Strategy

Last December I reported on being baited by a drunken passenger. That case was motivated by simple racial bitterness, crude and vicious without any attempt at subtlety. Such is the stupefying effect of too much alcohol.

There is another level of harassment employed by certain passengers for the sole purpose of reducing or avoiding the fare. This particular technique is cunningly calculated to spark an adverse reaction from the driver, thereby giving the passenger an excuse, to them at least, for challenging the fare.

In order to combat this a cabbie must identify and checkmate this pernicious baiting as soon as possible, by terminating the fare. Here’s a recent example...

Late at night four tough guys climb into the cab and order an outer suburb. They are drunk and tired after a big night in the City, but not overly rowdy. However one passenger decides to defy my directive not to smoke. This is Mr Nasty.

Whatever, I figure, it’s my last fare and I need the money to make a decent wage so I ignore his blatant transgression. However this a sign of weakness on my part which is duly exploited by Mr Nasty.

Early in the trip one bloke suddenly decides he wants to visit his girlfriend and has me stop the cab. But when asked for $20 he flatly refuses stating, “You’re going this way anyway...I’ll pay you later.” Mr Nasty, in particular, is quite upset by his failure to contribute to the fare.

This changes the carefree dynamic of the cab with the remaining three passengers muttering about their increased share of the $80 fare. Thereby an innocuous conversation starts, with inquires on whether I’d be interested in accepting a ‘hairy cheque’ for the fare from some girl at their destination.

I laugh and play along with the banter, at the same time stating, “We work for money, not love.” Whilst two of them accept this clear repudiation of the offer, Mr Nasty poisons the playful tone of the banter by making filthy and offensive comments. He suggests I probably have a handicap and persists in casting serious aspersions on my manhood.

As everyone knows there’s always one who has to spoil it for everyone else. In this case it indicates to me that this dominant and shitty drunk is seeking to push my buttons to the point where the fare is jeopardised by the time we reach their suburb. Once there, anything can happen, most likely at my expense. So I quickly decide to end the trip.

With the fare showing $20 I stop at a busy taxi garage on the highway and clear the meter. I tell them, “Listen fellas, I need to get the cab washed. There are heaps of vacant cabs here and I’m saving you $20.” I’ve made it dead easy for them.

Naturally there is some grumbling at this surprise development but Mr Nasty takes it personally. He stubbornly refuses to alight, first threatening me then ringing the police. “Fine,” I tell him, “I expect to be here for a half an hour so we’ll wait for the cops.” I then leave the cab to help his mates co-opt another driver to take them home. This takes two minutes.

Faced with no alternative but to comply, Mr Nasty gets his revenge. Unbeknown to me he tips my half-full cup of coffee into the driver’s seat, which I later sit in. This means the end of the shift by forcing me home with wet trousers and a heavily reduced wage.

Ultimately, though, it didn’t matter for I had judged that his aggressive baiting indicated a real chance of trouble at the destination, meaning the fare wasn’t guaranteed anyway.

Therefore the golden rule for cab drivers, especially late at night with drunken passengers is never persevere with a doubtful fare based purely on hope. If that doubt can’t be eliminated by a method of careful testing, then the driver must cut his losses by terminating the fare at the earliest and safest opportunity.

This strategy applies to all passenger threats and is confirmed by a New York veteran cabbie who has never been robbed or attacked. In over thirty years of driving cabs G.S. has successfully relied on the survival mantra: 'the one you think it is, it is'.

Surviving taxi driving is based not on luck, but protective strategy.

Comments

[Paul Pluta]

Hello Adrian,
What an awful story.....
There are some real scumbags around....

At the end of the day you are alive and you live to tell another tale..... BUT this is really hard....

Adrian - have you ever thought of Limo driving as an alternative? ..... better class of punter.... and they are bookings.....

Man - I feel for you.....

The reason I quit driving was that very type of punter....

[Mick]

Wow. This post sounds similar to the 'Death Star' dialogue in 'Clerks' by Kevin Smith. Seen here...

Judging whether a job is worth doing or if the risk is too great.

But what a wank. You must see the best and worst of people mate.

[Goldstein]

Yes, been there.. 2.30am, I had five guys get in the car at a city pub, a 6 seat Falcon taxi -bench front seat.. so I had 2 of the pricks pressed up against me..

