. Keep up the comments to MC's blog - giving a different perspective and insight into the DC cab industry.
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
Hahahahah....It's about time they canned your ass Phillip and I heard they showed your wife the door as well. Two crooks gone! Now I may come back to Diamond again.
Ex Diamond driver.
Hey! Anonymous Ex Diamond Driver! I am man enough to identify myself, what about you? The problem with many people like you who make baseless statements and call people names is that you are afraid to identify yourselves because you know that you have no proof of your statements, other than the rumours that you help to perpetuate.
I wonder if you were one of Karas' or Dexter's boys. A couple of them left after those former dispatchers got sacked. May Dexter rest in peace, but he was even worse of a crook than Karas. He tried to make in two days what it took Karas five.
At least Karas did have that severely retarded daughter for whom he was trying to care. The payola went mostly to her and to fund much deserved vaccations for him and his wife. Still, in the end, he got worse, despite repeated warnings from Management. But when you are working for Lloyd........Or are you Lloyd, there 'Mr. Anonymous Ex Diamond Driver'?
If you are Lloyd, my understanding is that you do not even have a hacking face, anymore; or did you find someone in the D.C. Gubbamint to bribe so that you could get it back? Actually, it may not matter that you do not have a face, especially when it comes to the Police and Hack Inspectors. They do not bother unlicenced drivers.
If you are Lloyd, I know that you knew about that crooked operator who recently quit. I am surprised that you did not join her payola club. You had a reputation for paying well, but you were very demanding. She was really greedy, and her greed blinded her in many cases, but perhaps even she considered you too demanding and too toxic.
As I recently posted to the owner of this blog, neither my wife, nor I, are, or were, crooked. I have my battle scars from fighting corruption in that radio room. I sacked more than one crooked dispatcher and operator. I even got sucker punched and had things thrown at me by the cheats when I sacked them. So, Sir Anonymity-of-the-Internet, you know what you can do with those comments about my wife's being a crook or about my being a crook. You are just unhappy that I broke up one of the Scam Clubs of which you were a member.
Given the above about Karas, if you think that I liked firing him, I did not. He could dispatch, unlike half of what is in there, now. He put in many years of service to Diamond, and, were it not for him, half of Diamond's direct lines would be at Yellow and Diamond would not have that property that it does. The end came when those thirteen Pakistani drivers went to Yellow and blamed Karas for it.
Yup, Mr. Anonymous Ex Diamond Driver, you appear to be just the kind of jerk driver that Diamond wants, these days. What is wrong, not happy with having ruined enough of Yellow's business? Well you can come to Diamond and not cover jobs, scream at dispatchers, berate them when you do not approve of how they are working and generally disrupt the radio operation and it will be allright. You can throw jobs back at the dispatcher because you do not like them, and it will be allright. You can refuse pick-ups on the stand, and, unless they complain to 2041 or the Human Rights Office, nothing will happen to you. You can shortchange, rip off and be nasty to the customers, and it will be allright. You do not even have to bother taking a bath. In fact, taking one may count against you.
Oh, and the crooks are still there. Their number remains unchanged. In case you are too stupid to figure out what that last statement means, let me shout it to you: MY WIFE AND I WERE NOT CROOKS. That was one thing that Best and Moses did have to admit.
Oh, and Michael, please forgive my rudeness in failing to acknowledge you and answer your questions in past replies. I see that others here did answer them, so you did get something. Still, I should have at least tried to answer you. Thank you for your kind statements.
Can a driver even get decent runs off the radio without payola? It seems like everyone there almost is corrupt somehow
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
Phillip don't worry about my identity. I know for a fact that you used to go in the dispatch room at night in the presence of an African dispatcher who still dispatches and leave with a pocketful of jobs. You can bullshit mad cabbie and his fans but not me.
Mad, I don't even know why you pay for your radio, you never bid for any work unless it is across the river and I can't believe you are not saying anything while Phillip is trying to claim to be a person that he is not. Best dispatcher in the city? Bullshit, you think because you yell at bunch of Africans that makes you a skilled MC? I am glad that you are gone, I hope they kick you out of Diamond for good.
Ex Diamond Driver.
I am not worried about your identity, Mr. Ex Diamond Driver. You are worried about it. You are a liar, in addition to being a coward. But then, cowardice and lying often go hand in hand.
I never left with pocketfuls of jobs, maybe you did, but I did not. I never drove enough to run 'pocketfuls of jobs'. You are the one full of bullshepankee, Mr. Anonymous, not I.
There is only one from sub-Saharan Africa still working. There is one other from the Horn of Africa. The other guy from sub-Saharan Africa has not worked in some time, except maybe to give Lorenzi a break, here and there.
I would suspect that you would have all that you can do to drive a cab, Mr. Anonymous, so anything that you might state about dispatching has no value. That would be in addition to your being afraid to put your name to your statements. I am not afraid to put my name to any statement that I make.
Oh, and you spell my name with one 'l', not two. That would make you illiterate, in addition to being a liar, a coward and just another crybaby cab driver. Senor must have been looking at you when he first said 'Stoobid ahsshole tahksee driver!', because you appear to be just that.
I am the best dispatcher in the City. The truth and reality of that statement, Mr. Ex Diamond Driver, is something that you are obviously neither fit, nor qualified, to judge.
I could state that I hope this or that for you, but I am above that.
All I posted was about passenger safety, I don't know how this post got twisted!
Can we just get along?
The 'internet jive' term for it is 'hijacking a thread'. It is not unusual for it to happen, but it does not happen every time.
I take the hint. If that XDD is trolling, perhaps it is time to spit out the hook.
XDD is awarded one Troll Point, and ONE Troll Point ONLY, and the Troll Point is awarded CONDITIONALLY, for the two responses he got from me. The condition is that he does not get to claim a fish, as the candidate fish has spit out the hook. One Troll Point is deducted because the hook is being ejected. Thank you and have a nice day.
Mad-
These comments have gone ALL over the map so far but I kinda like it. This is a forum for people who would otherwise probably not have these interactions. I'm pretty sure I never would, at least!
Michael
michael_3653@hotmail.com
Magnificent phrase
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