Jackass taxi driver
Why is it that when people dare to speak up for their rights they are made to feel they've committed a wrong ?
I asked myself this question after having an encounter with a taxi driver this evening.
I left work and was too late to catch either the last sailing of the water taxi or the PTSC Coach from Port of Spain to San Fernando so I had no choice but to resort to the conventional taxis.
Arrived on the taxi stand and met a ton-load of people and no taxis available. I was joined by a friend and she and I stood there talking for a while until, eventually, a seven-seater taxi pulls up on the stand. Said driver gets out, and as some of them do, said he was not making the return trip right away. He proceeds to gallery himself for a while walking up and down until he indicated that he was ready.
Now I should have figured that I would have had some problems with this particular driver because my friend told me she knows him to be one "who does buss style". But always one to give people the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, I decided to sit in the vehicle.
Mr man pulls off and from the time he hit the highway, driving along the Beetham, I realised I was not going to be a happy camper. Always foremost in my mind is the high incidence of accidents which have claimed the lives of people on our nation's roads.
Mr driver, ignoring the legal requirement to wear his seat belt, started weaving in and out of vehicles and was generally driving in a manner which made me feel uncomfortable. Mind you, the music in the car is at an intolerable level. I decided to monitor his driving for a while and found myself biting my tongue until I could take it no more.
On this occasion, he waited until he was up on the bumper of a car ahead of him before he chose to apply brakes. It was a close call.
I shouted over the music asking him to take his time and to exercise more caution on the road. He didn't respond......until he arrived at the St Joseph Village traffic lights in San Fernando. He turned to me and attempted to relate to me his driving curriculum vitae in that he has been driving on the highway everyday for the past 15 years and he knows what he is doing. I in turn told him that he should not drive in a manner which causes his passengers to worry about their safety. He said nobody else complained about his driving and that if I have a problem with the way he drives don't travel in his taxi again. The nerve of this man.
I told him I didn't care about the other people and their failure to speak up for themselves. I asked him if he would have told me "sorry" if something had happened as a result of his actions on the highway. He became even more belligerent prompting me to tell him that he had to do something about his "jackass attitude".
Well, as storyteller Paul Keens Douglas says, who tell me to say that ? Would you believe the man stopped his car, came out the vehicle, opens the passenger door on my side and tells me to get out ? He told me he didn't want my money and that I should get out. I refused to do so as he had a contract with me as a passenger, when he took me up in Port of Spain, to take me to San Fernando SAFELY.
I told him if he only laid a finger on me I would bring a charge of assault against him. All this time the other passengers remained silent..........EXCEPT FOR ONE!!! A dread-locked woman with a deportee American accent in the backseat WHO SPOKE IN SUPPORT OF THE DRIVER telling me I should leave because she wants to get home. Really ? I turned to her and asked her what she would have done if the driver had crashed killing us all. She continued speaking some gibberish which I obviously could not understand.
Having stood my ground, Mr driver re-entered the vehicle and continued into San Fernando where he dropped us off. By that time I was clearly livid by the audacity of this man and, more so, at the reticence of the other passengers.
What is it about us as Trinidadians that makes us afraid to speak up against the things which really matter ? We are quick to make noise over foolishness. Let the Government only bounce its head and say this State of Emergency and curfew is being extended to Carnival you will hear how vocal we will become.
It is things like these which sometimes make me ashamed of my fellow citizens.
I am so disgusted.
I didn't even bother to take a note of his license plate number. I asked myself to what avail ? Even of I publicise his number we as Trinidadians are not going to take positive action and refuse to travel with him. He will always get his passengers - people who, in a lot of instances, just want to get home. I hope those who continue to travel with him do arrive at their destinations safely. I, for one, have never slept on the streets of Port of Spain for lack of transport so if he feels he is doing me something by not accepting me as a passenger he has another thought coming. I have no interest in traveling with him.
He could kiss my ass!
I asked myself this question after having an encounter with a taxi driver this evening.
I left work and was too late to catch either the last sailing of the water taxi or the PTSC Coach from Port of Spain to San Fernando so I had no choice but to resort to the conventional taxis.
Arrived on the taxi stand and met a ton-load of people and no taxis available. I was joined by a friend and she and I stood there talking for a while until, eventually, a seven-seater taxi pulls up on the stand. Said driver gets out, and as some of them do, said he was not making the return trip right away. He proceeds to gallery himself for a while walking up and down until he indicated that he was ready.
Now I should have figured that I would have had some problems with this particular driver because my friend told me she knows him to be one "who does buss style". But always one to give people the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, I decided to sit in the vehicle.
Mr man pulls off and from the time he hit the highway, driving along the Beetham, I realised I was not going to be a happy camper. Always foremost in my mind is the high incidence of accidents which have claimed the lives of people on our nation's roads.
Mr driver, ignoring the legal requirement to wear his seat belt, started weaving in and out of vehicles and was generally driving in a manner which made me feel uncomfortable. Mind you, the music in the car is at an intolerable level. I decided to monitor his driving for a while and found myself biting my tongue until I could take it no more.
On this occasion, he waited until he was up on the bumper of a car ahead of him before he chose to apply brakes. It was a close call.
I shouted over the music asking him to take his time and to exercise more caution on the road. He didn't respond......until he arrived at the St Joseph Village traffic lights in San Fernando. He turned to me and attempted to relate to me his driving curriculum vitae in that he has been driving on the highway everyday for the past 15 years and he knows what he is doing. I in turn told him that he should not drive in a manner which causes his passengers to worry about their safety. He said nobody else complained about his driving and that if I have a problem with the way he drives don't travel in his taxi again. The nerve of this man.
I told him I didn't care about the other people and their failure to speak up for themselves. I asked him if he would have told me "sorry" if something had happened as a result of his actions on the highway. He became even more belligerent prompting me to tell him that he had to do something about his "jackass attitude".
Well, as storyteller Paul Keens Douglas says, who tell me to say that ? Would you believe the man stopped his car, came out the vehicle, opens the passenger door on my side and tells me to get out ? He told me he didn't want my money and that I should get out. I refused to do so as he had a contract with me as a passenger, when he took me up in Port of Spain, to take me to San Fernando SAFELY.
I told him if he only laid a finger on me I would bring a charge of assault against him. All this time the other passengers remained silent..........EXCEPT FOR ONE!!! A dread-locked woman with a deportee American accent in the backseat WHO SPOKE IN SUPPORT OF THE DRIVER telling me I should leave because she wants to get home. Really ? I turned to her and asked her what she would have done if the driver had crashed killing us all. She continued speaking some gibberish which I obviously could not understand.
Having stood my ground, Mr driver re-entered the vehicle and continued into San Fernando where he dropped us off. By that time I was clearly livid by the audacity of this man and, more so, at the reticence of the other passengers.
What is it about us as Trinidadians that makes us afraid to speak up against the things which really matter ? We are quick to make noise over foolishness. Let the Government only bounce its head and say this State of Emergency and curfew is being extended to Carnival you will hear how vocal we will become.
It is things like these which sometimes make me ashamed of my fellow citizens.
I am so disgusted.
I didn't even bother to take a note of his license plate number. I asked myself to what avail ? Even of I publicise his number we as Trinidadians are not going to take positive action and refuse to travel with him. He will always get his passengers - people who, in a lot of instances, just want to get home. I hope those who continue to travel with him do arrive at their destinations safely. I, for one, have never slept on the streets of Port of Spain for lack of transport so if he feels he is doing me something by not accepting me as a passenger he has another thought coming. I have no interest in traveling with him.
He could kiss my ass!
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