Sunday, February 24, 2019
Side gigs part 4, or...
The power of suggestion...
As mentioned in my last post, one of my Lyft rides directly resulted in a tangible benefit to me, outside of the money I was making, of course. There was nothing special about the ride; it was White Plains to Port Chester, and I don't know how we got on the topic, but for some reason I mentioned that a friend wanted me to audition for Horseman's Hollow, a haunted maze in Sleepy Hollow, right next to the Headless Horseman's bridge. Our local connection to the Legend of Sleep Hollow tale, and our love of Autumn's colors make Halloween big business, with haunted hay rides in Orange County, the Pumpkin Blaze in Croton, tours of the Old Dutch Church and Graveyard, and many others.
I've always enjoyed participating as a visitor, but until a friend and former student suggested it, I never thought of working one of the events. I do have a talent for improv, which I did once on stage in New York City, and numerous times while studying to be an EMT; I made a great patient because I never broke character. Once I was asked to be a happy but obnoxious drunk that had to be transported on a gurney. At first I wondered what they knew about me, but I got into character anyway. Their job was to guide me to the gurney and get me to lay down, and my job was to make them hate life. I won that fight. They did get me on the stretcher eventually, though that was to be expected on my part. However, they forgot to lock the supports, so when I hopped on the stretcher, we all went crashing to the ground. I asked if Earth moved for them too, and even the teachers and lab techs cracked up. I was very proud of myself at that moment. I was so good that I was a victim for the final exams, and for the paramedic classes as well. I even had the students convinced I was hyperventilating. Everything was dandy until one of the female students kneed me in the balls to keep me quiet. Despite all this, I wasn't still wasn't convinced, so I messaged two friends on Facebook who have done acting professionally and both of them enthusiastically recommended to me that I try out for the part.
I related all this to my fare, and he replied that I should absolutely audition, but I said was too nervous. He said that he knew the creative director, and that he'd put in a good word for me. For whatever reason, I actually believed this as he started tapping on his phone, though I was never able verify his involvement. Still, with the boost to my confidence, I found out when the auditions were taking place, submitted my name, and resolved to actually show up.
The day of the audition found me filled with anxiety, wondering if I really wanted to do this. On my way home, I spilled something with mayonnaise on my shirt, and would not have had time to go home and change. I resolved to try anyway, and fixed my the problem by hitting one of the few rest stops in the Hudson Valley off I-87 in Rockland County. One I Heart New York t-shirt later, and I was back on the road, with plenty of time to get to Sleep Hollow.
The audition itself involved myself and three other people, with varying degrees of experience. One was a drama major fresh out of college; one was a teacher who organized her school's plays. Another disappeared at the beginning, and that left me, the mouthy dilettante, fucking around as usual. The first part was a quick series of question, I guess to measure how fast I could think on my feet. I was borderline insulted. I've been playing D&D since before everyone else in the room was born, and they're going to trip me up with questions like my favorite horror movie death? Fuck y'all. Needless to say, I did well. Finally, the meat of the audition came around: improvising a scene where I was the maitre'd at a restaurant for.... (wait for it) vampires. The waiter gave the two ladies blood from a vegetarian (no, really), and it was less than palatable. I was sent to fix the situation. I immediately wrapped an invisible towel around my left forearm, put my right arm behind my back, and spoke to the ladies as officially as I could muster. I turned to the the waiter (one of the returning cast members who played Ichabod Crane's ghost), and asked him what was the meaning of this, channeling as much menace as I could. Here I had two advantages: my height, as I was standing up straight and at least eight inches taller than he, and my deep voice. He replied "April Fool's." This is a direct quote. I proceeded to feed him to the ladies. The director said scene, and I got the job, with kudos coming from all parties. I was thrilled.
I should note this was a paid role. I was expecting a nominal sum, maybe $13 an hour, but since I had a speaking role, I was getting $19. It was a tidy sum, though I had no real idea about scheduling, or in retrospect, no much of anything else for that matter. Still, just like overcoming my fears driving for Lyft, I was happy and proud of myself. As for the gig itself? We'll look at that in my next post.
