Un-Fare Cabs
Maybe its the New Year, maybe its random selection...but cab drivers have been trippin' recently. Consider the following:
1. My boys and I were out in the Big City of Dreams and took a cab back to the crib where we proceeded to ask the cab driver if he could wait, at most, 5 minutes for us to go upstairs and come back for a return trip downtown. Now, consider that the crib is in a "cab-remote" part of the city where a cab driver should truly be happy to have a fare from this destination. I would reason that 90% of the time, a cab driver would travel for at least 10 minutes before finding his or her next fare from this location. We thought that our asking him to wait at 1 am would actually be a good thing for him and definitely would have resulted in an even better tip. His response to our request: [Mumbling] "Uh, I have to run errands..." What??? Errands??? On a Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1 AM!?!?!? You have errands? Where and to do what? There aren't too many 1 am errands that carry positive connotations.
2. Continuing the above...We quickly changed - though not nearly as fast as if the previous cab driver had honored our request - and proceeded to go back outside to that very spot and hoped to luck out on a cab dropping someone off. After about 10 minutes, Bang! Bang!, here comes salvation and transportation to the night capper. But wait, there is discussion:
Cab Driver: "Where y'all need to go?"
Us: "Downtown."
Cab Driver: "No, can't do that, too tired."
Ummmmm, is there a big cab joke at this point calling out Aristocrates and his 3 boys? Tired? You are a cab driver and you are going to be driving regardless, why not just drive with us, paying you a fare? Tired? What other forces are at work here? Your shift is from 5-to-5, its 1...you have 4 hours left!
Needless to say, I was done. I went to sleep.
3. Two days later, I was talking with my homegirl who was in the Big City of Dreams but missed her flight back to her current place of residence. Naturally, I asked how did she miss the flight, upon which she responded:
"My cab driver didn't know how to get to the Airport."
"Where were you flying out of...Teterboro?" "
"No, La Guardia...he said it was his first day."
How is it possible to be employed as a cab driver - even on your first day - in any major metropolitan area and not know how to get to one of the major airports? Simply incredible to the kid...
My homegirl missed the last flight out that night and had to spend the night at a layover airport only to have to come right back to the Big City of Dreams the next day. In the words of Willie Nelson, "Crazy."
What I'm listening to while writing this:
Souls of Mischief - Cab Fare, (obviously)
"'Cab Driver?' 'Cab Driver?' There are two folks sittin' in the front seat of the cab and only one is showing me love, 'Cab Driver,' and I dont think his name is 'Cab Driver.' Why can't 'Cab Driver' show me love?" - Co-Con, circa this time last year
1. My boys and I were out in the Big City of Dreams and took a cab back to the crib where we proceeded to ask the cab driver if he could wait, at most, 5 minutes for us to go upstairs and come back for a return trip downtown. Now, consider that the crib is in a "cab-remote" part of the city where a cab driver should truly be happy to have a fare from this destination. I would reason that 90% of the time, a cab driver would travel for at least 10 minutes before finding his or her next fare from this location. We thought that our asking him to wait at 1 am would actually be a good thing for him and definitely would have resulted in an even better tip. His response to our request: [Mumbling] "Uh, I have to run errands..." What??? Errands??? On a Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1 AM!?!?!? You have errands? Where and to do what? There aren't too many 1 am errands that carry positive connotations.
2. Continuing the above...We quickly changed - though not nearly as fast as if the previous cab driver had honored our request - and proceeded to go back outside to that very spot and hoped to luck out on a cab dropping someone off. After about 10 minutes, Bang! Bang!, here comes salvation and transportation to the night capper. But wait, there is discussion:
Cab Driver: "Where y'all need to go?"
Us: "Downtown."
Cab Driver: "No, can't do that, too tired."
Ummmmm, is there a big cab joke at this point calling out Aristocrates and his 3 boys? Tired? You are a cab driver and you are going to be driving regardless, why not just drive with us, paying you a fare? Tired? What other forces are at work here? Your shift is from 5-to-5, its 1...you have 4 hours left!
Needless to say, I was done. I went to sleep.
3. Two days later, I was talking with my homegirl who was in the Big City of Dreams but missed her flight back to her current place of residence. Naturally, I asked how did she miss the flight, upon which she responded:
"My cab driver didn't know how to get to the Airport."
"Where were you flying out of...Teterboro?" "
"No, La Guardia...he said it was his first day."
How is it possible to be employed as a cab driver - even on your first day - in any major metropolitan area and not know how to get to one of the major airports? Simply incredible to the kid...
My homegirl missed the last flight out that night and had to spend the night at a layover airport only to have to come right back to the Big City of Dreams the next day. In the words of Willie Nelson, "Crazy."
What I'm listening to while writing this:
Souls of Mischief - Cab Fare, (obviously)
"'Cab Driver?' 'Cab Driver?' There are two folks sittin' in the front seat of the cab and only one is showing me love, 'Cab Driver,' and I dont think his name is 'Cab Driver.' Why can't 'Cab Driver' show me love?" - Co-Con, circa this time last year
posted by Aristocrates at 11:56 PM
3 Comments:
Funny...
Gene, I check in on you from time to time here to see what your philosophying about but I've never been irked to say something until today. Maybe it's my need of sleep or pregnancy craziness, but you had me rolling with this one. Stay safe out there and I miss you!
Okay so got it confused, but whoever wrote the blog insert it was great! Pass the message on, thanks.
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