cab driver

So, I miscounted because I have another post in draft, so for real this time, my NEXT post is my 100th post - and I think I have it figured out, now.  I just need to get it put together!  Thanks to those who gave some feedback about it!

So, in the meantime, and in an effort to get to that, I thought I'd tell you about a weird experience I had today. As some of you know, I've been in Chicago for a conference for the past few days and things went very well and I even learned some stuff! One night we had sushi, one night was home-cookin' type food with a big group, and last night we went out for homemade pizza. Life was good.

I'm going to preface by saying my cab driver from the airport to the hotel was great. He drove well, chatted kindly, and got me safely to my destination without incident. That being said, my cab driver from the hotel to the airport today ... not so much.

First, we'll start with on the way to the airport. I was sharing a ride with a co-worker and we were chatting about the conference, had a few laughs, and while tired, were all-in-all in good spirits. Until we saw our cab driver start talking to someone - in another car in the lane next to us - through his open window - on the highway - at about 50 miles / hour. Co-worker and I looked at each other with WTF look, but stayed quiet because cab driver wrapped up his conversation and kept driving quietly.

We got to the airport, and co-worker got dropped off first at his airline's door. Cab driver brought me up to my airline door and I went to pay. Sounds easy enough, right?

Cab driver saw I wanted to pay with my credit card, which by regulation of the cabs in Chicago all passengers have a right to do.  This is what happened.

Cab driver: You're paying with a card?

Me: Yes, I was planning on it.

Cab driver (starts to get upset): I wish you had said something about that earlier.

Me (confused): Why? There's a credit card machine right here... (there's a machine in the back seat for passengers to use)

Cab driver (not convincingly): Well, that doesn't always work properly... it doesn't always connect right. ... I need you to pay cash.

Here I think - your credit card machine, which looks brand new, isn't reliable at one of your most regular drop-off locations. I'm calling B.S.

Me: I don't have that much cash, I was planning to use my card.

This is where it gets sketchy...

Cab driver (gets really mad): Your card doesn't help me! I have a cash flow problem and your card will not work for that.

Me: What?  insert WTF face, again.

Cab Driver: Your card does not help me!

Me: Your "cash flow" issue is not my problem. We should at least try your card machine to see if it works.

Cab Driver: Will you pay $20?

Me: I really just prefer to use my card.

Cab Driver: That doesn't work. Here I can give you more receipts.

There is some back and forth here. Please note that having more blank reciepts does not help me - I cannot expense more than one trip to the airport, so I'm not sure how more blank receipts would sweeten the deal.

Me: Fine, whatever, I have $20, but I don't have the full fare.

Cab Driver: doesn't take my money. Will you give me $10?

Me: What? omg... Listen, you just said $20.

Cab Driver (angry, and seemingly on the verge of anger tears): This is a $40 fare!!! That's only half.

At this point, I sincerely feel that there is a mental health issue involved, and while I'm sympathetic to that, he's started to scare me a bit with the irrational back and forth. 

Me: Listen, you have two options - take my card for the full fare or I'll give you $20 cash.

Guy:  Fine, run the card.

Me: Puts card through the machine. Your machine says my fare is $2.65.   

Side note: The reason it's only asking for that amount is because he was scamming for cash and didn't run the machine to track the fare. 

Guy: I don't remember what he said - gibberish at this point, probably.  Just angry. Then... Fine, give me your card. I'll do it manually. huff. 

Me: Listen, it's my understanding that it's my right to use a card in any cab in Chicago.

Cab Driver: You understand wrong.

Side note: I don't understand wrong... 

Me: No, I don't understand wrong. 

At this point, the cab driver gets out, slams the door, pulls my bag out of the trunk, and slams the trunk door. He charge my card manually (since he didn't have his machine connected properly and I wasn't letting him scam me (or his company) for the cash. In the cab, I took a photo of his cab number with my phone; when I got out, I checked the name of the cab company.

I signed, grabbed my card back, gave him a look, and went into the airport. After I was through security, I called the cab company and told them I had a complaint - they said "ohh, was there damaged luggage?" - I said, "I wish."