As mentioned in my last post, one of my Lyft rides directly resulted in a tangible benefit to me, outside of the money I was making, of course. There was nothing special about the ride; it was White Plains to Port Chester, and I don't know how we got on the topic, but for some reason I mentioned that a friend wanted me to audition for Horseman's Hollow, a haunted maze in Sleepy Hollow, right next to the Headless Horseman's bridge. Our local connection to the Legend of Sleep Hollow tale, and our love of Autumn's colors make Halloween big business, with haunted hay rides in Orange County, the Pumpkin Blaze in Croton, tours of the Old Dutch Church and Graveyard, and many others.
I've always enjoyed participating as a visitor, but until a friend and former student suggested it, I never thought of working one of the events. I do have a talent for improv, which I did once on stage in New York City, and numerous times while studying to be an EMT; I made a great patient because I never broke character. Once I was asked to be a happy but obnoxious drunk that had to be transported on a gurney. At first I wondered what they knew about me, but I got into character anyway. Their job was to guide me to the gurney and get me to lay down, and my job was to make them hate life. I won that fight. They did get me on the stretcher eventually, though that was to be expected on my part. However, they forgot to lock the supports, so when I hopped on the stretcher, we all went crashing to the ground. I asked if Earth moved for them too, and even the teachers and lab techs cracked up. I was very proud of myself at that moment. I was so good that I was a victim for the final exams, and for the paramedic classes as well. I even had the students convinced I was hyperventilating. Everything was dandy until one of the female students kneed me in the balls to keep me quiet. Despite all this, I wasn't still wasn't convinced, so I messaged two friends on Facebook who have done acting professionally and both of them enthusiastically recommended to me that I try out for the part.
I related all this to my fare, and he replied that I should absolutely audition, but I said was too nervous. He said that he knew the creative director, and that he'd put in a good word for me. For whatever reason, I actually believed this as he started tapping on his phone, though I was never able verify his involvement. Still, with the boost to my confidence, I found out when the auditions were taking place, submitted my name, and resolved to actually show up.
The day of the audition found me filled with anxiety, wondering if I really wanted to do this. On my way home, I spilled something with mayonnaise on my shirt, and would not have had time to go home and change. I resolved to try anyway, and fixed my the problem by hitting one of the few rest stops in the Hudson Valley off I-87 in Rockland County. One I Heart New York t-shirt later, and I was back on the road, with plenty of time to get to Sleep Hollow.
The audition itself involved myself and three other people, with varying degrees of experience. One was a drama major fresh out of college; one was a teacher who organized her school's plays. Another disappeared at the beginning, and that left me, the mouthy dilettante, fucking around as usual. The first part was a quick series of question, I guess to measure how fast I could think on my feet. I was borderline insulted. I've been playing D&D since before everyone else in the room was born, and they're going to trip me up with questions like my favorite horror movie death? Fuck y'all. Needless to say, I did well. Finally, the meat of the audition came around: improvising a scene where I was the maitre'd at a restaurant for.... (wait for it) vampires. The waiter gave the two ladies blood from a vegetarian (no, really), and it was less than palatable. I was sent to fix the situation. I immediately wrapped an invisible towel around my left forearm, put my right arm behind my back, and spoke to the ladies as officially as I could muster. I turned to the the waiter (one of the returning cast members who played Ichabod Crane's ghost), and asked him what was the meaning of this, channeling as much menace as I could. Here I had two advantages: my height, as I was standing up straight and at least eight inches taller than he, and my deep voice. He replied "April Fool's." This is a direct quote. I proceeded to feed him to the ladies. The director said scene, and I got the job, with kudos coming from all parties. I was thrilled.
I should note this was a paid role. I was expecting a nominal sum, maybe $13 an hour, but since I had a speaking role, I was getting $19. It was a tidy sum, though I had no real idea about scheduling, or in retrospect, no much of anything else for that matter. Still, just like overcoming my fears driving for Lyft, I was happy and proud of myself. As for the gig itself? We'll look at that in my next post.
