Eaten Alive By Taxi

With this week's entry I promise a short, not completely sour yet not sweet account of what it means to be consumed by the at times insane experience known as driving a cab.  Too many hours, too much stress and not enough rest, along with unexpected pressures making me wish for the moment I am forever not "killing" myself in a cab. Despite whispers to the contrary I am not suicidal, instead truly enjoying breathing untainted air and of course looking around at new and interesting surroundings.  What got to me this past week was the taking of a simple incident and having taxi compound it into something unexpected, unnecessary and unpleasant.  The question  was, and is, what is an accident and what to do if anything when reporting it?

What is true is that frivolous claims has the taxi industry running scared.  While understanding and appreciating that reality, it doesn't make any sense to treat the innocent cabbie as potential or deceitful criminal.  We get enough of that as it is, without people employed to help and assist attacking our fragile credibility. Given my 29 plus years of experience I know when I am being treated equably or not. And when I am paying over six thousand a year for taxi insurance, above all I expect the best customer service available.  When I don't receive it, I wonder what the hell is going on?

Initially I planned on being far more specific but after speaking to someone closely involved I have instead decided to be intentionally opaque while reserving the right to speak out later if necessary.  What I did say was whether anyone understood that in the United States we have very clearly defined clauses against self-incrimination?  The Fifth Amendment to the American Constitution, and part of the Bill of Rights specifically states that a person cannot be compelled to testify against themselves. The crazy part of all this is all of the information is coming from me and no one else, meaning I had been asked, in part, to compose a fiction of my own making.  Unreal but just like taxi.

And what did my last passenger Saturday night shout out after I objected to his bullying and refused to take his money upon getting him home?  Loudly he screamed out into the early morning air that I was a "F_____t!  F_____t!  F_____t!; this after last week's Department of Defense announcement they will no longer bar transgender folks from the military, meaning that while our Federal government has progressed, many of our fellow citizens remain in the cave munching upon raw brontosaurus bones.  Add the ketchup and mustard for a  complete meal!

Anyway, how do you like that for appreciation?  And I took perhaps 3 minutes to get to the call.  There is nothing else like taxi, that is for sure!


A Spontaneous Poem  (inspiration taken from the "The Cowboy Song")


Watch the Cave People march and scream

all we want and need is free musk oxen ice cream!

and allowed to insult and taunt all cabbies the livelong day

that being our  inalienable right, that being our way!

Yippie-Ki-Yay!