Tough Gig

At 1.30 am today whilst dropping passengers in George Street opposite 3 Wise Monkeys, I was hailed by two dodgy looking characters. Usually this early on a Tuesday there are plenty of cabs, so I was relieved when the cab behind swooped around to collect them.

If there’s one place in the City I won’t pick-up late at night it’s the cinema district of George Street. With a myriad of bars, hotels, clubs, sex shops and amusement parlours the joint’s a magnet for low-budget arseholes.

However the swooping cab barely stopped, before changing his mind and roaring off. Understandable as they were big men in their early twenties, tattooed and staggering. Having no choice I stopped alongside to drop-off, only to have my passengers leave the doors open for them.

One climbed in the front and the other in the back. ‘Where to ?’, I asked nervously, half expecting somewhere way out west. ‘Navy base’, came the response in an American accent. Immediately I relaxed and headed for Woolloomooloo.

‘You fellas off a US boat ?’, I asked. ‘Yeah, from Hawaii’. They are visiting Sydney for five nights before heading to the Gulf on a six month deployment.

The front seat passenger addressed his mate, ‘So what happened man ?’. ‘What..’. ‘We never got laid’. ‘It’s Monday night, what do you expect’. ‘So, there were plenty of girls’. They’d been drinking earlier at Jacksons on George, before hitting 3 Wise Monkeys.

‘Anyway’, continued the rear passenger, ‘it’s hard with a two o’clock curfew’. ‘Doesn’t matter man’, his mate replied, ‘we had eight hours. You just didn’t fire’. ‘Bullshit’, it’s...you know man, it’s the American thing..’. ‘Yeah, I guess, but we had fun anyway’.

As we pulled up at the Naval Base I suggested they check a nightclub at Central Station, under the back-packer’s hostel. ‘It’s full of travellers’, I told them, ‘they just want some fun while they’re here’. ‘Yeah man, that’s all we want too’, replied the front seat passenger. This lifted his spirits enough to double the fare, by way of a tip.

On departing I wondered if the comment, ‘it’s the American thing’ was due to the War in Iraq or simply a cultural clash.

Maybe their navvy ranking counted against them at up-market Jacksons on George. Yet they should have fitted right-in with the 3 Wise Monkey's younger demographic. Also I doubted whether bad behaviour was a factor as I've only ever encountered exemplary US naval personnel in the cab, as were these two.

In the end I decided the comment was more likely due to them being American serviceman amongst young people, many of whom are circumspect over the War in Iraq. Quite possibly the Gulf naval patrols are equated with that war. If so, their R n’ R visit to Sydney is a tough gig in an Allied country. Though I hope I'm wrong about this.

Comments

[joel]

You're not wrong, unfortunately mate. It has become disgustingly fashionalbe to be anti-American (wonder why its not called racism) now. I fall in the young demographic (19) and ive met plenty of upstanding Yanks during travels through the middle east. They're just soldiers convinced they are doing the right thing - or have no other choice in life. They aren't the devils people make them out to be.

[Mark]

Joel,

I understand what you mean. I am only a few years older than you and notice it all the time. What makes it particularly frustrating though is that I have had only positive experinces with American tourists and serviceman in this country.

Addrian, I hope those Americans were just joking around and didn't have any negative experiences. After being stuck on a ship for weeks (if not months), I'd like to think that the locals make an effort to turn it on for them by going out of their way to be friendly. How some of Sydney's looser women choose to interprate this is up to them I suppose!!

[Kim]

Ugh - hate that bit of George St too. It's usually filled with total morons.

[Belongum]

Served with many US Warships and Servicemen in a life of uniform myself... know well the feeling of being away from your home, and of doing a job that isn't always popular with those who live a different life to yours in the military.

Lucky though, I served in the Aust Military... and for the main part - we're mostly welcome wherever we 'lay our hat', as we're not largely considered a threat to the same degree that US Forces were/are.

How this translates now on the streets is something I have no real feeling for, it's been nearly ten years since I wore the uniform, so it's not really an up to date view... but I remember well a 1991 or 92 Sydney parade in which we marched alongside American Servicemen to commemorate the Battle for The Coral Sea.

It got nasty, and violent... I was on the recieving end of a protester who came at me like a mad thing, accusing me of being a baby killer and completely convinced I was just another blood thirsty American. The encounter hurt like buggery, for both of us unfortunately. First time in my (new to the big bad city) life I'd ever witnessed any behaviour like that! But if that's how some people percieved US sailors then - I don't see how any of this would have really changed now.

Sad that they pay this price for their country's political stance, but that's the lot of any one who puts on the uniform of their country. Most service people have had to learn this lesson in life the hard way, and it doesn't help the fact that GOOD news stories aren't what sells newspapers.

I imagine this is reflected on the streets in a myriad of ways... as unfortunate as this might seem. We're simply not as free and easy going as we might have once been I think... and that's a real shame.

[Wil Kyle]

I find your blog very interesting. I have added it to my "links."

I am a cabbie on the island of Mau'i, Hawai'i, USA. and write a blog called Paradise Driver. Stop by if you get the chance.

Oh, and thanks to everyone for the positive comments above. Most of our military are just young men & women doing their job. They aren't the policy makers, just the poor grunts who have to follow the orders of our dictorial president, "Dubya".

Again, thanks for any kindness you can show them.

[adrian]

No worries Wil, welcome to cablogging. Got you and Belongum down for the next Blogroll update. Cheers.

[anonymouse]

maybe it wasn't anti-American sentiment, just the fact that they're seamen. jokes about the kinds of diseases guys from the Navy pick up from all over the world might one of the reasons that scores of girls didn't just leap onto their laps. and that bit of George St is populated by a lot of Asians, many of whom are well-to-do international uni students. they do veer towards the conservative side; one-night stands on a Monday night or in fact any night is just not the norm. from a small sample group(ok, my friends, most of whom are Asian), they pretty much couldn't give half a rat's arse about politics. the war on Iraq is a faint bleep on their radar.

- from a young Asian woman who used to pass through that part of George St a lot during her uni days

and as a sidenote: hi, Adrian! been regularly reading this addictive blog for several months and only de-lurking to make a comment now. love your work!

[enuf]

i have wondered at the racism re americans , even worse nowadays, perhaps the answer goes back to ww2 when americans were:
over here
oversexed and
overpaid as the oldies say.

Grandma must have been a naughty girl and the americans are still paying fore it....lol