After a disappointing shift on Monday (Christmas Eve Eve?) from midnight ’till 11, I figured Christmas Day from midnight ’till 11 would be even worse.

It turns out the Christmas Eve revelers were out in full swing. Summary after the break.

During my Christmas Eve / Christmas Day shift

• Early in the morning I took a young guy from near the Castro to Hayes Valley. He had walked for about 30 minutes until he found a convenience store that was open, so that he could get some Sprite and soup for his sick girlfriend. I was impressed and said that he’ll get plenty of ‘browny points’ for his good deed. He chuckled and added, “Hopefully I’ll get ‘head points’ instead.”
• Early in the morning I took a lot of folks to or from work. It was great to work Christmas Day and see all the people that work Christmas year after year. Some of them get double overtime, some just see it as just another day.
• Yuppie parts of town were completely dead. Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Marina, Pacific Heights all dead. Most of the bars in that area weren’t even open. Whereas most Castro and Mission bars were open, some downtown clubs were hopping, Richmond and even Outer Richmond bars were full. The yuppies completely leave town. That made me think — do a lot of the yuppies really ‘live’ in San Francisco? I think it’s an important step toward ‘living’ in a place to spend major holidays there.
• A van cab was called at a hotel downtown. When the dispatcher called the order he asked first if anybody was in line. Of course, I radioed in that I was the only van in line and could take the order. Another van driver came around the corner and jumped the line to steal the order, which, of course, was an airport run. Poop on you, evil van driver.
• I picked up a couple from the Haight and took them to the Tendernob late in the evening. The guy was quite a character, he seemed to have tried every job under the sun, including having worked for Yellow for a few months. He quit after being mugged for a second time. Yikes! I haven’t been mugged yet, knock on wood let’s hope it won’t happen anytime soon.
• Drunk people smell funny. It’s not the smell of alcohol, though. It smells like some weird chemical. I wonder if it’s something in the way the body metabolizes alcohol. This is the first time I’ve been exposed in a small area to drunk people on a regular basis while I’m completely sober.
• I took a lady home who used to work as a media buyer at an ad agency like me. She enjoyed the social atmosphere but didn’t like the work. She eventually became a social worker like my mom. Funny.
• I took a guy back to his downtown hotel from the Castro. It turns out he was visiting San Francisco for the first time from Indiana! It was fun to have a customer from my home state.