As I mentioned a few months back, with that New York Post headline about a headless body found in the topless bar, salacious or sensational headlines are eye-catching, grabbing the reader's attention. And while it is completely true that a female passenger asked me to zip up her "The Great Gatsby" party dress, it was more silly than anything close to stimulating. Believe me, dumb is not exciting, and anyway, why should I care about someone's nonsense? No good reason that I can see.
It is the kind of non-thinking incident that occurs too often in the cab, in this case a passenger telling me, when I call her that I will be there in two minutes, that she needs her dress zipped up. The inherent insensitivity involved here, at least in Seattle, is that many of the drivers come from "very" traditional cultures, and their religion would forbid this kind of interaction. Most you can be sure are not hippies who lived on a commune at age sixteen, an environment where sex and nudity were the commonplace vernacular. So what was this woman doing? My assessment is that she didn't know what she was doing. Or perhaps she did, treating the average cabbie like public property. Nothing new here.
Getting to her house on the western side of Queen Anne Hill, I find her late for a birthday party with a "F.Scott Fitzgerald" theme. The zipping took a mere second, a space of two inches requiring closure. "Oh I just couldn't show up with my dress unzipped!"
The truth is, I doubt that anyone would have noticed, leastwise the "girlfriends" at the party. And besides, I am sure anyone would have taken the time to assist, not bothered in the least or at all put out. But when you are this frivolous, and where appearance is all important, I guess this type of thing takes priority. "What would everyone think?" appears to be the governing attitude. My approach is decidedly different but again, I am a alienated cabbie so that is to be expected. Why would I care?
In Monday's New York Times, there is a book review commenting upon the kind of woman (age 31) I met, "We Were Feminists Once," by Andi Zeisler, commenting specifically on the current cultural pressures molding and forming modern, young American womanhood. A quote from her introduction I find especially apt.
"There a mainstream. celebrity, consumer embrace of feminism that positions it as a cool, fun, accessible identity that anyone can adopt." Yes, according to this societal philosophy my passenger is a liberated and autonomous woman. I beg to differ, and certainly given the urgency of the situation, deserving of a much larger tip. Please, not sex, honey---All I want is the money,!
As both Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul and Mary sang, "Oh, when will they ever learn?" "Beats me?" is my rhetorical response. And again, ha, ha, ha!
And a quick WWII trivia question, "What ever happened to Lord Haw Haw?" Nothing good I can assure you.
PS: I thought I had posted this on Tuesday. Shows what happens to the taxi-tired body, or should I say, booby!
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