While A Good Weekend It Was Also Very Strange!

I keep repeating "I don't want to do this any more" and after some of the rides I had both Saturday and Sunday I can definitely say, "I don't want to drive taxi again!  No more, no more, let me please exit the cabbie door!"

As it was strange in Seattle, it appears it was odd everywhere, exemplified to the extreme by the shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada and the killing of 59 and the wounding of over 500 concert goers.  If it is true that something mysterious and unexplainable took over the United States, affecting myriad and unconnected events, just what is it, what is this invisible phenomena wreaking havoc across the nation?  Damn if I know but it is as real as me sitting here typing in a Tacoma coffee shop.  I don't like it, not enjoying being manipulated by the unknown cosmos.

One major reason why these kinds of weird rides irritate me so much is that I feel victimized for no reason whatsoever other than I'm in a cab.  It is apparent that is quite enough justification for passengers treating you unjustly.  All I did Saturday night was answer a call at 14th East and East Aloha, and once the woman was in the cab, began losing her mind when I started taking her to the requested destination of 26th South and South Lane.  East Aloha at that point is a local arterial and the routing couldn't have been simpler, proceeding east then turning south on 23rd and following that all the way to South Lane Street, taking a left and three blocks later, 26th South.

But no, she immediately began telling me to "Turn around. You're going in the wrong direction!" Telling her that we were heading east and planing on taking 23rd southbound did nothing to dissuade her.  As she grew more agitated, I zipped a U-turn at 19th East, telling her I had had enough of her confusion.  "Oh," she suddenly exclaimed," I'm sorry.  You're right, we were heading in the right direction."

Knowing that, given immediate evidence, she could again come up with more nonsense, I stopped in front of her address and said, "Get out!"  Stepping out, she proceeded to lecture me upon my lack of customer service.  I guess she thought I was either a psychiatrist or a drug counselor but given I was at that moment only a frustrated cabbie she will have to seek those services elsewhere.

Even more bizarre was what turned out to be my last Saturday night (early Sunday morning) bar-break passenger, a woman wanting to go to the top of Queen Anne hill from Ballad.  Making the conclusion even odder is that she was very specific in her instructions, routing me to West Nickerson and then up 3rd Avenue West, finally taking us to 3rd West and West Galer.

Having grown quiet, I asked her where she needed to be, with her response slightly more than crazy.  "I want to go home. Is your home ready?" somehow implying that she wanted me to take her back to my place.

Responding that this was nuts, I again asked her where she wanted to go but this time I needed the money upfront.  She said she wanted to go to North 43rd and Wallingford North, where her house was located.  When I questioned her to just why she took us in the wrong direction she said " I never asked you to bring me here."

That is when I pulled over and "I don't want your money.  Just get out!" understanding that whatever was occurring with this woman, the results for me wouldn't be good,  ranging from not getting paid to having to summon the police.  Pissing me off further is that I ignored taking a dispatched call when I saw her waving.  Having cost me money and time I just gave up, and headed north to five hours of total sleep.  As said, I don't need this kind of treatment, doing absolute nothing for me, a total wash on every conceivable level.

Fast forwarding to Sunday night and halftime at the Seahawk game, an older upper-middle class couple got in and asked if I knew how to get to 28_ _ Elliott, a destination about 12 blocks away in an almost straight line, I responded that it was about 3/4 of a mile away, meaning "just get in because we are almost there."

But no, not trusting any cabbie, lumping me into whatever "servant"category they felt I fell in to, did not like my response, finally getting out one block later, saying I had run a red light.  In these kinds of situations I usually just say "you don't have to pay" but given they had wasted my valuable time I requested the $3.00 on the meter.  If they had just been normal and simply said "Take me to _____, please!" like 99 % of the human population I would have had them there in 2-5 minutes.

About 1 1/2 hours later I took a group of ladies from Pier 69 to the Bellevue Hyatt, and the woman sitting next to me, having exchanged little more than 30 words with her, gave me a one hundred dollar bill for the $32.00 fare and said "Keep it!"  All she had done was give me the name of the hotel minus any questioning.  And guess what, I got her there, and not even charging her for the 520 Bridge toll.

Was I somehow a different cabbie, magically changed in a mere short period of time?  No is the answer. No.

All of this reminding me of an old business card where I stated "Depending on your attitude, The Best! the Worst!" which pretty much sums up the taxi experience, madness and stupidity lurkng "round the next corner!  Again, I don't need this crap in my life.  I really don't!