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Side gigs part 3, or...
The power of speech...
As mentioned in my prior blog post, driving for Lyft enabled me to me lots of people, and most didn't end up puking in the back seat. It wasn't always a gab fest, but most people wanted to chat, and my reviews often mentioned that I was a friendly driver who liked to liked to talk. I guess some other drivers were more taciturn, which can been seen as unpleasant. This affects your reviews, so being personable, though not pushy, is important. I always let the passenger lead the way. I would welcome them into my car with a smile (something I learned waiting tables), helped them with their bags if needed, and open the trip with a small joke or two. If they jumped on their phones or if there were multiple passengers and they started talking amongst themselves, I would then keep quiet unless asked a question or if I needed information. On the whole, people liked to talk. It's a little awkward to have a stranger pick you up and drive you someplace, so a little communication puts everyone at ease.
Schmoozing with customers isn't exactly new to me. I've been in the service and hospitality industries for most of my working life, and those who cannot engage their customers either don't last very long or and end up washing dishes. As for what we discussed, people's favorite topic is usually themselves or what they're doing. I encouraged this line of discussion, for many reasons: first, happier passengers leave better ratings. Second, it helped my tips, though this begs the question of cause and effect or correlation, i.e., were the people made happier by our talking, and so gave me a tip, or do nice people like to talk and they're more likely to tip anyway? Who cares. All I knew was that talking = $. Third, eternal dilettante that I am, there's always a chance to learn something interesting. I found out more about the edible marijuana industry than I ever cared to know, and that topic came up multiple times. Evidently there was a series of trade shows in Denver over the summer. Another ride taught me that a hedge fund was buying the veterinary emergency room in Westchester. I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that, to be honest. Finally, I like learning about people and helping them in some small way if appropriate. Just listening helps, but I've given out my work email on more than one occasion if the issue concerned financial aid, though to date no one took me up on the offer.
Occasionally, our conversations would take a more serious turn. One ride had a gentleman arguing with his girlfriend on the phone that he was not cheating (and I believed him), but I was driving him to work and we were halfway there already. This was one of the mornings when I was trying to pick up an airport run, but I was happy with Ossining to White Plains. Still, I knew this was at an inflection point, so I offered to take him home to try to work things out with his lady. Flexibility with destinations is rare when driving for Lyft and Uber, but I didn't care. He took me up on the offer, grateful for the chance to speak to her in person. I can only hope it went well.
Finally, there was one ride where I was helped, and this led me to my next side gig, working the Halloween season.
As mentioned in my prior blog post, driving for Lyft enabled me to me lots of people, and most didn't end up puking in the back seat. It wasn't always a gab fest, but most people wanted to chat, and my reviews often mentioned that I was a friendly driver who liked to liked to talk. I guess some other drivers were more taciturn, which can been seen as unpleasant. This affects your reviews, so being personable, though not pushy, is important. I always let the passenger lead the way. I would welcome them into my car with a smile (something I learned waiting tables), helped them with their bags if needed, and open the trip with a small joke or two. If they jumped on their phones or if there were multiple passengers and they started talking amongst themselves, I would then keep quiet unless asked a question or if I needed information. On the whole, people liked to talk. It's a little awkward to have a stranger pick you up and drive you someplace, so a little communication puts everyone at ease.
Schmoozing with customers isn't exactly new to me. I've been in the service and hospitality industries for most of my working life, and those who cannot engage their customers either don't last very long or and end up washing dishes. As for what we discussed, people's favorite topic is usually themselves or what they're doing. I encouraged this line of discussion, for many reasons: first, happier passengers leave better ratings. Second, it helped my tips, though this begs the question of cause and effect or correlation, i.e., were the people made happier by our talking, and so gave me a tip, or do nice people like to talk and they're more likely to tip anyway? Who cares. All I knew was that talking = $. Third, eternal dilettante that I am, there's always a chance to learn something interesting. I found out more about the edible marijuana industry than I ever cared to know, and that topic came up multiple times. Evidently there was a series of trade shows in Denver over the summer. Another ride taught me that a hedge fund was buying the veterinary emergency room in Westchester. I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that, to be honest. Finally, I like learning about people and helping them in some small way if appropriate. Just listening helps, but I've given out my work email on more than one occasion if the issue concerned financial aid, though to date no one took me up on the offer.
