Fruitful Fridays began with a salesperson from a nail company and a fellow who sells hearing aids. They knew about how dangerous Australia was, including the scary spiders and snakes. Come on! We have other critters that are stupidly cute and don’t want to kill you. Quokkas, koalas, wallabies, bilbys, cuscus, sugar gliders, pademelons, wombats, echidnas, and penguins. They wanted to go to the grocery store from the hotel, then a bar. Unfortunately they changed their mind so I had to figure out what they wanted and become a mind reader. They were brother and sister. The bro took forever to come of the hotel. Charged them wait time. He was super excited about me being Aussie he invited me in to the bar for a beer. “Nah mate I have money to earn”.
Then a guy who is studying software development and kinesiology aka physio sat in my car. I said “kinesiology isn’t that physio?” “Yes, just another fancy name for it”. “Yeah clearly, what in earth will you do when you finish?” “Don’t know”. Was the response. “Well I’m sure you’ll figure it out when you do”. I thought about my career, I am finally starting to miss archaeology. My younger self would be angry at me. What are you doing Paul? You had made up your mind in high school what you wanted to do. Don’t let one ass hole alter your career! Then I started to get goose bumps and remembered I needed to apply for some new jobs coming out.
Next customer pinged me almost immediately after dropping computer whiz physio man. The Canadian Rob Lowe was in my car. The guy was a dead ringer, except he worked in construction. Him and his mates found out it was my birthday and wished me a happy birthday. Cheers for that. They wanted me to drink with them and I said tomorrow night. They wanted to stop at the cannabis shop first and they added the stop. Whilst waiting one passenger who stayed in my car with the the Canadian Rob Lowe said his dad was from Pemberton near Perth. The guy in the front said “why does that sound familiar?” Guy in the back “because there’s one in Canada”. “Oh yeah, that’s original, how do they come up with the names anyway?” I replied could be after a political figure, general or someone from a ships crew who discovered it. Vancouver, Sydney. Maybe like after the cabin boy”. Man in the back perfectly timed response to that “We’ll call this place Johnny Suck a Di@$” at that moment the other two gents returned to the car while we were all laughing hysterically. Guy in the front “that was great”. They still wanted me to join them I said tomorrow night you can come and play some video games at the barcade. It’s a bar with video games. After dropping them off I received the message the following day:
After dropping them off I had a Weed auditor in my car. Another cannabis chap. There’s a lot to with marijuana in Washington and business is growing exponentially. Pardon the pun. The gentleman the car flew in from Vegas to help with business development down south. Vegas was one of the newest states to legally sell marijuana to people. The business model is apparently completely different to Washington State. In Washington the dispensaries are mum and pop sole trader businesses. Whereas in Vegas you needed to have $250,000 to start up your weed selling business. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and I said. “You mean to say the former drug dealers that made their hundreds of thousands of dollars can only start selling weed down in Vegas?” The man in the back laughed and responded “pretty much sums it up” 🤣😂 well done Vegas. The passenger went on at length about how his local business models were a nightmare at the beginning. The temperature for marijuana growth has to be at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Up in Washington the growth has to be indoors for the most part and most businesses have to fight mold growth. He said one guy he has worked with a former military guy would get angry at him for telling him what he needed to do to grow the product more efficiently. Reminded me of someone I worked with once. He said it’s a stubborn former military trait. Righto. People in Washington think because there’s more moisture up here it’s easier to grow. This is not the case. You need to have a climate controlled warehouse to grow the weed more efficiently. Ha I really had no idea about growing yandi aka marijuana. That’s an Aboriginal word for bush weed if you’re wondering.
I dropped him off and told him since he’s out in Lynden he can have my number if he ever needs an uber or Lyft. I made my way back into town. I picled up a navy man and his lady friend at Denny’s. Love the food there. Their steak skillets and eggs are fantastic. The man mentioned it’s hard to assimilate back into a civilian lifestyle. I said yeah you can’t yell at the waiter in the restaurant to hurry up and then call them an obscene word. In actual fact I read my passengers correctly and went ahead and said it. C u next Tuesday. They roared with laughter. The next thing he said they have classes now to help you assimilate back into normal society.
After dropping them off another ping to the south. She told me she worked at a glassworks place. I asked her “oh you mean like glass ornaments?” “No bongs for marijuana use”. “I see”. Weed weed weed. It’s everywhere. I also found out she is studying anthropology. It’s pretty common in archaeology. Most people want to split the barrier between the ancestral world and the real world. I couldn’t help think of some of my university classes about rock art. There are three phases of rock art. First squiggly lines are the initial phase, then the grids is the next phase, finishing off with a final traditional phase an anthropomorphic figure. Half person half beast. Yep half deer half man, half kangaroo half man, half bull half man. You can honestly see it all cultures. The only exception is Christi… Oh no never mind it’s in that too. Half bird half man. Pretty much icarus except from the heavens instead of reaching the heavens and carking it from flying too close to the sun. People through the ages have tried to connect with nature on so many levels. To be one with it using a narcotic or even sometimes dancing themselves into a trance. It’s fascinating. I told the lady if she ever needed any contacts in archaeology I can hunt them down for you. She got my email and said she’ll be in touch.
