Imagine me getting into a cab at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago trying to go to St. Charles, IL to a resort for a regional meeting last Tuesday morning. Now, just to help your imagination, I was completely exhausted after not sleeping the whole night before due to 12 hours of tornadoes (WTF? It's January! We are supposed to have snow storms, not tornadoes!!!), so, naturally, I am not in the best of moods even though, I have to say, I am still looking fabulous. Here's how my conversation with the cab driver went:
ME: Hi. Do you take credit cards?
Cabby (in a very uncertain voice): Aha... Where to?
ME: Such and Such Resort in St. Charles, IL
Cabby: In what city?
ME: St. Charles...
Cabby: Huh?
ME: You know, the western suburb of Chicago...
Cabby: Aaahmmm address (pushing some buttons on his GPS)
ME: I do not have the exact address but I have very simple directions on how to get there. (I wasn't very prepared because I was supposed to have a ride from the airport but it fell though - long story)
Cabby: (Grabs the paper with directions from my hands and proceeds to put in my home address, which was on an itinerary, stapled to the directions, into his GPS
ME: No, that's not the right address...
Cabby: (10 mins later after several unsuccessful attempts) You gave me the wrong address!
ME: No... I tried to tell you... Keep going straight, I'll tell you exactly where to turn...
After 10 mins of silence, my Cabby comes up with a sacramental phrase...
Cabby: YOU KNOW...EVERY BUILDING IN AMERICA HAS AN ADDRESS!
ME: ??????????
The rest of the ride, he told me he didn't think we were going the right way every 5 mins. Upon arrival at the resort, he searched his car for about 10 mins for a credit card slip (you know, the kind the stores used before they came out with the electronic cc machines; except that he didn't have a machine for it). It took him about 20 mins to write down my cred. card info on the slip and call it in to some mysterious person who approved it...
Needless to say, I took a stretch limo back to the airport the next day for half the price and the driver actually knew where he was going...
At least it was educational...
3 comments:
Ahh cabbies, they are an infinite source of conversation gems :). If you take one in China, if you are lucky they might just about understand English, but there is only 3% chance. Makes the address directions fun.
Wow! I guess cab rides in all cities all over the world are similar! When I was teaching in Japan, it was quite the experience taking a cab! Usually, it was very late at night (err...early in the morning), my friends and I were all wasted, we couldn't speak Japanese and the cab drivers didn't speak English! That makes for an interesting ride! LOL!
You must have been so unimpressed! At least you got there! Oh, and the stretch limo back to the airport! Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!!
Limos are always the best way to roll :-)
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