First things first Monday’s are always tough. That’s why donuts are a must. My first passenger of the day was in Ferndale. On the way to Bellingham I get a ping. I love it when I get activity 15 minutes into to my driving day. A lady carrying donuts and other groceries popped into my car. We discussed donuts at length, including the closing of rocket donuts. I never got to try them, but it closed down. The lady works at a coffee shop in Bellingham. “Do you work for Woods?” I asked. “No I wouldn’t work for them if they were the last coffee shop on earth!” Was her response. “Why’s that?” I queried. She replied immediately, “well they have a habit of not hiring LGBTQ people. They have no diversity at all!” I was appalled at this. We’re in the 21st century and they’re not diversifying their staff. “That’s disgusting, I stopped buying coffee from them because they don’t recycle properly. A friend of mine showed me a regular dumpster from a Woods cafe. Boxes! No recycling at all. That angered me due to the fact that I learned to reduce reuse and recycle at a young age. There’s so many benefits to recycling. Unfortunately us humans are cognitively wired to discard our waste once we’re finished with it. It’s proven in the archaeological record. The only difference between now and prehistoric humans is that technology has advanced so rapidly, that we haven’t developed enough ways to minimise waste. Our population on planet earth is exploding and there’s no way to halt that. What needs to change is simple crap like bloody recycling from businesses and regular people. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a bloody start. The cardboard in the dumpster wasn’t dirty at all. It could very well have been recycled appropriately. Anyway I’m boycotting Woods coffee for several reasons now.
Next customer was a lady in her 60s living in apartments that she described as an almost retirement home. Bingo is played regularly and they pot lucks. She said “I’m the youngest in the entire building”. The lady I was dropping off at a medical facility was dropping off a heart monitor. She asked me if I could hang around until she was done. “How long are you going to be?” She replied, “about 5 minutes”. “I’ll go park then”. I stated. As I went to park, ping! She was less than 5 minutes. I picked her up and our conversation continued we talked about her heart monitoring device. I told her the technology and medication they have for the heart is astounding. Remembering when my grandfather had a heart attack back in 2001 and needed a double bypass operation. The doctors told us it’ll give him 14 extra years added on to his life. The crazy thing is he’s still alive and with a pacemaker. Then my passenger told me something remarkable. Her father created the bypass procedure in Seattle in the 70s. I immediately thanked her. What are the chances? I mean I’m sure other people she has encountered have had the operation also. Honestly I never thought I’d come that close to medical royalty. Her father effectively came up with a procedure that kept my grandfather alive. We talked about health from then on, including how she can’t see out of her peripherals. She had lazer eye surgery back in the 80s to retain her site. As a result she now has tunnel vision. “Can’t they fix that now?” I asked. “No unfortunately, it was a one off procedure”. She replied. “That’s a damn shame, with all the technology we have today, we’re still learning about the human body”. I responded.
I dropped her off at Safeway. Then I made my way to the airport. A lady studying cosmetology. She wants to open her own business one day. New Mexico is where she is from. I asked what was there? “Not much”. Desert. A landlocked state with not much there at all except resources. Uranium, petroleum, gold, copper, zinc, and natural gas. The trip with this passenger was short.
My next passenger was a bloke from Olympia. He works at Target and is from the Washington State capital, Olympia. Living in Bellingham he is now a manager at Target and loves it. The company he works at is non union and can’t work a 40 hour week. No over time. Only 39.75 hours a week. Employees get reprimanded if they try and work over this. I said it sounded like my old boss. He used to get upset when I would work more than 32 hours a week. I signed up for a 40 HR week. Even in California I would work 40 hrs, unless I wasn’t working. I took the job in Washington so I could be permanent no on call contract. Lied to. Anyway my new future employer in Olympia don’t think will screw me over, but I will see. The company is larger and has benefits. Yes my new job is going to be temporary, but it could turn into a permanent position.
Anyway next passenger was getting a drop off at the airport. Blaise. Such a cool name. The bloke works up in Alaska. Oil and gas. I told him about working in the Cooper Basin for SANTOS (South Australia Northern Territory Oil Services). It was a discussion about the money associated with mining and big corporations. He wasn’t complaining though. This chap is on the bug bucks.
After plonking him off at the airport he got my number so he call me on his return. Then a ping at the airport. A lady called Sunny. Same name as my mate who’s a bloke back in Australia. The sheila works as a naturopath. She used to work as a doctor, but advises away from drugs like antibiotics. Apparently she does have to recommend them sometimes, but alternatives are better in most cases. The body generally can become dependent on drugs and effectively weaker. Bacteria can become immune to antibiotics after long term uses. Also if a patient skips a pill, bacteria become can fight back and inevitably develop an immunity.
Finally my next passenger at the airport again. A Vietnamese couple. I waited a long time for them to get their bags. I sat in the Carpark for 10 minutes. They were obviously charged wait time. The couple found me and I assisted them with their bags. Back from Vegas they talked about their wonderful time. They talked about their son. An air traffic controller. He spent $400,000 on his training, but gets $150,000 a year. Proud parents in a foreign land. We talked about Vietnam at length. Told them I went there in 2007. They loved that I had visited their country.
Finally dropped them off and I decided to call it. 4 trips uber. 4 trips Lyft. Till next time.
