 Just Say No -Alex Farr I got a call one day to pick someone up at one of the Sleazy motels on W. MacArthur. I didn't have anything better to do at the time though, so I took the order. It didn't hurt that I was only about a block and a half away at the time. As long as I was that close, I figured, there was no way they were gonna get away and disappear on me before I could get there. Sure enough, when I got there and honked, out came a girl... waving and assuring me "Ok, just a sec." I'd gotten there in not much more than a minute, so I just waved back, saying "Yeah, sure.. I can wait a minute." By the time I'd turned the car around in the driveway, she was down with a baby in a strap, and a bag of stuff in her free hand. I popped the trunk, and I helped her load her bag, but as I was making to close the trunk she told me "No, wait a minute, I've got one more." "Ok, no problem." I assured her, and patiently stood around waiting as she and her baby went back up to her second floor room for her other bag. They were back in another minute, and I helped with the bag, closed the trunk, hopped back into the car, started her up, clicked the meter, and asked "So, where to?" "Ohh wait, there's someone else coming too." she answered. I just nodded. Someone else? I was thinking... wondering where the fuck this someone else had been while she was making trips up and down the stairs of the motel with a baby strapped about her midsection. "Ok..." I answered after a second to think it over, and I killed the engine. I didn't touch the meter. After another long minute of silent waiting, there was still no sign of anyone else. "Is the meter running?" she suddenly asked. "Uhh, yeah." I answered. "You got five minutes, officially, to get your stuff into the car once I'm here. After that, the time's all on you." She didn't seem pleased with the answer. Suddenly she moved like she... well like maybe she wasn't so stoned after all. "Hey!" she screamed up at the door, "He's got the meter on!" That got a reaction. Within 2 seconds, some dude who looked like he fancied himself a gangsta, or maybe just a playuh, popped out the door. "What?, you running the meter?" Hopping out the car to answer up to him on the balcony, I called back "Yeah, I been waitin' on y'all for well over 5 minutes. After 5, the meter goes on." "Yo' dawg, we ain't paying no meter befo' we rollin'." he explained to me, with a smirk. "Well then, I guess you're walking..." I answered. He just shrugged. "That's fine, there's a BART cabstand a block away..." he answered. He was right of course, and there wasn't much I could do about that, but I was goddamned if I was gonna wait on his stupid stoned langorous ass. I had their shit back out of the trunk in 7 seconds, and I was out of there. I went to that cabstand he'd mentioned. I still didn't have anything better to do. Within 5 minutes, I'd gotten a fare. Nothing special, just a little $4 and change fare, they gave me $5, and we wished each other splendid lives forever after, or something like that... and then I was flying through the streets heading back to the cabstand. As I was rolling back, I noticed, from the end of the block, that not only was there no line, but there was a couple waiting at the stand for a cab. Goddamn was I glad I'd left that smug playuh wannabe... but, of course, the closer I got... the more they looked like... and sure enough- it was those same 2 fucking assholes that'd tried to play me for a chump. I just smiled, and used the auto-doorlocks for maybe the first time ever in my career. I pulled up, and just smirked, watching as they went into a mumbled conference about whether or not it was the same driver. (It couldn't've been that hard of a call. There're only 2 other white cabbies under 50 in the city, and neither of them sports a goatee or earrings.) Finally, dude decides to try to play it off, and he and his lady, and their baby walk up, and try the door. Then he tried it again. I just watched him for a minute, just for the fun of it, before I rolled down the front passenger window a bit. He came over, as I knew he would, leaned in and told me that the door was locked. "Yeah, I know. And it's gonna stay locked until you give me that $5 worth of waiting time you owe me from earlier... and another $10 deposit for whatever other charges the trip might add up to." I answered him, feeling... well, feeling like maybe there was a God after all. He just smiled, just plain too tickled about how he'd screwed me over to hide it, answering "Yo', man... I dont' owe you no $5." So I smiled back, "Well, then I guess you'll be walking, won't you?..." He thought about answering me... something. It showed in his face, the effort of trying to think what to say. I just giggled for a moment, until another guy came out of the BART station a few moments later. "Uhh, did you want the cab?" dude asked the couple, shifting his dry cleaning from one arm to the other politely so he could gesture my way. As my playuh friend tried to find the words to answer, I popped out my door and called over to the new guy "No, he doesn't get into my cab. You, on the other hand, are welcome. Please, climb in." The new guy looked a little confused. After all, he was black too. Being on the good end of a scene like this obviously put a strain on all his preconceptions of the world, but after a moment of thought... especially since there were still no other cabs in sight, he shrugged and came to the door... which I promptly unlocked for him. And, as I began relating the story to him, off we drove. He was going back in the other direction, so I had to make a U-turn at a break in the island and double back. As I passed, I looked over, and waved at Mr. Smart Guy. There were still no other cabs in sight. Sometimes treating a cabbie like shit doesn't work out as well as one might like...
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