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In this day and age, with gasoline prices ever on the rise, many
people are choosing to take public transportation rather than drive
their own vehicles whenever possible. People are considering all the
factors: the gas, the pollution, finding a decent parking spot, and
paying exorbitant parking lot prices, or feeding the annoying parking
meters. Downtown Montreal streets are becoming less congested and
less polluted.
When Matt and I go to the synagogue for dinner and a presentation, he
has to jump up in the middle of it to feed the meter. Matt is
handicapped, he does most of his traveling by bus. Even taking the
metro (subway) is too much for him. He cannot do all the walking
involved in those big stations. For a while now, fewer people have
been choosing taxis as their mode of transportation. Matt would love
to be able to take a taxi, as it sure beats waiting an hour in a
snowstorm for a bus to arrive. The trouble is he cannot afford it;
just to go the synagogue from his work place or house and back would
cost him $45.00. That is an expensive evening just for
transportation, let alone if the synagogue was hosting a paying event
as well.
Many people I used to know who once took taxis rarely take them now,
they too cannot afford the rises costs. At one time you would have to
call a taxi to be sure to get one in Montreal, especially downtown.
Now you rarely have trouble hailing one down on the street. The taxi
drivers slow down at the bus stops hoping someone would change their
mind and use their service instead.
I have known a few friends or acquaintances throughout the years who
were taxi drivers. They all told the same tail; “it is a hard job and
you barely keep your family feed. If you work from the stand there
are times that you can go for over an hour without a single call, and
when you get one it could be a short drive for a few blocks and then
your back waiting again. Money is tight but your family still needs a
roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. You still have to
pay the bills.”
Last night I was having a conversation with my friend who is a retired
taxi driver, he was talking about how people are very stingy with
tips. He told me about a time when he had a fare and the man forgot
his umbrella in the cab.
Apparently, the
man called the dispatcher who then called my friend on the radio to
check if the umbrella was still in the car. Sure enough it was. The
dispatcher told him to go and deliver it to the passenger who was
waiting for it.
My friend did,
but he was upset since the man didn't give him a tip.
Here is why:
The man forgot
the umbrella.
My friend had to
go deliver it.
My friend also
risked losing a fare somewhere else to go deliver the umbrella and
this was my friend's job, his livelihood, and his way of putting food
on the table for his family.
Finally, he
potentially loses a fare and he wastes his own gas to deliver a cheap
umbrella to an ungrateful passenger.
Now on another
occasion:
Years ago I met a friend who came in from another city to have dinner
with me. We took a taxi to the restaurant, but when it was time to
pay, my friend realized he had lost his wallet and I didn't have any
money on me.
My friend
figured he must have left it in the taxi so he called the taxi. Since
my friend had no way of picking it up at the taxi stand, the driver
brought it back to him at the restaurant.
My friend paid
the restaurant with his credit card but he tipped the taxi driver
$20.00 from the cash he had in his wallet.
I asked him why
did he give the driver so much and he answered, “this is not a tip for
finding my wallet, it is paying the fare the taxi driver lost for
having to go out of his way to bring this back to me, he may have lost
a fare of 5 dollars or a fare of 20 dollars I don't know but I want to
make sure he is compensated for it. “
***
I presented two different stories about people losing things in a taxi
and two different attitudes towards having a driver come back with the
goods.
Taxis are expensive we all know this, and people do lose things in
taxis, but the question remains how will you deal with the situation
should the taxi driver have to go out of his way to bring back your
belongings?
© 2008 Carol Roach |
