I have always had a steady job and then a “fun” job on the side. I have worn many hats in my young life and have to say that it has allowed me to grow and gain a variety of experiences over the years. Most recently, after back packing across the country.. I landed in a little town on the outside of Edmonton called Leduc.. I needed to run some errands so I called the local cab company.. which honestly I chose by the fun name.. “REBEL”… I had the best driver ever! We had great conversation and I had requested him again the next time out.. During your normal akward chit chat he mentioned that the office was looking for a dispatcher, if I was in need of some work. I am not one to shy away from work but, didnt really know if I fit the Taxi dispatch profile…. I really didnt give it a whole lot of thought before calling back and throwing my name into the hat. Little did I know that the process would be quite easy, it was more of an audition then a traditional interview.

When I think taxi dispatcher, the first thing that comes to mind is an old man or women with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth. Perhaps, some pretty funky old “war” story kind of ink on their forearms.. rough around the edges and a husky voice from smoking all day. I am sure you all have an image of what it would be like or what the dispatcher would look like.. Right?!?! Well, I showed up to my audition to meet a petit blonde no bigger than a minute with the most pleasant of personalities. She did smoke but, in no way had a husky smokers voice and I must admit no visible ink either.. (No I didnt inspect lol) I may have been completely off track on my idea of what to expect..

Second, item that was not so obvious was understanding where all the calls where in relation to the next call or “fare”..(Joining them) Hell, I had only been in the city for 48 hours.. Quoting times, Prices, bookings, contracts, charges, chargebacks?!!, RCMP calls, Towing companies, Airport, Impaired people… oh and the marriage proposals.. just a few of the things I needed to know.. well I didnt need to know the proposals.. I just had to accept or at the very least laugh .. *snikr*

I went home after my audition thinking “sweet baby jesus” who knew this was going to be so much to go over in such a short period of time. Will they even call me back?? Would I fail at being a dispatcher?? Panic set in.. May have had to slightly medicate myself (colorado style *wink*) After calming down, She gave me a call back… I got the gig.. now the tough part.. I have to get my act together for 4x 12 hours .. First stop.. GET A MAP that I can read.. I may have purchased a map with numbers, letters and pictures on it I have to at least make my learning fun and I like to be able to trace the streets with my pencil while I work.. not going to lie.. sometimes I made car sounds like I was a Golf R taxi hehe. ( a girl needs to dream)

After the first couple of weeks I found my groove, started to learn the city really well and loved the customers. They started to remember me and I think I started to grow on them a bit too… with the amount of regular clients, it started to feel just like a little family. I may have come across a little bit like “single white female” when I would remember their address before they said.. or they didnt need to tell me where they were going.. Wouldnt that weird you out a bit if the taxi company knew that much about you?!?!? haha.

After pulling many 12-18 hour shifts I have a whole new respect for this profession as a whole.. the drivers are hard workers, honest people who dont get paid nearly enough to do what they do, dispatchers are insanely patient people who do not get the respect that they deserve and I am a very humble girl who is happy to have learned about an industry that I was always a little weary of.. Who knew??

Dispatch *cough* Meg speaking…