September 7, 2008 – Mostafa

             Today Mostafa, another one of our Iraqi drivers, had a funny interaction with Catherine on the radio.  This was shortly after one of his fellow drivers called him out on the radio for stealing a ride.

            Driver C: Hey Mostafa, you just took my ride.  I was sent here for the people who you just  picked up.

            Mostafa: No, they didn’t call.

            Driver C: Yeah, they did.  And I was the one that they sent, not you.

            Mostafa: No, they’re different.

            Mostafa happened to be closer to the call and just decided to pick up the people who were waiting.  This happens all the time, and us honest drivers (all 4 of us) don’t much like it.  We’ve tried to talk to the offenders personally, and went through the office to no avail.  There’s no punishment handed down for this sort of thing.  Not by the office at least.  That didn’t prevent Franco from getting his nose broken though.  An informal punishment.

            This quickly escalated between Mostafa and the fellow drivers to the point where Catherine decided to intervene.  Not for the sake of the driver whom had his ride stolen though, but for the sake of keeping the radio quiet.  Catherine is under the impression that if customers in the cabs hear any bickering between the drivers that they will be outraged and refuse to ride with the company, or call the city, which is what scares Catherine most.  She thinks that these supposedly disenfranchised passengers are going to come to city council meetings and complain about the service.  Unfathomable, simply unfathomable…

            Catherine: Cab 18 (Mostafa)

            Mostafa: Cab 18 go ahead.

            Catherine: Landline the office. (Call the office)

            Mostafa: No thanks.

            Catherine: Landline the office.

            Mostafa: No, I’m not doing that.  Maybe later I will

            Catherine: (Not realizing that she still had her finger keying the mic) Boy, he’s got a mouth on him.

            This is just another example of Catherine’s lack of control over the employees.  Truthfully the employees run the show.  They could probably run the company better too.  Hell, they might even incorporate technology… Perhaps they would even use a computer?  Catherine probably has a series of stone tablets that she carves notes onto.