Twice a week I drive the elderly and disabled in a large Crown Victoria Ford with 100,00 miles on it. The riders are mostly sweet elderly widows with sparkling personalities. Yesterday the rider was way out in the country (Kiger Island Drive near the airport). She used an oxygen tank which I carried to the car for her. Unfortunately I bumped the valve and turned it off with neither of us noticing it. Well, she started to turn blue and I was panicked. My wonderful engineering background led me to see that the pressure gauge had gone to zero and I twisted the valve back on. She sat there for a minute and asked me to turn the output to 150% while she recuperated.
My favorite saying now is "It seemed like a good idea at the time." I now know where most of the beauty parlors in town are located. One of my runs was from the retirement home to the liquor store and back. I sat as low in the seat as possible while I waited in the parking lot for the transaction to be completed. The chaplain for the moose lodge goes to the hospital to tell jokes to gladden peoples' day. He keeps asking me to join but I tell him that being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints leaves little time for other "hobbies." One patron is a blind guy with a seeing eye dog. When they get in the dog reaches over from the back seat and licks my cheek in greeting.
My goal is not to get a ticket or have an accident. Although I did run a red light the other day which made my rider quit talking to me. I enjoy talking with the people. Each shift has an adventure!
8 comments:
I becha git fired if a passenger dies on ya.
Forget telling jokes. I bet you some patients would be glad for someone to just talk to.
That's exciting! If you had to call 911, would you stay put, or drive towards the ambulance?
Did they cover this situation in sensitivity training?
Sounds like a fun "hobby"!
i bet you meet some really interesting people.
do you carry a cell phone with you when you do this?
I have a radio transmitter to get messages to and from the office.
If I had to call 911 I'd run away fast after making the call.
Those are great stories. I'm glad you are having adventures.
That's really cool. So which do you think is the best beauty parlor Grandpa?
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