Now my car looks like a taxi.

[bhskittykatt]

I was pulled off to the side of the road with my flashers on, putting newspapers in their respective tubes. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the house across the street had it's porch lights flashing. I thought it was odd, but figured it may have been a short circuit or something. I did think perhaps someone was trying to get my attention, but that was an odd way of doing it...

A very short while later, I was in the same area (it's a loopy route...I have to keep looping back and drive by the same areas), I saw a taxi pulling into their driveway. That's when it dawned on me...did those people think I was their taxi and they were trying to signal me?

If so, then it's the third time on my paper route I've been mistaken for a taxi. Two other times, people with luggage in front of their homes have chased me down the street, screaming "STOP!!!" When I stopped and talked to them, turns out they thought I was their taxi.

A few important things to note:

- My car is dark green. All the taxis I've been confused with so far have been Yellow Cab, which have notably yellow cars. Though it is dark out at this hour and hard to tell certain colors, you should be able to differentiate between dark-colored and light-colored car.

- 95% of the local Yellow Cab's fleet are Crown Vics. My car is nothing remotely close to a Crown Vic.

- Yellow Cabs have little yellow "Taxi" lights on their roof. I don't.

- Yellow Cabs have checkered patterns on the side of their car. My car is covered in butterflies.

- Taxis don't (usually) throw newspapers at houses while they drive down the street.

So, not only is my car "Macho," it also looks like a taxi now as well!

[mattm04]

Tats just a fail on many levels. In my area, about 25 miles from the nearest int'l airport often times I see one if the several limo services that will pick up people, but that tends to be unmarked Town Cars or Caddy sedans almost always black. How you mistake a newspaper delivery car with a taxi, I don't know.

[Racket_Man]

try doing pizza delivery with a lighted sign stuck to your roof. then add in a home football game, lots of drunk fans, then let the hilarity begin. this happens to us a lot because our store is about a half mile from the stadium. too many stories about falling down drunk fans literally beating on a drivers car cause they think he is a taxi.

[Polenicus]

Sometimes they think you're a taxi... and sometimes they don't CARE.

I was working at my old site at the College, driving the Security vehicle around as I did my rounds, checking the parking lots. It was about 2 am at this point, when someone walks up and flags me down. A bit confused, I drive over and roll down my window.

"Hey man, can you take me Downtown?"

*BLINK*

Now, let me paint a picture for you. Cabs in this town are yellow, red, white and green... bright colors. Universally so. They have lit signs on their roofs. They are sedans (Crown Vics or whatnot) or Minivans. And usually they have the name of a Taxi company printed on the side.

What they AREN'T are Dodge Calibers (A 4 door hatchback), black, with large print along the sides saying 'Security', with a humongous picture of a German Shepherd tampo'd across the back quarter of the vehicle, on both sides.

"I'm security, not a taxi." I replied. "If you want a cab, there's a pay phone by the bus stop you can call one from."

"Naw, dude, can't you just take me?" He was obviously drunk, but not enough he couldn't tell what I was saying.

"No."

"Why not?!" He honestly seemed outraged at this... like it was an expected service that some random security guard was obligated to drive him wherever he wanted.

That was about all I was going to tolerate. "Because I'm security, not a cab. And you're drunk, and trespassing, and if you don't move on I WILL give you a ride. To the Security office, where you can wait for the police to arrive to book you for trespassing and public intoxication. Your choice."

He flipped me off and continued on down the road, off the property.

[Chromatix]

Yeah, taxis here are usually the larger saloon models of Volvo or Mercedes - and they have signs on the roof and extra taxi-licence plates attached. Occasionally there are minivans as well. All of these are private-hire vehicles - you have to order them by phone, at a kiosk, or at a marked taxi-rank.

In Britain, there are also street-hire taxis, but these are almost universally the classic "London Cab" vehicle, which is very distinctive. Most of these found outside London are second-hand vehicles previously used in London.

[MadMike]

Sometimes they think you're a taxi... and sometimes they don't CARE.