I started to explain what happened, that he was trying to scam me (and them) for cash and the person asked me to hold so she could bring in a supervisor, which I was more than happy for. I finished explaining, told them it was unacceptable, and that I felt threatened and bullied by this guy (and gave his cab number). They, in an attempt to be helpful, told me that the city of Chicago requires all cabs to accept payment by credit card so this person was out of compliance - which I appreciated the validation, but this was not news to me. I found it interesting that they also encouraged me to call 311 (which is the city's commerce bureau, I think) to report this to them, as well, because he was out of compliance with the city's regulations. So, I did. I'll be getting a letter in the mail soon outlining the report, and return it to them with any other additional information, I guess.

So, although I was flustered, I was thankful that I have the travel experience I do and know that, for whatever reason, most cab drivers are great, but there are a few who try to pull this kind of crap. And I know that many cities require all cabs to accept cards, so I know to check that out for the city when I go. Without that experience, I think I would have felt a lot more pressured to comply or to make it work with cash, or that it was my fault.

I made it into the airport in one piece and made it home fine - and I'm not going to let Cab Driver ruin the rest of the Chicago experience for this most recent visit or for the next one. Chicago is an awesome city.

So, my advice: Know your rights.  If you don't know, before you get in the car, ask the driver two things through the window:

1. How much from x location to x location?
2. Do you accept payment by credit card?

If you find either of those two things alarming - try a different cab. Most of the drivers I've had have been great, but watch out for the sketchy.

My other advice is to always be aware. When you get in a cab, look at the name of the cab company on the outside and locate the cab number so you can easily find it later if you need it - it should be visible on the inside and in most (if not all) cases, on the outside. If something happens that is not safe, or not ethical, have that information so you can report it. I believe that cab companies, in general, value customer service and expect their drivers to abide by not only their and the city's expectations -- and yours.

Have you had any bad cab experiences?
Do you have any travel advice to avoid a potentially bad situation?

who needs sleep?

Apparently you miss one 6 a.m. flight and you are banned from sleeping the night before any morning flight ever again. At least that's the situation I've found myself in after one mistake over 4 years ago when I missed an early morning flight to Indiana. It was a terrible feeling that I never want to have again and my body never wants to experience that type of panic again -- at least that's what I am guessing from it's reaction to having morning flights after that experience. I used to sleep a lot less and my former roommate told me that this song (Who needs sleep? by the Barenaked Ladies) was my theme song. If you haven't heard it before, it's worth a listen and is representative of my current status.

Tomorrow morning (well, actually - this morning) I'm headed to Chicago. So, because I'm just up with not a chance of any shut-eye in sight for a while, I thought I would use this as my 99th post and force myself to move toward my 100th post. Often when I'm in my "who needs sleep?" stage, I think why?  It's not that I haven't traveled enough. I'm not a nervous flier. In fact, I love flying and when I went on vacation last year, one of the highlights of my trip was that I was able to be in an airport I haven't been in before. And in most cases it's not that I'm so excited to go that I just can't contain myself.  So, it must be missing that one stupid flight 4+ years ago and I think I really do think I'm ruined for life.

The good news is that I know that about myself at this point, so I don't fully expect to get a good night's sleep before I go and I just try to catch up when I get there. Tonight, in particular, I've been thinking about all of the places I've been and decided to map it out.  I've been to the states highlighted in dark blue here:

To be honest, I thought it would look more impressive than this, but I guess I've been to the same states multiple times and I have quite a bit of work to do to hit the rest of the country, still.

California-I've been to Los Angeles for work 2-3 times and I have a friend that lived in Long Beach who I have stayed with 2-3 times. Those trips were always fun, particularly the Long Beach ones because hanging out with that friend means relaxing, fun stuff (museum, author/social change leader speaker - my vacations are exciting), great (GREAT) food, and good people. She doesn't live there anymore, which is sad because the Thai place around the corner from her house had the best yellow chicken curry and we always went to this great crepes place.

