July 16th, 2008
The obese old woman at Fred Meyer has a bad hip and a wheelchair...8 comments
July 9th, 2008
“...I need to take a shower first and wash all of this blood off.”6 comments
July 2nd, 2008
“So I’ve got these two women in the back of my cab who just refuse to get out...”8 comments
June 25th, 2008
“My friend’s getting divorced, and he’s really drunk,” says the bartender...8 comments
June 18th, 2008
There’s nothing like a good Friday night, and I’m referring to the money.3 comments
June 11th, 2008
The old man in the karaoke bar’s parking lot insists that he doesn’t need any help...0 comments
June 4th, 2008
“What’re you up to?” asks my dispatcher.6 comments
May 28th, 2008
The middle-aged guy is working on an oil ship...3 comments
May 21st, 2008
“How you doing tonight, man?”3 comments
May 14th, 2008
As I pull into the back parking lot of Spot 79 on Southeast Foster Road...13 comments
[April 5th, 2006] I'm leaving the Walgreen's on Belmont, on my way to an order at Powell's on Hawthorne, when a guy walks up and asks me to take him to the Safeway at Lloyd Center. So I give back the Powell's order and let him in.
Young guy, fairly cute, pleasant conversationalist. We talk about his job; he does custom tile installations. I discuss my one rather, ah, interesting experience with trying to tile a bathroom myself. He asks if I'm having a good night. Well, I was...
When we get to Safeway, he wants me to wait while he gets a few things. "No offense, man, but I need you to leave something with me: a cell phone, something, " I say. His response: "I don't have a cell phone."
"Then an ID, just anything." "All I have is my ID, which I'll need because I'm going to write a check and get cash back to pay you." "Dude, I get ripped off like this all the time—you need to leave something." "Oh, that's not cool, people actually do that to you? Trust me, I'm not going to."
He was friendly, he was sincere, I let him go. I should have made him take off his jacket and his hat.
The meter was at $20 when I went into the store to look for him, to no avail. I have a fairly extensive vocabulary, but I completely and utterly lack sufficient invective to describe both this person and what I want to do to him.
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I'm leaving the Walgreen's on Belmont
Are you really a professional cabbie? Come on. what a dumb sucker. You should be training seeing eye dogs for the blind.
—Victor
I'm leaving the Walgreen's on Belmont
Make them prepay with a 20. Like the old San Franciso Chronicle Night Cabbie made them do...
They don't want to, out they go, you get a better fare later.
—Lippy
I'm leaving the Walgreen's on Belmont
Sometimes you get stiffed not because of stupidity, but because you decide to take the chance to trust that people are decent.
I got scammed once, out of $30. I knew even as I was being scammed, that it was probably a scam. But I wanted to trust in human decency, so I "lent" the guy $30 (for the desperate sob story). He never paid it back.
Since then, I don't give money to anyone that asks for it. That makes me a bit sad, since undoubtedly, some do need it, and it is a sad way to look at humanity. But it felt so sour to get scammed, that I just don't have the heart to give again. Now I usually have some fruit with me, for those people who ask for money for food. Some will be disappointed 'cause they really just wanted the cash to buy booze, others are grateful. (The guy who was so thirsty that my half-consumed bottle of water was a blessing to him lets me know that some people really ask because they need to.)
I hope the overall balance for you is positive.
—Katie
I'm leaving the Walgreen's on Belmont
I do enjoy your insights to a different Portland; however, I hope you don't vote "cuz He's kind-a-cute". Think of how cheap you got off? He could have had you pay up front for materials to do your bathroom and.....
—KISS