My Cab Ire

For somebody who takes a taxi to work everyday of his life, I have had my share of bad experiences of nightmarish proportions to note (I'm exaggerating of course, but the experiences are bad nonetheless).

I'll start off with my disgusting cab-hailing moments. Most (I get this one in particular almost everyday), during moring rush hour, would roll down their windows, a signal that they are somewhat concerned as to where your destination is, and after you told them yours (sa Dela Rosa, sa may Ayala), would go their way without as much as a word for the reason of their refusal plus a faint smirk on their face. It's as though their stopping in front of me earned them a week's worth of bad luck! Then there are ones who, before inching 10 meters from your pickup point, would ask for a tip in advance, blaming the traffic or bringing about the recent petrol price hike as blatant reasons. Heavens, I'm honestly doing my work in the office to earn a living and they would pour a litany to hopefully earn them sympathy? Drive me in a limo, maybe I'll reconsider.

Equally smiteful are events while enroute, like them needing to pass by a gas station for a fuel refill. More shitty as it happens when you are already late for work. Then there is Love Radio and its DJs with toilet humor on the background.

There are some cabs that really smell, be it attributable to drivers not bathing before going out, sweating in thier shirts and having it dry with the aide of bodily heat while inside their cabs, or stale breath (much like the smell inside the Kodak Developing store at Prince Plaza near Going Straight at Legaspi Street in Makati). I wish I had a leaflet on hygiene in those days.

Lastly, at your dropoff point, you give them a hundred and they give you a 40 when the meter reads 47.50. Or them saying they could not break a hundred even if it's late at night and you are expecting them to at least have some loose bills from driving the whole day. Add to that some drivers' couldn't-be-arsed-to-find-a-store-or-another-cab-who-may-have-change way of life.

There was this one cabbie who gave me a 30 change when the meter read 40 from the 100 I initally gave. The old fart looked at me and said, "tama na yan no?" I told him, "pahingi pa ho ng bente," for which he replied, "bente nalang ipagkakait mo pa sa matanda." Aba ang anak-ng-pung ito ah! Kung naghintay ka e nagkusa naman sana ako. Kapalmuks! Gurang! Of course, I only ran the reply in my mind. I also got him to give me the 20.

There was this recent incident, just last week, happened the night the gas prices went up by near to P2.00 per liter. The driver was mumbling something like, "puchang bansa to, ang hirap mabuhay, ang mahal mahal ng boundary, tataas pa ang presyo ng gasolina. Mabuti pang magnakaw nalang nito." I got a gun and shot him, one less bad seed in the country. Of course, that act did not happen either. I just told him, "marirap talaga ang buhay, pero mas maganda pag marangal ang hanap-buhay." I then gave him a P2.50 tip. Ha ha!

Some bad experiences I tried to forget on purpose. No point getting stress-lines on your face over scumbags. Then there are some cabbies with well taken-cared of cars and tasteful radio stations on audio. Equal in number to the assholes are the courteous and honest. Some would even give you change down to the last centavo. My hat goes off to these few good men.

posted by Fritz @ 12:08 AM