Wrong

A young woman hailed late one night in the City. She had been out with friends - only the young and restless go out midweek in winter - and was dying to get home. They were all American, students on their gap year in Sydney, and loved to party.

My passenger was in despair at their tendency to group together rather than branch out into the community. Yet conversely they struggle to break into the Sydney girls club. It's a tough club for outsiders to crack, as they are considered competition in a town with a dearth of eligible men.

She lived with an Aussie family on the North Shore in a beautiful location with water views. The home-stay was a totally immersive experience, right down to the 'damn bus service into town'. Hence the cab home, which she couldn't afford, save for 'Grandma's credit card'.

I thoroughly enjoyed her incessant East Coast rap, starting with her large body type being an issue in a body-conscious town. “Yep, Sydney is all sun, surf and sex.” I said. “If you don't feel good in a swimsuit, you might like Melbourne. It's not obsessed with that sort of stuff.”

There was also the issue of being excluded from the inner circle when on the hunt for men. Late at night when the girlfriends moved in on likely candidates, she was reduced to 'babysitting these silly bitches'. Thence making her lonely way home to the suburbs whilst girlfriends were all shacked-up downtown. Bitches.

In the cab, the big, heavy girls are generally friendlier than the micro-mini and heels girlfriends like hers, with congenial, well-adjusted personalities. When concerns over fashion, size and sex are eliminated that youthful enthusiasm can be used to shine in other areas, like the art of conversation. She was funny, engaging and a delight to carry.

Until, that is, at the end of the street when I found her phone on the back seat and had to return...

Hoping I'd picked the right house - it was the only one with lights on - I climbed to the front door and rang the ship bell. And waited. And rang again, and waited, all the while with the sound of thumping footsteps inside. Could she not hear? Everyone else must be asleep upstairs. What to do?

After a few minutes I spotted a light coming from around the verandah and headed there expecting to find a lounge room. It was a bedroom with open curtains revealing cloths strewn across the bed. No one was there. What to do? Alarm bells rang, I shouldn't be there.

Then the front dooor opened and an older woman's voice called out, “Who is it?'' Jees, the friggin' cab was parked in the driveway with overhead flashing hazard lights - it sure wasn't Santa. If only she had opened up earlier and saved me the embarrassment of wandering around bedroom windows at night.  

Once I handed over the phone and accepted her grateful thanks I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Sometimes good intentions can be plain wrong. A cabbie once told me he throws all lost phones straight into the harbour. They're just too much trouble. Agreed.

Comments

[Rainer the cabbie]

Nice story Adrian. I especially liked the insight into the Girl scene that does indeed plays itself out the way you described it.
Mind you, truly intelligent and honorable girls don't go for that crap, realising if you play the tart game all you will receive is a dickhead at the end.

"A cabbie once told me he throws all lost phones straight into the harbour. They're just too much trouble. Agreed."

I disagree. Trouble they are, the last one I found spend five days at my place after contacting the owner who turned out to be unreliable when it came to picking it up. But to his credit he gave me a nice bottle of wine.
Its a hassle to go to lost property every time, so I try to make contact with the owner and make a few dollars out of it most of the time, via the meter, delivering it back. And it works both ways, most customers are grateful for the extra service.

This saves you creeping around Ladies bedroom windows in the middle of the night :)

[Jeremy]

I don't understand - why were your good intentions wrong? Because they kept you waiting a while after ringing the bell? Maybe the girl had dashed into the shower...

Also, as far as doorbells are concerned, mine is rung several times daily by teenagers walking by, especially in the mid afternoon (I often work from home). I don't generally answer it unless I'm expecting someone. My terrace house has a gate with a bell that is easily reachable from the footpath so it's inviting to such mischief - not sure if that applies in your circumstance.

[adrian]

Yeah, Rainer, but it would have cost her maybe $50 and I was knocking off, too much drama. Easier to just return it and be done with it.

Jeremy, it was a case of the wrong place and the wrong time. Last time I do that.

[ivars]

Women eh, can't live wiv em - can't shoot em! www.centraltaxisletchworth.co.uk

[marcellous]

With the benefit of hindsight, probly better you didn't stray past the front door, Adrian. If they didn't answer, then just return to lost property, as you are obliged to do.

( http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/ptr2007339/s42.html )

I can't work out what you mean by "cost her maybe $50"? Do you mean that the phone cost $50 (in which case, missing the point surely because the value of the phone is the information in it), or that reclaiming it from lost property would? Or something else?

[adrian]

Marcellous, 'maybe $50' refers to the return fee (running the meter) which is approved by the passenger. Within 30 minutes she would have called pleading for it's return. In which case I may have been on the other side of the City by then, a $50 fare back.

[Brian]

Maybe you should have scrolled through the phone's contacts and looked for an entry titled 'home' and tried to ring her on that number

[marcellous]

Adrian, my guess is that within 30 minutes (probably less) she would have been asleep and the loss would not have been discovered until the morning!

[adrian]

Brian, good suggestion and one I've employed in the past. In this case it was quicker-or should have been-to ring their bell than possibly ring her Mum in the US.

[Peter- Newbie]

I've returned a few phones and each time, was generously tipped with cash or cases of beer..

It's worth doing and shows us cabbies to the paying public that we are a responsible drivers...

if too much hassle, then take it back to lost property...

[Gabriella]

GEEZ !!! When are you blokes going to GET A LIFE ? You guys seem to have a lot of time with absolutely nothing to do !

[DONTSITONMYFENCE]

GABRIELLA PLZZZZZZZZ FONE NATHAN HEZ CHICKEN IS READY :))

[manly cabbie]

unless they contact the cab company or ring the phone and i answer it to arrange a return,i just leave them in the cab for the next driver to worry or not about.