Demographic Quiz: Guess Who Did It & Why & Seattle Uber Driver Convicted Of 2017 And 2018 Rapes

Doesn't everyone love a quiz, question or questions challenging the mind?  Well, whether you do or not, you are about to encounter one, tasking you to choose a specific demographic group.  And I assure you, as I have often observed, these folks are reliably consistent, requesting special and favored treatment in the most mundane of situations and scenarios.  To be sure, I could describe other equally troublesome demographic groups but what caught my attention this time was something totally new to me, two passengers assuming novel and outrageous privilege, uncivil behavior breaching usual societal conventions.  Beyond that, I am sure they are wonderful people.

A Taxi Demographic Quiz: Who Could These Culprits Be?


"Belled" to the Ballard Safeway, I was instantaneously there, being just around the corner.  First checking out the south door, there they were, running up to the taxi from the north door.  "Can you wait while we buy flowers?" was the request, obviously forgetting to buy them their "first time around" in the store.

Reluctantly, I said yes, having arrived quickly, thinking "why not!" but soon discovered I was mistaken, when, once the groceries were in the cab, minus any up-front payment or request to turn on the meter, they both walked off toward the store's entrance.  "Stop!" I shouted, "You can't leave your groceries unattended."  And after getting the attention of the male half of the couple, he initially acknowledged my request, then suddenly exited the cab, once again walking away.

With that, I leaped out saying "You can't do this!" and quickly set their groceries out onto the parking lot. "Next time," I said, "call when you're really ready!" and drove away, instantly getting someone else, a nice passenger heading home from Ballard Swedish, a quick twenty-dollar bill getting us to her Magnolia door.

Okay, who were these people?  Your choices:

A)   Saudi Arabian couple, the wife minus the veil

B)   A nice Upper-Middle Class Caucasian couple, snobbish to the core

C)  African-American kids---late teens to late 20s, feeling everyone owes them a living

D) Those now well known techies---self-absorbed Millenniums

If you are a cabbie, or have ever driven cab sometime, this should be easy.  I will say I have observed same demographic types at the Tai Tung Chinese Restaurant counter, bedeviling owner Harry by attempting to alter everything presented on the menu.  Harry, firmly yet friendly as he can possibly manage, tells them no, we don't do that.

While all the other three groups have their known irritants, the answer is C, these kids, in their early twenties, were not thinking for a moment that you don't do what they did, walking away from the cab, leaving me "high & dry," completely at their "beck & call," me the cabbie suddenly demoted to lowly servant.

But I do think there exists a plausible history explaining their behavior, that being the internalized oppression of over four hundred years of slavery and blatant racial discrimination and disparity.  If anyone doesn't think this sorry legacy affects the brain, you are totally naive.  But still, it doesn't mean you should take it out on me, or Harry, or anyone else, as I personally having no interest subjugating anyone for any reason whatsoever.

To me, true equality is being treated like everyone else, no up or down, or being treated the clown.  I too bristle when someone stares at me, thinking I am different or less than them.  With that being true, it still doesn't mean I should extract some kind of revenge, somehow militating foolish insult.  Much better, like the old comic strip from the 50s & 60s, to "grin & bear it" and move on with life, hoping and expecting the best regardless of all stupidity lurking 'round that next corner.

Seattle Uber Driver Rapist Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison

Two years ago, Uber driver Israel Ramos Islas raped a very drunk female passenger.  And last December, posing as an Uber driver, picked up another very intoxicated young woman and raped her.  He is suspect in two other incidents.  Need I tell anyone that this monster was licensed by the City of Seattle and King County without a thorough background check? And after raping the first woman, how and why did Uber continue to allow him to operate as their independent contractor.  Is anyone paying attention?  You don't require a quiz to know the answer posed by this question.