crazy cabbie goes bananas!

[HotelMinion]

I had someone drop me off at work, so I had to take public transportation back. I live about 10 miles from my job and once to save money I walked back in the cold. Never again. It was really cold this morning, and I had pants, shirt, sweater and jacket and I was still freezing.
So I go to the bus stop, and see the bus I'm supposed to take there. I run, but the bus takes off just about when I get there! I think, no problem, I'll just take the next one. They stop by abuot every 15 min according to the schedule.
So I wait....and wait....and wait....
Nearly an hour later, no bus! I see lots of "out of service" buses fly by. I'm freezing my tail off, so I think F it, I'll just take a cab. Better than catching a head cold, yuck.
So I spot a cab with the number on its side, and call them up on my cellphone. They said it'll be 10 min. Ok....10 min more...>.<
So finally I spot a simliar cab and I walk to it, checking my phone, and I see I have a missed call from them. I realize that this is the guy, so I walk up to the side window and tap on it. "Are you for HM?" I ask.
He gives me a blank stare. "yes."
"Cool, that's me." I start to hop in and I'm stopped by loud honking from another. Another cabbie from a different company jumps out and starts cursing my cabbie out. I couldn't tell what he was saying exactly, because he had a thick accent. My cabbie says, "Hey back off man! She called me!"
Continue cursing and yelling. The guy looked so angry I thought he was about to jump on the other and start punching him. He had his hands in fists and was swinging them around.
"I said, she called me!" says my cabbie. Desperately, he turns to me. "Hey, tell him you called me!!!"
"Uh...I called him?" I say to the other cabbie.
He gives me this GLARE like he was about to punch me too, and finally backs off. I go in and enjoy a nice ride back. Of course the cab ride wasn't cheap, but better than catching hypothermia.
"Why was he so mad?" I ask during the ride.
"Because....he thought you called him....I dunno."
Oh. Maybe he thought I was someone else. But geez. No reason to act like a savage. Some people. Plus, what was up with those buses? Never again with them!

[Sparky]

Hi HotelMinion,

I used to drive a bus. Before that I drove a cab (for about 6 months). Please don't think I'm failing to see the suck here, because you had plenty of suck, and I don't blame you one bit for being annoyed/upset/furious. You should have neard me on the phone to a cab dispatcher the night before last after I had been standing in the cold for 50 minutes! But that's another story. I just want to offer a bit of advice.

Bus was missing/late:
Buses run on a schedule. They are -- supposedly -- at a certain place at a certain time. In some cities you can stand on a corner and just wait, but you will almost always be better off if you find a copy of the schedule and find out where to wait and what time the bus will be there. You can probably find it online. A lot of times the bus runs every 15 minutes during peak times, but less often at other times. You don't say what time of day this was. And maybe you know all this and you looked at the schedule and the bus still wasn't coming. If this is the case, you definitely should call the company and find out what was up. You should be able to count on bus service. Sometimes things do happen, like streets are closed and the buses have to detour and they have no way of letting you know. If you want to ride on a regular basis, learn the schedule AND have the bus company's number in your phone so you can call and say "I"m on the corner of ____ and ___ and I've been here since ___ o'clock. Where's the bus?" They can tell you if the bus is delayed, or if you need to stand somewhere else because of a detour.

Cab driver was fighting:
Stealing another cabbie's fare is a serious offence. It is rude, to say the least, and IF your driver had done this the other driver would be within his right to be annoyed. Perhaps the other driver had a call for someone else and thought your driver was stealing his fare. Still doesn't justify him being a jerk though, especially in front of you.

Getting home shouldn't be such an adventure. I hope today is better.

[Fudgethatkay]

You sound like you're in my area. Buses are so damned unreliable here, and wonder why the public lost a lot of faith. :/

[protege]

You sound like you're in my area. Buses are so damned unreliable here, and wonder why the public lost a lot of faith. :/

Same with my area. If you live or work inside the city limits (downtown especially) the service is great. Out in the 'burbs? Not so much. The agency's cashflow problems mean that they're constantly screwing around with routes. Either they're combining routes or discontinuing them. You never know what's going on, because it seems to change from day to day. No wonder commuters are confused. I mean, I leave at the same time every morning. I see the same trucks, most of the same cars...but even at the same time, I don't see the bus every day. It's kinda hard to miss--many of the Port Authority vehicles are painted in *nasty* colors.

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

Cab driver was fighting:
Stealing another cabbie's fare is a serious offence. It is rude, to say the least, and IF your driver had done this the other driver would be within his right to be annoyed. Perhaps the other driver had a call for someone else and thought your driver was stealing his fare. Still doesn't justify him being a jerk though, especially in front of you.

I never tell a cab who I am. I travel to ships a lot, the Port Agent generally arranges a car and they have my name, or the ship name, on a board.

I often get drivers or touts coming up and asking me if I'm waiting for a car.

