Having some free time on my hands last night, I decided to offer my services as a volunteer to “Operation Red Nose”.
“Operation Red Nose is a volunteer driving service provided during the Christmas Holiday Season to all drivers who have been drinking or who do not feel fit to drive their own vehicle back home. A team of 3 Red Nose volunteers will pick you up and drive you in your own vehicle to the destination of your choice, for free.”
I showed up at head quarters at 19:00, waited for 2 other singles to show up, we formed a team, went for our training and then sat around waiting for our first call. Not surprisingly, nothing much happened before the end of the hockey game on TV around 22:00 (who wants to leave the bar or party mid game, even if the Habs lost 5 1 to Carolina???).
People watching was the only thing to do (next time I will know to bring a book or a deck of cards). Some of the volunteers were old hats (literally! as they had pins from every year on their baseball caps). Several wore blinking red noses, others had Santa tuques, one had a sheep head hat….very weird…. Over all you have a mix: young and old, men and women, groups and singles…but everywhere camaraderie and good humor.
We were given red vests to wear, a short wave radio, a puke bag, and a bunch of forms …and we were off on our first call.
I was the driver, taking the team in my car to the location where the client was waiting. Once there, my two colleagues went inside to get him (or her) and then got in his car with him and drove him home while I followed in my own car (to bring them back after).
If there were more than 3 clients to pick up, then we needed to split them up and I could end up with inebriated passengers also. This is what happened on our last call at 03:00 AM… I got two very drunk guys who rapped non stop for 45 minutes. They improvised the whole time and complemented each other with sound effects…and asked for me to turn on (and up) the radio…for background noise support I suppose….I can now say with confidence that the one word in the English language that is the easiest to rhyme with has to be “Fuck” as they inserted it in absolutely every line. What a show!!!!The beer fumes were impressive also!
It was an interesting experience. I was happy not to be sent too far out in the boondocks… I will definitely go back next week even if it means getting home at 5:00 AM.