Occasionally, our conversations would take a more serious turn. One ride had a gentleman arguing with his girlfriend on the phone that he was not cheating (and I believed him), but I was driving him to work and we were halfway there already. This was one of the mornings when I was trying to pick up an airport run, but I was happy with Ossining to White Plains. Still, I knew this was at an inflection point, so I offered to take him home to try to work things out with his lady. Flexibility with destinations is rare when driving for Lyft and Uber, but I didn't care. He took me up on the offer, grateful for the chance to speak to her in person. I can only hope it went well.
Finally, there was one ride where I was helped, and this led me to my next side gig, working the Halloween season.
Thursday, February 07, 2019
Side gigs part 2, or...
Why driving for Lyft wasn't the answer, but I didn't mind answering the question...
My first ride for Lyft was unremarkable - a quick trip from a out of the way section of Peekskill to Annsville Circle for $6 plus a $2 tip - save that the ride happened at all. Before I was willing to pick up anybody, all I could think of was all the things that could go wrong: getting into an accident, getting a ticket, falsely accused of any number of nasty things, etc. There were not unreasonable fears. There was also the vagaries of driving for a ride share service: You're making some money, but as an independent contractor, putting miles on your car. You could have your driving approval taken away at any time, with neither advanced notice nor the ability to appeal. Essentially, you're selling your car a few miles at a time. It's up to the driver to determine if it's a good trade or not. Keep in mind that I'm glossing over the tax implications to the point of willful blindness, but I don't know how I'll be affected, so I'll leave that to the side for now.
Much like AirBnB, ridesharing owes its existence to unused capacity. AirBnB takes a bedroom that would otherwise be empty, and turns it into a hotel room. Lyft takes a car that would be parked and turns it into a taxi. More importantly, Lyft taps into another form of excess capacity: time. In theory, if I'm not doing something required for physical survival that involves staying in a specific place, i.e., sleeping, I could be working. There's the temptation to eschew all other activities (including sleep) to hit the road. In between rides, you can make calls, listen to audiobooks, podcasts, whatever. If you're familiar with the area, you know where to get food, find a bathroom, etc. Parking lots are useful, as are malls, where you can use the facilities and wait in relative quiet.
The truth is a little different, of course. It takes time to find people, and it takes more time to get another ride after you've dropped someone off. I've found I need around 3 hours to truly make it worthwhile. It doesn't help that Westchester is spread out, so I could be 15 minutes away from the end of one trip to where the next fare is located. Experience has taught me how to mitigate this, but driving for a rideshare will always be more art than science. Still, demand over the summer was consistent, though it tailed off as soon school started. Trips to the airport were plentiful,and if timed right, allowed me to make $50-60 bucks before work. This would be the only way I didn't need 3 hours to make any real money. I would take someone to JFK, hopefully garner a nice tip, then head to work. On the other hand, I could get a trip from Nyack to Northwestern New Jersey with a woman so drunk she was dragged into my backseat. She didn't come to until we got to her house, and proceed to vomit while getting out of my car. It was the here that being an EMT proved useful. I knew by the sounds she was making that an eruption was imminent, so I grabbed her and pulled her out of my backseat. She puked all over the place, but because I aware of what would happen, she missed the upholstery, but did get the door well a little. I had cleaning supplies in the trunk, so I walked her to the front door, and when she made it inside, I cleaned the car and drove to work. Despite this incident, I enjoyed driving, and I'm still approved, but I haven't driven in a few weeks, and I don't plan on starting up again, save for a specific days on the calendar. After totaling gas, being unavailable for friends, family, my fiance, and counting the wear and tear on my car, I decided it really wasn't worth it.
