Just got to thinking about (yet) another incident where someone thought it was okay to talk down to me because I'm "just a cab driver". Also a here's your sign story, technically...Couple years ago, I stopped for a lady in the Corner area of the local university.
She wasn't going far, just a few blocks, but it was cold and she didn't want to walk that far in the cold. Hey, no problem. I'm happy to get the fare.
A couple approached the cab and wanted to share the ride. As long as the original passenger doesn't mind, there's no problem there. However, they were going completely the opposite direction, and I told them that by the time I dropped the first passenger and started getting them on their way, they could have flagged another cab. They didn't care, they just wanted to get out of the cold (it was 34 degrees that night, so it's understandable).
However, when I dropped the first passenger, the shortest route would have been cut through town to the main road that led to where they were going. And I was even going to hold the meter until the spot where I'd picked them up at.
But they wanted to go another route. Legally, I cannot take a route other than that chosen by the customer, if they have a preference. But the stipulation to that is that the customer has to tell me their preference before the point of no return.
The guy tells me to go 6 or 7 miles out of the way. It was a faster route, but typically faster costs more. Most people don't understand that.
Anyway, they were going to a gated community (where the average house is $500k or better) and by the time we got through the gate, the meter read $48.00 or so. Now, typically, with the lower rates some cabs charge, and the shorter route, it would have been around $30.00. Even on my meter, the shorter route would then have been around $35.00 or so.
The woman just snaps, "Would you like to SPEAK about this?" out of the blue. Now, she had been giving her husband hell from the beginning of the ride, so I wasn't sure if she was snapping at me or not. So between the ass-chewing and insults and cussing she was giving me, I started to explain that most cabs in the area were running at or below cost.
The husband seemed concerned that they might be getting cheated, but he wasn't flat-out nasty to me, like she was. She just keeps right on cussing me. So I finally said, "Ma'am, there is no reason to verbally abuse me like this, and I don't have to put up with it." That was her warning.
"You're abusing us, you asshole...." She started to say something else, and I simply said, "Okay, that's it. Pay the fare and get out." I'd had enough.
She said she wanted a card because she wanted to file a complaint. To which I produced one for her and one for her husband, and stated, "Ma'am, they are going to tell you the exact same thing I told you -- that rates are not regulated."
The husband said something about not getting where they were going, and I simply said, "Sir, I understand, and I feel sorry for you, because you are paying the price for your wife's attitude. Had she been a little more rational like you, I not only might have adjusted the fare a bit, but also gotten you to your door. But I am not here to be cussed and abused, especially seeing as you asked me to go a route about six miles longer than the way I would have taken you."
I have figured out some things since then. I think a lot of drivers in this town are going the long way around to make up for the ridiculously low rate they charge. I can't prove it, but that is my thinking. I would rather charge enough to make a living, and not have to scare customers driving like a bat out of hell, or trick them into thinking they are getting a deal when I'm really taking them around the long way.
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