Traffic Koans [Day 25]
This is Day 25 of the 30-day Traffic Koans contest. Details on how to enter can be found here: https://steemit.com/traffic-koans/@jedau/traffic-koans-halfway-update-1505319420-6600256
"Forty bucks," the cashier answered when asked by a man regarding the cost of going through the teleportation portal. "That is, if you return within the hour."
"What if I'm not able to return or reach my destination when I pay now?" the man followed. "What would be my reassurance that I would return?"
"Then pay later instead if it helps ease your nerves."
The man went through the portal, then returned within the hour.
"That was great!" the man exclaimed. He went through his wallet and handed the cashier forty bucks. "Here you go."
"You're missing thirty bucks," the cashier replied. "The price is seventy now."
"That's not fair! You said it was only worth forty when I went through."
"What would be our reassurance that you would return?"
I don't know how it is where you live, but here in the Philippines, taxi drivers are among the most opportunistic people around. There are reports of drivers who sneak sleeping gas in their airconditioner to rape women, some work with armed men to rob people, while others screw with the locks and rob you at gunpoint. These are uncommon cases, but it's too rampant to go unnoticed. What's quite common though are drivers who fiddle with the fare, and run up the meter.
I'm sure that's not something new, but what's special about Filipino taxi drivers is that when they can't tinker with the meter, they become innovative. It's actually quite common to hear excuses like the roads are congested or they're already making their final round before they head home and your destination is out of the way. All of these excuses are just a ploy to either set a fixed price that is almost always way more expensive than when you use the meter, or they're asking for an additional tip to pad the already expensive fare. Mind you, this all happense once you're already running so you won't have a choice. Well, unless you're willing to risk alighting in the middle of a busy highway.
Granted, not all taxi drivers are bad. Most of them are just rude. But, when you stumble upon a decent one, hold him close and never let him go. Ahem. In a, y'know, platonic way. Ever had a taxi driver run up the meter? Let's make a trade. Your story for a chance to win some SBD. Sound good? Great! :D
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I have very little experience with taxis. The town I grew up in, and live in again, is too small for that. Only when I was in college did I use a taxi on any kind of regular basis...and it just so happened that my co-worker and good friend's boyfriend was a taxi driver. We still call him Jimmy the cab driver even though he quit years ago.
Actually, I do have a fascinating story- but it's about Jimmy, and my Uncle John.
See Jimmy was a genius. I'm not being snarky or exaggerating, once upon a time he worked in a high level government job as a translator and was on his way to becoming an ambassador--I can't remember for what country, but he spoke like twelve languages fluently. Then one day he realized he was absolutely miserable. That he was living his parents wishes for his life. So he quit and moved to the small city of Auburn and became a cab driver. What does this have to do with my uncle? Well my uncle is also a genius, at least with numbers. Have you ever seen Good Will Hunting? That's my uncle. You could put any equation in front of him and he would solve it. You could hold a calculator and ask him what 324x245x213x456 was, and he'd have the answer before the calculator displayed it. Unlike Jimmy he skipped the whole part of doing something with it and went directly to being a cab driver. I kid you not.
Your stories definitely do not make one desire to spend a lot of time on the road in the Philippines, haha!
Oh wow! Those are awesome stories! I wish cab drivers here have the same backstory as well. Maybe there already are, but I have yet to stumble upon them. I've heard of a similar story before, but the genius became a janitor instead. Something about monotonous, repetitive work I guess. It must calm their minds to some degree.
I guess it does seem to paint a terrible picture haha but really though I just want to state the truth. People often just post about the picturesque locations and awesome experiences, but for me, I don't think that should be representative of it. Once people find out the worst possible thing about some place and still choose to go there, everything they would experience would be better than what was told. Subverting expectations and all that. Or, it could just be that I'm always the contrarian haha!
The taxi drivers are quite civil here; they stopped messing with taxi meters quite some time ago. But they were doing it in the somehow more far away past. And, other violent deeds and atrocities are not present here. But I've read about quite a big scandal in England, uncovered in 2014, which I don't know if they have already solved entirely.
I hope they never spread to us.
That's great to hear! Talking about taxi drivers there being civil. I wish every taxi driver around the world would learn from the ones in your country. I haven't heard of any taxi scandals recently so maybe they have already resolved it. Or maybe they have just swept it under the rug. I do hope it doesn't spread to where you live though.
Thanks for taking the time to share your story, your continued support and the relentless resteeming! I appreciate it very much :D
good post and interesting
Thanks! I'm glad you found it interesting. It's a contest though, so if ever you want to win some SBD...
Loads of information. Many thanks. Love it. @jedau Followed
Hmm.. you're welcome? Thank you for following!