I registered for prebookings when we got PUC. Since then, I've done one off the list. I won't bore you with the details but I needed a job for a bonus, my telephone had 1% battery life remaining and it was the early hours of the morning. On digesting the information relevant to this particular conundrum I concluded that I needed to plug the telephone in to it's charger and allow it a few minutes before it could be used to place or receive a telephone call to or from an intending passenger. Given the hour and my location, the most likely instant hail would be from one of the passenger terminals at Dublin Airport or from a group of youngsters leaving the Wright Venue, possibly via McDonald's restaurant, on Nevinstown lane. Both of those scenarios invariably involve a telephone conversation with the client prior to pick up. I did consider that I could take Nevinstown Lane and get a client who had hailo'd regardless of whether it was the correct one but given the urgency of the bonus situation as outlined I concluded that the potential problems (i.e. that the passenger telephones me rendering my telephone impotent or I get the wrong passenger and the right one cancels the job to try again) made that an undesirable strategy to adopt. As there was a pre-booking from Santry to Dublin Airport available for pick up in approximately 21 minutes I decided that presented a more prudent option as it gave my telephone time to charge to sufficient capacity as to allow me accept a telephone call in the unlikely event that the client deemed it necessary to place such a call. This cautious approach reaped the desired reward. After a short rest with a cold expresso and cigarette (a rare real one, not the electric yoke) the client boarded my vehicle 5 minutes ahead of schedule and the bonus was earned a few minutes thereafter.
I covered one on Saturday evening with 6 minutes to pick up as it wasn't going too far, kept me out of traffic and offered instant priority. I've rejected others because they don't have the instant priority banner. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to which ones offer instant priority but a colleague advised me that you don't get instant priority if the banner is missing so don't be fooled into thinking it's just the banner that's missing.
