3:30 am
I often wake up in the middle of the night. I rarely sleep well, and when I wake up I always want a drink of water.
Sometimes I think ahead enough to put a glass on the bedside table.
100% of the time I put a glass of water by the bed.....I drink it before I fall asleep...all of it, plus when I wake up with a dry throat I also have to pee right away.
Basically what I'm trying to say here is...I'm thirsty.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
(some witty title comparing and misusing the words 'fair' and 'fare')
So, I had a pretty awful experience in a taxi-cab today.
I've never been in a cab before... This was a first time experience.
Chelsea and I arrived at the Orlando airport and got our luggage with no problem. Went down to the first floor and found the pickup area fine, and with just a little looking found a man sitting at a desk that said Taxi Service. Bingo. There were taxi's all around waiting... No problem.
We approached. The man simply asked our destination, e advised him our hotel name. He confirmed there were just two of us, then handed us a small paper and advised us to go with the cabbie standing nearby. We followed hits a sedan and got in.
Now...taxi's should be simple. There's a meter that calculates everything so you nor the cabbie have to.
You should be able to get in. Arrive at your destination, pay. And have a nice day.
Apparently that's too hard.
The ride was fine. Tat cabbie said nothing, just drove very directly to our hotel.
When we arrived he stopped and stated "total is 36.75"
I asked, "you take card, right?"
He Sid nothing for a moment and then mumbled something incoherently.
Let me pause the story to be a little racist. Yes the man was black....this did not affect his driving. He drove great, I wasn't as scared as I though I'd be, he only barely ever rose 1 or 2 miles above the speed limit. It was fine. However,it suddenly became clear that English was not his native language. And if it was...it had been so tarnished by some crazy Orlando-cabbie-loafer-wearing-slang that MADE NO SENSE TO NORMAL PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO SPEAK!!!
I was perplexed by his answer and I was still unsure if he would take my card. I reframed my question... "oh, so you don't take card?"
"he responded with more jibber-jabber and concluded with words that sounded like "need little paper."
I thought he meant he needed that slip of paper I was handed earlier...I went to hand it to him. Finally he turned and looked at me. Ad he gave me the most evil look in the word. He looked at me as if I was incredibly stupid and had no idea what was going on (I didn't).
"No!" he almost screamed, "(jibberish jibberish jibberish, little slidey paper!!!" he made a motion like a old credit card reader, the kind with like 5 layers of carbon receipt paper.
I was again perplexed but this made me believe that he could in fact take my card. So I handed it to him.
Again he looked at me like I was trying to hand him a bomb.
Now, normally I think I would have handed him cash earlier...my main reasoning for trying so desperately to pay with my card is because this trip was a gift. I won it in a company drawing. The transportation to ad from the airport is part of the gift, but I have to pay for it, and they're going to reimburse me. So what I was really after was a goddamned receipt.
Finally I gave up. The total was $36 and some change so whatever, I handed him 2 twenties. After I handed it over he pressed another button on the damn meter to add the tax. Total was suddenly 39.50.
Not wanting to continuously look the fool I then grabbed another 5 bucks ad handed it to him. I stated "and that's for you"
he looked at it...and looked back at me...then slooooooowly took it. It's like this man didn't know what money was. It was fucking weird, and he was incredibly snooty about it.
If my High School graduate math is correct (failed algebra twice BTW) then 5.50 Isn't quite 15% of 40 bucks, and apparently cabbies expect between 15 and 20 percent....but this guy kinda was an ass...and offered no help whatsoever to two travelers who've OBVIOUSLY never Been in a damn cab before!!
Upon reflection (and 30 minutes of research on the Internet) I've decided to only attempt to pay cash from now on for a cab (even though the cab company's website confirmed that they take Visa....that crazy asshole!!). Pretty much everyone in the world advises to pay for cabs with cash.
We'll probably have to take a cable 3 or four more times on this trip....I hope it goes better....and I hope our future cabbies can speak English
I've never been in a cab before... This was a first time experience.
Chelsea and I arrived at the Orlando airport and got our luggage with no problem. Went down to the first floor and found the pickup area fine, and with just a little looking found a man sitting at a desk that said Taxi Service. Bingo. There were taxi's all around waiting... No problem.
We approached. The man simply asked our destination, e advised him our hotel name. He confirmed there were just two of us, then handed us a small paper and advised us to go with the cabbie standing nearby. We followed hits a sedan and got in.
Now...taxi's should be simple. There's a meter that calculates everything so you nor the cabbie have to.
You should be able to get in. Arrive at your destination, pay. And have a nice day.
Apparently that's too hard.
The ride was fine. Tat cabbie said nothing, just drove very directly to our hotel.
When we arrived he stopped and stated "total is 36.75"
I asked, "you take card, right?"
He Sid nothing for a moment and then mumbled something incoherently.
Let me pause the story to be a little racist. Yes the man was black....this did not affect his driving. He drove great, I wasn't as scared as I though I'd be, he only barely ever rose 1 or 2 miles above the speed limit. It was fine. However,it suddenly became clear that English was not his native language. And if it was...it had been so tarnished by some crazy Orlando-cabbie-loafer-wearing-slang that MADE NO SENSE TO NORMAL PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO SPEAK!!!
I was perplexed by his answer and I was still unsure if he would take my card. I reframed my question... "oh, so you don't take card?"
"he responded with more jibber-jabber and concluded with words that sounded like "need little paper."
I thought he meant he needed that slip of paper I was handed earlier...I went to hand it to him. Finally he turned and looked at me. Ad he gave me the most evil look in the word. He looked at me as if I was incredibly stupid and had no idea what was going on (I didn't).
"No!" he almost screamed, "(jibberish jibberish jibberish, little slidey paper!!!" he made a motion like a old credit card reader, the kind with like 5 layers of carbon receipt paper.
I was again perplexed but this made me believe that he could in fact take my card. So I handed it to him.
Again he looked at me like I was trying to hand him a bomb.
Now, normally I think I would have handed him cash earlier...my main reasoning for trying so desperately to pay with my card is because this trip was a gift. I won it in a company drawing. The transportation to ad from the airport is part of the gift, but I have to pay for it, and they're going to reimburse me. So what I was really after was a goddamned receipt.
Finally I gave up. The total was $36 and some change so whatever, I handed him 2 twenties. After I handed it over he pressed another button on the damn meter to add the tax. Total was suddenly 39.50.
Not wanting to continuously look the fool I then grabbed another 5 bucks ad handed it to him. I stated "and that's for you"
he looked at it...and looked back at me...then slooooooowly took it. It's like this man didn't know what money was. It was fucking weird, and he was incredibly snooty about it.
If my High School graduate math is correct (failed algebra twice BTW) then 5.50 Isn't quite 15% of 40 bucks, and apparently cabbies expect between 15 and 20 percent....but this guy kinda was an ass...and offered no help whatsoever to two travelers who've OBVIOUSLY never Been in a damn cab before!!
Upon reflection (and 30 minutes of research on the Internet) I've decided to only attempt to pay cash from now on for a cab (even though the cab company's website confirmed that they take Visa....that crazy asshole!!). Pretty much everyone in the world advises to pay for cabs with cash.
We'll probably have to take a cable 3 or four more times on this trip....I hope it goes better....and I hope our future cabbies can speak English
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