Nevertheless, taking the leap into making money outside of the college, even if Lyft was on the whole, inefficient, provided benefits I hadn't expected. Prior to driving, I couldn't see any way to increase my income, but even after a few weeks of making extra money, I saw opportunity all around me. It was as if I was given a new set of glasses, and wearing them, I couldn't not see all sort of different ways to make extra cash. In fact, it was a Lyft ride that led me to my next side venture: playing dress-up for Halloween.
My first ride for Lyft was unremarkable - a quick trip from a out of the way section of Peekskill to Annsville Circle for $6 plus a $2 tip - save that the ride happened at all. Before I was willing to pick up anybody, all I could think of was all the things that could go wrong: getting into an accident, getting a ticket, falsely accused of any number of nasty things, etc. There were not unreasonable fears. There was also the vagaries of driving for a ride share service: You're making some money, but as an independent contractor, putting miles on your car. You could have your driving approval taken away at any time, with neither advanced notice nor the ability to appeal. Essentially, you're selling your car a few miles at a time. It's up to the driver to determine if it's a good trade or not. Keep in mind that I'm glossing over the tax implications to the point of willful blindness, but I don't know how I'll be affected, so I'll leave that to the side for now.
Much like AirBnB, ridesharing owes its existence to unused capacity. AirBnB takes a bedroom that would otherwise be empty, and turns it into a hotel room. Lyft takes a car that would be parked and turns it into a taxi. More importantly, Lyft taps into another form of excess capacity: time. In theory, if I'm not doing something required for physical survival that involves staying in a specific place, i.e., sleeping, I could be working. There's the temptation to eschew all other activities (including sleep) to hit the road. In between rides, you can make calls, listen to audiobooks, podcasts, whatever. If you're familiar with the area, you know where to get food, find a bathroom, etc. Parking lots are useful, as are malls, where you can use the facilities and wait in relative quiet.
The truth is a little different, of course. It takes time to find people, and it takes more time to get another ride after you've dropped someone off. I've found I need around 3 hours to truly make it worthwhile. It doesn't help that Westchester is spread out, so I could be 15 minutes away from the end of one trip to where the next fare is located. Experience has taught me how to mitigate this, but driving for a rideshare will always be more art than science. Still, demand over the summer was consistent, though it tailed off as soon school started. Trips to the airport were plentiful,and if timed right, allowed me to make $50-60 bucks before work. This would be the only way I didn't need 3 hours to make any real money. I would take someone to JFK, hopefully garner a nice tip, then head to work. On the other hand, I could get a trip from Nyack to Northwestern New Jersey with a woman so drunk she was dragged into my backseat. She didn't come to until we got to her house, and proceed to vomit while getting out of my car. It was the here that being an EMT proved useful. I knew by the sounds she was making that an eruption was imminent, so I grabbed her and pulled her out of my backseat. She puked all over the place, but because I aware of what would happen, she missed the upholstery, but did get the door well a little. I had cleaning supplies in the trunk, so I walked her to the front door, and when she made it inside, I cleaned the car and drove to work. Despite this incident, I enjoyed driving, and I'm still approved, but I haven't driven in a few weeks, and I don't plan on starting up again, save for a specific days on the calendar. After totaling gas, being unavailable for friends, family, my fiance, and counting the wear and tear on my car, I decided it really wasn't worth it.
Nevertheless, taking the leap into making money outside of the college, even if Lyft was on the whole, inefficient, provided benefits I hadn't expected. Prior to driving, I couldn't see any way to increase my income, but even after a few weeks of making extra money, I saw opportunity all around me. It was as if I was given a new set of glasses, and wearing them, I couldn't not see all sort of different ways to make extra cash. In fact, it was a Lyft ride that led me to my next side venture: playing dress-up for Halloween.
