The Cabbypants…

Ugh. So this morning I took my car in to get it serviced. Since Wifey™ and I are driving to Las Vegas next week, we figured it’d be a good idea to get the brakes and fluids checked for the wonderful eight hour ride.

I have to be at work at 8:30AM, so I leave the house at 7:45AM for the ten minute ride to the auto shop. Not a big deal. On my way there, I call up the cab company—Yellow Cab, to be exact—to have a cab show up when I arrive. The conversation went as follows:

ME: I need a cab at [auto shop address] in Burlingame.
DISPATCHER: Is that a house or apartment?
ME: It’s a business, it’s called…
DISPATCHER: I know where that is.
ME: Great, I’ll be….

The guy hung up on me. So I get to the auto shop and it’s not open. No biggie because I can drop the key in his “early bird” box. At this point it’s around 8AM. So, I’m standing around waiting for this cab for about fifteen minutes, when the auto shop guy arrives. At this point, I start dealing with him, tell him what’s up with the car, give him the keys and tell him that I called a cab twenty minutes ago and they hadn’t shown up. He basically tells me that they’re pieces of crap and he can call a cab for me.

I wait outside for a few minutes and call up Yellow cab again, ask them where my cab is and have the following conversation:

ME: Hi, I called for a cab about half an hour ago and was wondering when it was going to show up?
DISPATCHER: We sent the cab, it showed up and the business was closed so we left.
ME: Um, well I’m standing here waiting for your cab. Can you send another one?
DISPATCHER: Why should I send another one, so he can arrive and have you not be there?
ME: I’m standing right here, CAN YOU OR CAN’T YOU SEND ANOTHER CAB?
DISPATCHER: Why should I send you another cab, when we already sent you one? Where are you going?
ME: I’m going to [name of my company].
DISPATCHER: He’ll be right there.

Erm. At this point, I was ready to tell the guy to go off and fuck himself. The only reason he sent the cab over was because of where I work, which happens to be the largest employer in the area and a big client of the cab and limo companies.

So, I go in to the auto shop and the owner is asking if I called them up. I’m still steaming and tell him that they’re assholes. At this point, he picks up the phone, calls his cab company and they tell him it’ll arrive in five minutes. So I wait. In the meantime, the Yellow cab arrives and he walks over to them and tells them that I left because another cab got there faster. So I wait. The new cab from VIP Cabs arrives and I’m off to work… finally… about an hour late.

Inside this new cab, the driver is pleasant. He’s not very talkative, but to be honest, I’m not big on the small talk, so a quiet ride is fine with me. He asks where I’m heading and I tell him the name of my company. He calls it in and the dispatcher tells him where it is and reminds him to be sure to give me a business card and to tell me that they’ll be there very quickly. I guess it pays to work for a big company.

Anyhow, the ten minute ride came to about $17.00 which seems like a ripoff, but I gave the guy $20 just for showing up and not driving a YELLOW cab. I made sure I got his business card, because next time I need one, I’m calling VIP cabs and not Yellow cabs.

One thing about cab rides in general is that you feel like you could die at any moment. This guy cut in and out of lanes like we were at the Grand Prix. I’m sure I left some nail marks on the passenger seat, where I was gripping the handle like it was molded to my hand. The only thing that scares the hell out me is a cab ride.

I called my mom to give me a ride back to the shop after work… I’m not dealing with another cab today.