When I was waiting for my current taxicab to be painted about two years ago, I leased from another smaller company like my own to make some money in the interim. I picked up a couple of what I call "frat brats" from a party in the University area. One of them was along for the ride, and the other didn't know where the hell he was going.
He kept saying "Comfort Inn, off the interstate." The only Comfort Inn I was aware of in the area was nowhere near the interstate. There was a Sleep Inn (very similar to Comfort Inn) so I took him there, to no avail.
Turns out a local Ramada Inn at the next exit had just become a Comfort Inn that week. The sign hadn't even been changed yet!!! THAT little detail MIGHT have been useful, don't you think?Anyway, the guy starts raising hell about the fare halfway down the interstate, and wants the number for the owner of the company. Keep in mind the rates here are not regulated, and the company I was leasing from that weekend had one of the most ridiculously low rates in the city.
The owner tells him the meter shows the fare, and he needed to pay it. To which the guy responds by running his mouth to me. By this time I am approaching the end of the exit ramp, 300 feet or so from his hotel -- we are looking at it at this point. Which was when I noticed that the new signs had not even been installed.
Between his insults, whining, and cussing me, I said "Sir, either you can pay the fare or I can take you back where I picked you up. You are not getting across town for free, on me."
He refused to pay the fare, so I turned the meter off and turned left for the ramp to re-enter the interstate going the opposite direction. When he asked what I was doing, I told him he didn't want to pay his fare, so I was taking him back. I was so pissed by this point, I entered the interstate as though a tractor-trailer had been riding my bumper for ten miles.
The guy started asking about the fare, and I responded, "Sir, I've been trying to tell you for the last six miles that the fares here are not regulated, but you won't stop raising hell and cussing me out long enough to listen."
"No hell is being raised, sir." Oh, so NOW I'm a sir! Five minutes ago I was a cheat and an asshole! I stood that Mercury on its nose in the emergency lane and said, "Sir, I think you need to get out."
"I'm not getting out," he said.
"Yes, you are, sir, you just don't know it yet."
"No, I'm not. I don't have to."
"Sir, at this point, you are a disorderly, non-paying passenger who has verbally abused me. I don't have to put up with that, so you have three options. Get out yourself, I can remove you, or I can call the police and they will remove you. It doesn't matter to me, but you are not staying in this car, I promise you that." His friend finally pulled him out, and I left them there on the side of the interstate.
Word to the wise, you don't screw with a cab driver in the middle of a trip any more than you screw with a server or bartender who can make sure you get more than you bargained for. People in service industries are people too, and all we want is the respect of our job not being made any harder than it has to be. If you're hard on us, we can make it hard on you, too.
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