Another lady entered my car and she works at Cruisin Coffee. Nice not bad coffee. We chatted about the innumerable drive through coffee stands in Washington. There’s literally hundreds, maybe even thousands!
I dropped her off and had another ping straight away. Then they cancelled with no wait time fee! Arghhh! Come on people get your thoughts together, do you want a pickup or not? I had even sat there for 2 minutes and they wanted to cancel me. I said go right ahead and I’ll leave. I had a VIP after this. The people left me that wanted to be picked up and they hadn’t cancelled me. I was in the Lyft app and thought am I going to get paid if I cancel? Nope I didn’t. What I was there for 3.5 minutes. If I wait for 5 minutes I get paid in the future. Damn should have waited! Now I know Lyft and uber have different wait time penalties.
I picked up a friend of mine aka VIP pickup and I vented about my night. She and her friend wished me a happy birthday. Cheers for that see you tomorrow.
Next was Rockie at Wal-Mart. He wished me a happy birthday. “How do you know that I asked?” “Lyft tells you”. Oh how nice of them.
Then my night got a little stressful. I picked up a lady called Lauren, then forgot to turn off Lyft. Got a ping from a lady named Kelly. I proceeded to pickup and drop off my first ping. It was only a short trip so I thought I’ll do that and then ping! Uber got me another customer before I had tome to finish my trip and turn it off. I thought this would happen eventually. I tried to call Kelly but she didn’t answer. I dropped off Lauren and went to pick up Matthew. There was no Matt just a lady in his place. She said my bf was being a di&$. Then Kelly rang me. “Where are you?” “Sorry, I have to drop people off” “if you wait another 10 minut…” in full bitch mode “I’ve been waiting for 10 minutes already, cancel my ride”. Fine! I tried to ring you before, but you didn’t bloody answer. My passenger said “what a bitch” she heard everything she said because she was on loud speaker. Well fine I’m getting busy now anyway I should have just cancelled the trip.
More students. There was Ty studying linguistics, one lady studying psychology, and another teaching. Cool.
More students, somehow got on to the subject of graduating in Everett and how people watch indoor la crosse, at the Everett indoor sporting venue. I played la crosse once in high school for PE.
More students studying marketing and they wanted me to hang out. No thank you. Three American sorority sisters. I’ve seen enough American movies thank you very much.
Next was Jon a student learning environmental science.
Then I had two Djs in my car Mersiv and Supertask. They want to visit Australia and tour down under. They said I can spruik their names on my blog. Hey free advertising. They appreciated my sweets and water. Not many uber drivers do that. Surprising I feel I get more tips and reward for having that in my car.
Then finally a contractor I worked with on a job in Birch Bay. He recalled me and I thought it was from me ubering. It hit me. Omg that job. “Are the human remains back in the ground?” “Yes they are” “Oh wonderful news”. Two projects either side. I was pleased to see one of the projects I worked on finish. The tribe gave me a blanket as a result. I honestly hadn’t seen that many human bones being dug out of the ground in my life. In my past it had been bits and pieces and sometimes false alarms. It was a little stressful. OK it was extremely stressful. I know what to expect now on a much grander scale than before. The guy wanted to discuss archaeology more, but I really couldn’t say much, because I just remembered that job started a snowball effect to my eventual sacking. Although this wasn’t the job that broke the camel’s back I still felt it contributed. My main concern was I needed more time to write, but I wasn’t given the opportunity to. Should I have given sections to different people to write and I read over it? Probably. The others were cheaper than me. The funny thing is if I had done that I wouldn’t have had any work to do. Then I wouldn’t have had any money to survive. That’s why senior positions need to be salary. This was promised to me, but eventually was just taken away. False hope, false promises. I did my best to protect the tribes cultural heritage. I always have. The tribe were thankful toward me, which mattered to me more than a stressful disorganized manager.
On the way home. I felt I hadn’t earned enough for the week, but I limped home. It’s 3.00 am. Then a ping in Ferndale. I was 7 minutes away and then they cancelled on me. I was frustrated. I drove off the freeway for you! Aggravated I went home. Still got a cancellation fee of $3.75, but it was going to be a 24 minute trip. Happy Birthday to me.
Next is mountainous Monday.
6 Lyft rides and 11 uber rides.
