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ISSUE #34.14 • HEADOUT • COLUMN
NIGHT CABBIE

The grocery call in outer Southeast has been sitting for a while

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BY NIGHT CABBIE | nightcabbie at wweek dot com

[February 13th, 2008]

The grocery call in outer Southeast has been sitting for a while—it’s the middle of a shift change, it’s a Friday rush hour, and horrible weather has us even busier than normal.

As I pull into the parking lot, I see one of our competitor’s cabs already idling in the fire lane. I pull up next to the other car, roll down my window, and smile to the other driver.

“Hey, this guy call you, too?” I nod toward a bald man waving frantically at me.

“He says he wants you, now that you are here,” grumbles the pissed-off-looking Ethiopian behind the wheel. He’s a young guy, about my age.

“But he called you, too?”

The other driver nods with a scowl.

“How does that make you feel?” I ask him.

“It is no good when they play this game.”

“Now that’s what I’m saying. If I hadn’t of showed up just now, he’d screw me the way he’s trying to screw you.”

“Are you thinking that maybe we should leave him?”

My smile widens. “Yeah man, that’s exactly what I think. Fuck this dude.”

My compatriot gives a serious and solemn nod as he puts his car in gear and drives off. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the bald guy wildly gesticulating in enraged frustration as I do the same.

I enjoy refusing the call when it pops up again, and I monitor its continued presence on the board for another 20 minutes.












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RECENT COMMENTS ON “The grocery call in outer Southeast has been sitting for a while”

11

Yeah, there have been a number of times where the competition and I have left some double-dialing schemer standing on the sidewalk in the rain, when we arrived simultaneously.

And, ...

S. Baumann, Feb 14th, 2008 6:27pm
12

Huzzah!!! Nothing irritates me more than douchebag consumers who expect gold standard service while acting like crap standard assholes. Good for you for leaving him sitting in the rain and I hope that...

Jefe, Feb 15th, 2008 5:18pm
13

I would have done the exact same thing. I'd say the real asshole is the guy who called both companies. Hope he learned his lesson.

And the rest of you, who don't understand the conc...

Alex, Feb 16th, 2008 3:11pm
14

Got a question for all the cab drivers out there: Notice any huge increase in tips at the so-called holiday season? In other words, do riders remember that just as you tip the door opener and the ga...

jeff taylor, Feb 17th, 2008 6:09pm
 
 
 





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