What is it with you guys and the front seat?

[January 4th, 2006] What is it with you guys and the front seat? Many Portlanders mistakenly assume that the toplight being lit means the cab is available. Nope. But that's understandable—the iconography of taxicabs is pretty much based on the New York paradigm, as filtered through the movies. But nowhere on the silver screen do I see people riding in the front seat.

People will open the front door, see my stuff all over the seat, and say "oh," pause, then get in the back. Then you have the people who ask me to move said stuff. In my case, let's see, a Thomas Guide, a Discman, a Maglite, reading material and assorted papers, and a half-wrapped sandwich. Nope.

Even better are the people who start moving it for you. Did your mother raise you like that? Hey, if you're on crutches, obese, or have something else wrong that makes it hard to get in and out of the cab, the front seat is yours, no qualms whatsoever. So is it because, as one lady told me, "I don't like feeling like I'm being chauffeured around"? Why not?! You are being chauffeured around!

And now, now I'm at Cassidy's Restaurant, and this prick won't ride in the back. All he had to do was ask nicely, but nooooo. He absolutely refuses, saying he'll complain about me to my parent company if I don't let him ride in the front. I invite him to complain, recite another cab company's number, and go on my merry way.