I seem to remember a pizza delivery person posting a story about something like that on here several years ago. Someone called the shop for a delivery, but then it turned out that the customer was actually in the shop, and expected the guy to deliver the pizza AND the customer to the customer's house.

[Argabarga]

If I had a dollar for every time a drunk person pulled on the door to my car at a stop light, thinking I was a cab..... when the car is GREEN and not marked with ANY signs or decals in any way.

If I had another dollar for every time, upon being told they were trying to get into someone else's personal vehicle, not a cab, they'd expect to be driven to where they were going anyway....... and got mad when told they had to find a real cab if they wanted taken somewhere....

God, I hate the drunks in this town

[Munkie]

I seem to remember a pizza delivery person posting a story about something like that on here several years ago. Someone called the shop for a delivery, but then it turned out that the customer was actually in the shop, and expected the guy to deliver the pizza AND the customer to the customer's house.

You can thank the Captain Morgan's commercial for that... Captain Morgan's Pizza Delivery

[ralerin]

If I had a dollar for every time a drunk person pulled on the door to my car at a stop light, thinking I was a cab..... when the car is GREEN and not marked with ANY signs or decals in any way.

If I had another dollar for every time, upon being told they were trying to get into someone else's personal vehicle, not a cab, they'd expect to be driven to where they were going anyway....... and got mad when told they had to find a real cab if they wanted taken somewhere....

God, I hate the drunks in this town

You really, really, REALLY should print out a sign, frame it and hang it in the backseat with fares starting $25/mile minimum with an extra $200 fee if they vomit/defecate/urinate in the backseat. If you do decide to be nice to someone some day, you'll have earned a tidy sum. At the very least, you'll be known as "that too fscking expensive cab!" and potentially the stupid will stop.

[Racket_Man]

You can thank the Captain Morgan's commercial for that... Captain Morgan's Pizza Delivery

first big problem with that is most companies have a no passanger policy for obvious reasons ie. non-owned vehicle and personal insurance purposes, lawsuit avoidance (in case of an accident), driver distraction and the obvious safety violations (Hmmmmm some criminal just ridin along with you NOT)

the second problem is you slam the door in my face I WILL walk away with your pizza. and I will NOT come back.

third and most important to me is NO FREAKIN TIP and they portray the driver as they usually do - ie. some poor dumb looser.

yes I know it is just a commercial, but we all know that commercials DO teach SCs bad habits.

[taurinejunkie]

I'll confess I've once mistaken a regular car for a taxi... but that was because I was already in the cab, had to stop at the convenience store (and therefore hurried as much as I could to get back in quickly), and then the taxi had pulled up from the door into a parking spot nearby, and the car that was now idling by the door was the same make, color and model.

[MadMike]

Wow, whoever came up with that commercial seriously needs kicked in the nuts.

On a related note, I'm wondering just why anyone would think it was OK to ask a total stranger for a ride. But just a couple weeks ago, I ran into one of these idiots. One of my friends from the bar was without her vehicle, so I agreed to pick her up and bring her to the bar. She lives in a bad part of the city, but I never had any problems before. But when I pulled over to drop her off, some weirdo came up to the passenger side and tried to talk to her. I couldn't hear what he was telling her, but she told him to "just keep on moving."

Then he came around to my side of the car. I rolled the window down maybe an inch (I'm not stupid, after all), and he asked me to drive him somewhere. I just told him, "I don't know you. Sorry." He left, but we couldn't see where he went. So she called her husband (a big guy and an ex-marine) to come out and make sure she was safe. As soon as I let her out, I peeled out of there. Even after I was a mile down the road, and there was no way the guy could still be nearby, I was feeling quite paranoid.

Once I was safely out of harm's way, I called her to make sure she got inside OK. I asked her what she thought he wanted, and she said he was probably trying to get me to let him in my car, take him somewhere isolated, and then carjack me. Looking back now, I probably should have hauled ass as soon as I saw the guy. He could have had a gun, for all I knew.