Day 4 Music Store, Cellphone Store, Taxi and The Bar

So Day 4 starts with a long-awaited trip to Long & McQuade (via London Taxi) to get my home studio some added upgrades and swapping around of guitars, etc. So I have two guitars with me, one in a case and the other in a gig bag, and my trusty backpack, aka man-purse/shopping bag. So the ride went smoothly via their app, which is just great, but this is Day 2 of a new cellphone, and it is acting up a little.

London Taxi is actually referred to online as Yellow London Taxi to not confuse itself with the one across the pond in jolly old England. They might consider a name change to something else that would still let folks know that they operate in the surrounding London, Ontario area, which is not easy, but I could come up with a few. Maybe get SUVs at no extra charge lol. 

So I get inside L & M and meet Dan after numerous emails and phone calls to pick up my order, get my tele restrung and adjusted, play a little with my new Fender bass, tap some keys on a Yamaha organ to test out something I got via AI for drawbar settings for a ballad, new digital recorder, bass guitar new mic, etc. So I leave the store with kind of the same load but heavier and bulkier, but still fits in the tiny Toyota Corollas that you usually get from London Taxi (much prefer the SUVs they have, but they want $10/ride extra). This has relevance later.

So while I was waiting for the cab, Dan helped me with the load (I'm 77), and somewhere in the discussion we got into the discussion of how the new bylaw is that a new retail building must be as close to the sidewalk as possible and all the parking basically behind the store. The bylaw was probably developed by the London Transit Authority because it is so stupid in how it gets implemented. This has relevance later.

So Abdul, my really good cab driver, takes me to the Freedom Mobile store where I had been yesterday and goes through the labyrinth and maze that you use to get to the store because of the bylaw previously noted. Upon arrival, Elliot (the store rep) takes my phone, cleans everything out that was wrong, changes some things in settings, clears up all the issues, and my phone is now clean again. Word of advice: always go to the store for things like this because they need to see exactly what is going wrong in person.

So all done, after having nice chats with Elliot, Cindy, the other rep in the store today and some customers, I used the London Taxi app and booked a fare, which now shows that it is looking for an available driver. It must be grocery day because you can see like 7 London Taxi cabs via the little icons that show in the app on Google Maps, and a lot of them are around Sobey's Supermarket, and the app is still looking for an available driver. Fine, I wait patiently, but my left leg is getting numb from all the standing, and I really need help with the gear I've got from my music store trip earlier.

So I get a text message via the app from the new driver (name will go unmentioned) saying Where are you and I explain that I am in the store and need help with my gear, and I noted he also had a Toyota Corolla. So this guy comes right up to the front door of the store, opens the door, and starts with, "Why didn't you meet me over there?" referring to the parking lot, which is probably a couple of hundred paces due to the plaza design under the new bylaws. And I said I needed some assistance with my gear here, and he started to ramble on about his trunk was full, it wouldn't fit, blah, blah, blah. So I said I would just go on the app and order another fare, and he ultimately reported me as a no-show to dispatch. And of course, I gave him both barrels, telling him If you can't do your job properly, it's time for a different job.

 

So I book another fare via the app and a new guy is driving around the parking lot in his Mitsubishi and this time I get a phone call (remember I'm just learning this new phone) and the usual where are you and I tell him the same story come to the store I need help with my gear and my left leg is getting number and starting to throb a little. And he doesn't even have the courtesy to call me back or say what he is doing, and the app shows that I was a no-show based on the driver reporting that.

So this time I called dispatch and can hardly get my story out because I talk too much (like this story). The dispatcher, who was probably the owner (their fleet is well over 100 cabs), said he would fix it and called me back shortly after, saying that it would take 10-11 minutes to get the driver there (who turned out to be Abdul, who is more than familiar with the layout here at Freedom's store and showed up 10-11 minutes later.

And so Abdul shows up, grabs the two guitars, and I carry the two boxes and my backup, which is heavier because of the new mic and other stuff. So Abdul is getting a little ahead of me to get the trunk open and make it easier for me to dump the two boxes, but my nylon shorts started slipping down my legs because I have my new cellphone in one pocket and my keys/little multi-tool in the other pocket.

So I tried to adjust my pants and bent over at my waist instead of moving my left foot forward and squatting, which means the weight of the backpack is now going to shoot me forward, and I hit the ground and scraped my knees a bit. The most eye-opening experience for me was how out of shape I really was. I was like a Tyrannosaurus rex on its dying breath. My arms would not lift me up. I was stuck on the ground with a heavily weighted backup and too befuddled to even think of removing that.

So a passerby tried to help me up and couldn't move my mass (probably 250 lbs.). Finally, Abdul came back looking for me because I was right behind him up until that point, and the two of them got me up on my feet by lifting me straight up, keeping my center of gravity right over my hips and feet. I was so befuddled that I didn't even thank the passerby who helped, maybe grunting a couple of thank-yous aimed at no one in particular.

So. I said Abdul here's my plan. Take me home. I will go inside the building to get a shopping cart to handle all the gear, go up to my apartment, unload it, and then I am off to The Wortley Roadhouse. Abdul is a 12 out of 10 in my books as driver for the Yellow London Taxi service.

So, I sat at the end of a long section of bar, which is more like the second area away from the bar but is handled by the bartenders. So Davey, who was the first person I met on Sunday, had an ice-cold glass of water and a Michelob Light in a bottle and said, "Anything else I can get you, Oz?" I will tell him next time that the only thing that will stay consistent with my order will be the starting glass of water, and from there I will try most everything on the menu and from the beer list and booze list a bit.

The bottom line is I will continue to use Yellow London Taxi because those two drivers will now be on a delist for me via their app and will be disciplined. Still, really, if they don't want to do their job properly, then maybe they should find some other line of work that doesn't involve working with human beings.

Ok, that's enough for today, and where do you think I'm going next?

Y'all have a wunnerful day now!!

(Only 52 things to fix on Grammarly? I'm all calmed down now.)