"Yes!"
"It's here, come this way"
"Excellent, what's my name and where are we going?"
<rabbit in headlamps look>
"Uh huh, oh look! There's someone who has my name over there! Byee..."

It gets so bad in Italy that they've arrested taxis who can't prove they were arranged beforehand.

[wolfie]

I had a situation like that many years ago. My first employer dealt with cab company "A", so that was as good a reason as any to call company "A" when I needed a cab for personal reasons.

I took a vacation flight out west to visit family, and to save a few bucks I caught a cab to the bus terminal, and the airport shuttle bus to the airport. On my return, after I got off the bus, I went to a payphone (remember those?) on the platform and called cab company "A" to get picked up at the driveway on the west side of the bus terminal. The dispatcher told me to go to the cab stand on the south side of the building. I replied that I had a lot of luggage, and needed the cab sent to the driveway (not into the terminal - that's for buses only - but on the street beside the driveway), and the dispatcher's attitude was "tough shit".

After wrangling my luggage through the building and exiting on the south side, I saw the cab stand, with a line of cabs waiting. The first 2 were company "A", and the third was company "B" (don't recall what the others were). Needless to say, I made a beeline to the third cab. Its driver was somewhat surprised, but not disappointed - and the driver of the first cab was PISSED. I told him to take it up with his dispatcher - if the dispatcher had been willing to send him to the west side of the building, he'd have got my business, but because dispatch insisted I haul my luggage through the building, I wasn't going to deal with his company.

From then on, having no better basis to make my choice, when I needed a cab for personal reasons, I called company "B" - all because theirs was the first non-"A" cab in that lineup. IMO, if a passenger wants a particular brand of cab (even if the brand they want is "anybody but those bastards"), they should be able to choose which cab they get rather than merely taking the first in line.

[Mikkel]

IMO, if a passenger wants a particular brand of cab (even if the brand they want is "anybody but those bastards"), they should be able to choose which cab they get rather than merely taking the first in line.

Here you have that right by law. The passenger decide and the driver isn't allowed to refuse the ride (except if the passenger can dirty the car or if they are visibly drunk or threatening).
If you got into my cab and I wasn't the first in line I would tell you to take the first in line, since it's a sin to steal another drivers ride, but if you insisted I would go and probably be happy too .

[PepperElf]

Here you have that right by law. The passenger decide and the driver isn't allowed to refuse the ride (except if the passenger can dirty the car or if they are visibly drunk or threatening).
If you got into my cab and I wasn't the first in line I would tell you to take the first in line, since it's a sin to steal another drivers ride, but if you insisted I would go and probably be happy too .

o yeah, i've seen cab drivers in japan refuse fares because of the "dirty" aspect. or rather because of the 'wet' aspect.... the refused-fare in question had been walking in the rain for 5 minutes. and in japan's rainy season that's enough to get you completely soaked.

[Fudgethatkay]

o yeah, i've seen cab drivers in japan refuse fares because of the "dirty" aspect. or rather because of the 'wet' aspect.... the refused-fare in question had been walking in the rain for 5 minutes. and in japan's rainy season that's enough to get you completely soaked.

ugh...tsuyu...hate it so :<
causes problems with some stores too should you forget umbrella

[dalesys]

... in japan's rainy season that's enough to get you completely soaked.

causes problems with some stores too should you forget umbrella

How many days before some canny entrepreneur comes up with a tight fitting booth that seals around your neck and applies a high vacuum, rapidly evapoating all the water.

Side effects? (1) big chill, (2) instant giant farts.

[Mikkel]

o yeah, i've seen cab drivers in japan refuse fares because of the "dirty" aspect. or rather because of the 'wet' aspect.

Wet wouldn't bother me, the seats are (imitated, I think) leather, I'll just dry them off again if the AC can't do the job.
If people smell as if they have peed their pants three days ago without washing or changing clothes, though...

[wolfie]

How many days before some canny entrepreneur comes up with a tight fitting booth that seals around your neck and applies a high vacuum, rapidly evapoating all the water.

Side effects? (1) big chill, (2) instant giant farts.

The entrepreneur wouldn't be able to patent it - prior art (iron lung). A third side-effect would be inability to breathe until the vacuum is released.

[Ironclad Alibi]

The entrepreneur wouldn't be able to patent it - prior art (iron lung). A third side-effect would be inability to breathe until the vacuum is released.

Actually they might be able to patent it. A new use for an old device can qualify for a patent. And I am a patent agent, and worked for the US Patent Office as an examiner for 21 years. Maybe some day I get to will play one on TV.

Interestingly enough, the original patent on the iron lung was declared invalid.

[dalesys]

The entrepreneur wouldn't be able to patent it - prior art (iron lung). A third side-effect would be inability to breathe until the vacuum is released.

You could inhale like you'd gotten the ultimate goose, if the fit was loose, though...