As we move off, they crack open cans of beer -I say "no drinking in the car guys" -One in the back barked " Shut your fucken mouth dickhead and drive" "You'd be a dirty fucken Leb wouldn't ya? Speeky da English, Achmed?"..

I thought about hitting the alarm, but 5 labourers can do you a lot of damage while waiting for help...

So I just drove, getting further and further out into the sticks, one by one they got out, no one paid, and by now we were bloody miles out of the city..

Finally I dropped off all except one, who barked orders like his bigger, older mates.. except he was alone with me.. I drove toward his destination, but stopped on the highway about a kilometre short of his stop.

I got out of the car and opened his door, I'm 6'5"/130kg, he was about 5'10", and skinny.. I'll spare you the exact language/gestures used, but I, ah, convinced this very jittery prick that he owed me the $70 fare.

I seized his wallet, and as luck would have it, he had a valid credit card, which I used, and I left the asswipe shaken but undamaged to walk the remaining distance home..

Never again, I'll drive past the bastards.

[Dianne]

Adrian,

Good to see you back in blog town. I thought we had lost you at the end of last year. I have been reading GB also and enjoying it.

I hope you have a great 2008, Dianne

[Muzbot]

Doesn't sound like a great night at all. One thing puzzles me about this, if the guys are obviously out to cause trouble, how do you get another driver to accept them into his cab, especially if you suspect the fare isn't going to be forthcoming?

Really enjoy your blog and reading your stories.

[Mark]

Heh -- the one nugget of wisdom I ever got out of reading the finance pages was this (which this meshes with perfectly);

"Hope is not a strategy."

[adrian]

Paul, I prefer the endless variety of passengers and experiences not found in limos.
Mick, neat link, thanks.
Goldstein, really glad this common encounter worked out for you in the end.
Thanks, Dianne, nice to have you back, too.
Muzbot, with so many available cabs it wasn't hard to find a driver willing to take a $60 job. Though it would be a surprise if Mr Nasty pulled the same stunt again as I don't think his mates were too impressed. And if the driver is experienced and alert he would deal with the situation accordingly.
Mark, precisely.

[Skyring]

There's always a cabbie around at a servo who will take a fare. And who knows, maybe they will have a better cultural fit.

However, chances are that it won't be a cabbie who's been driving for thirty years.

The advice from the NY cabbie is spot on. I've never been held up, but I've had a couple of runners, and the thing that set them apart is that they didn't have a conversation with me beyond the minimum. If I get into a chat with a passenger, I know that they will be OK.

There was one time when I had a couple of drunk and abusive chaps late at night. They wanted to drop one guy off and then go on to another place. I picked my route (without any input from them) and then got abused for not going their preferred way.

I took them to the first place and asked them both to get out. They did, and off I went. No fare from that job, but it made me feel good instead of angry and upset.

The guys who have the real hassle, I guess, are those who don't have a good cultural fit with their passengers. The passengers make a bit of a joke, and the cabbie thinks he's copping abuse and gets prickly. And then it escalates.

Me, if someone makes a joke, I laugh, and they think I'm a fine fellow.

[Goldstein]

I don't think you can generalise re: conversation or silence.

99.9% of quiet fares are without incident, and some bad types yak incessently because they're high, or nervous.

I had a couple of babblers in the back seat, English backpackers I think, yabbering away about some bullshit or another, I wasn't really listening -all of a sudden the one sitting behind me reaches forward and puts his hands over my eyes !! This is at 80km/h by the way..

In a reflex move I reached up and grabbed his right thumb and started pulling it in toward his wrist -a move taught to me by a copper.. of course, at the time I didn't think "Ah ha ! , I'll just use that subdue the offender thumb hold" -I just panicked in a constructive way I guess..

The imbecile yells "eeeeoowww ! You've fookin hurt me !!" I said "what are you farken doing? I'm trying to drive?"

Anyway, he whinges until we reach their drop off, a couple of minutes.. I get the fare -no tip of course -and split..

You can never underestimate the intelligence or sense of some passengers.

[Nathaniel]

I've recently grown a moustache of Merv Hughes proportions and I've found it's a great ice breaker in the cab. Guys that I may have had a problem with in the past are instead high fiving me and telling everyone they are with that I'm a cool guy.

I didn't grow it for that reason but if it works then why not right?

Also I have to agree be decisive and be firm other wise you end up a long way from town with a car load of trouble.