The Walking Dull

It was either this or a Philip Glass video with hamsters.

As they say, a day late (or more) and a dollar (or more) short…

Demonstrating a firm command of the obvious, the strategic minds at Lyft and Uber Operations have been incessantly texting me the past couple of weeks to remind me that Halloween weekend will be busy. That and the sky gets darker after sunset so remember to use those headlights.

In addition, I’ve been reminded that, by providing candy, a mix of Halloween music and a couple of masks for the nitrous oxide tank, I’ll not only clean up in tips (Lyft, of course) but I’ll compete with the Top Drivers, money wise (Uber).

As I write this, Lyft sent me another text, less than a half hour later than the last one. Just in case I’d forgotten that it’s Halloween Weekend or hadn’t yet learned to use a calendar.

Lyft advised drivers to get into the spirit of things by wearing a costume. I’m wearing jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, going as a “clueless Lyft driver”:

“Wow, it’s really busy tonight. What, it’s Halloween? Really? Come to think of it, I have seen a lot of costumes out there. Well, shoot, I should have provided some candy. There’s a couple of mints from Carl’s Jr. in the console, if you want to dig around in there. Bottled Blonde? I don’t think they’re open right now, salons usually close by 10 at the latest. You might have to wait until tomorrow to get your hair cut.”

Then, I’ll speed the wrong way up a highway exit ramp. In the spirit of the season, I’ll scare the hell out of them.

Although I recently said I was going to go all Jason Voorhees on my riders and keep a bloody machete on the dash, previous experience has taught me that people are reluctant to get into my car if I’m wearing a hockey mask.

So yeah, Halloween is kind of ad hoc for me, what with Lyft and Uber being so tight lipped about the whole thing. Who knew?

A friend of mine, who worked in one of those Everything Halloween stores that pop up in empty retail spaces every year during the last full moon in July, said that it wasn’t until October 31 that the place became absolutely insane. He said that they hired off-duty police on Halloween to make sure people don’t think they’re modeling cop costumes but there to prevent crowds from going zombie apocalypse on the clerks.

There’s always those last minute shoppers who opt for the Fairy Rat Queen or perverted food item or the countless other WTF costumes offered up as options for those of us with no talent with duct tape or crayons. However, it seems that the people who’ve suddenly decided that dressing up and going out beats staying at home and pretending to be a Jehovah’s Witness hardly account for the insanity my friend describes.

We can only conclude that there are actually people who have their day interrupted by the horrific realization that it’s Halloween. Bins of candy blocking store aisles since August suddenly became salient when a clerk, dressed as a Dominatrix Rachel Ray says, “Happy Halloween!” and hands over the receipt with a Jack-o-lantern printed on it. Then shoehorn their way into the Halloween store with the hope that the Slutty Elephant Stormtrooper costumes haven’t been picked clean.

Obviously, that was written before Halloween, you know, the one everyone had a few days ago. At around midnight, Lyft alerted me to the fact that, “There are more calls for rides than drivers! It’s Saturday night, you loser, why are you wasting your time at a real cool party or having sex?!? Get on the road and get puked on!”

I was on the road when I got the text, picking Frank up from a really cool party. The LomL and I stayed in to watch the World Series. She handed out the candy, a beacon of sweetness even to the teenagers who didn’t bother with anything other than a look of, “It’s my last year at this, I’m tired.” When it was my turn to hand out candy, I did so with the horrified look of someone who couldn’t believe someone was standing at the door.

I hope it went well for those intrepid drivers out on Halloween. I hope it was worth the hassle, that the money was good and that there was a minimum of mayhem and emesis.