Colorado-When I was young (10 or so?) my brother and I went on a road trip with our grandparents to visit family here.  Because it was a road trip, this is also when we were in Nebraska and Kansas.  I've also been to Denver a couple of times for work. One of those times, a few of us rented a car and drove up a mountain - it was 90 degrees in Denver and there was snow at the top of the mountain. Definitely a weird feeling - and a cold one, says the girl who wore her flip flops up there. I also had a late flight one of the times I was there, so had time to see a bit of the city so I went to the Capitol and to a really cool street art show. I will say that Denver is one of the few places I've been that I wasn't quite ready to go home by the end of the trip, and I would have stayed longer.

North Dakota-I went to North Dakota for the first time in college for an APO conference. I remember a few things about this.  a) it was a lot of fun; b) I drove; c) it was February; and d) my heater went out on my car - in February - in North Dakota. We had to use my ice scraper on the inside of my car, which was a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime experience.

South Dakota-When I was younger (13-14 maybe?) I went with some other teens from church to a youth conference. I remember there were two cars (one with the girls and one with the boys)
 and we went to Mount Rushmore, the bad lands, but we didn't stop at Wall Drug. In related news, I'm planning to be in South Dakota over memorial day weekend, likely some Laura Ingalls Wilder stuff and, if we're lucky, the Mitchell Corn Palace. I told you my vacations were exciting!

Texas-I feel like I've been to Dallas more times than I can count for work, with some being more interesting than others. I loved eating seafood at Landry's, we found a neat place called Hotel Za Za, and I spent a night in the ER with a co-worker watching the Golden Globes waiting for her to be seen by the doctor (kidney stones - ouch). Oh, and when you're in Texas, you have to eat steak. This is also where I fell in love with the lemon drop martini (that's a story for another time).

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa-These are obvious because they are where I've lived, worked, and went to school (MN/WI) and I grew up so close to Iowa that for a long time we had an Iowa address, but Minnesota drivers licenses-it's like we didn't know where one started and the other stopped, I guess.

Missouri-I went to the National Volunteer Conference one year for APO (after I graduated from college) and visited the APO national headquarters in Lafayette.

Louisiana-When I was in college (a junior, I think?), we went to New Orleans for the APO National Conference. This was kind of a vacation, I guess, but it was actually an exciting one because I was there with a bunch of awesome APO brothers from all over the place, in New Orleans, over new year's. It may not be Mardi Gras, but it was fun! The first thing my friends and I did was go to the Old Absinthe House (a bar) and ask for a hurricane, which was apparently the drink to have in New Orleans. They asked Do you want that for here? or to go? Ummm... to go!!!

Illinois-More work stuff - I've been to Oak Brook and Chicago. I had good pizza and it was neat to walk around, but these were strictly work. And I'm headed there again in a few hours, I guess. :) I would like to make a weekend trip to Chicago sometime for play, though - want to go with me?


Indiana-Seems like countless times here, too, for work - we were in Bloomington (Go Hoosiers!). I have to many stories to tell about this, so you'll have to ask me in person sometime. I will say that we had to fly into Indianapolis and take a shuttle all the way to Bloomington (over an hour) and I remember one time writing down the random signs, like a building called Banquet Hall and a Real Big Guns store. A girls' gotta do something to entertain herself in rural Indiana. But once we were there, it was awesome -- and Jen, if you read this, I miss you!!!


Georgia-I wrote a little bit about my trips to Atlanta recently talking about some memories I have with my cousin/godmother, Becky, and her family. I've been there for work 2-3 times, and was there for my goddaughter's baptism. I'd like to go here, again, to spend some more time with them (but unrelated to a work trip).

[[side note: woo hoo! the Golden Girls just came on tv. Hey... it's better than watching the infomercial about pajama jeans or proactiv, again]]


Florida-Believe it or not, the first time I was in Florida was two years ago. The first time was just a short in-and-out trip to Miami for a work site visit and I was there again this past January. But I actually went on a real vacation there in October of last year in Tallahassee. I already posted all about this, but will say it was awesome and my aunt and uncle rule for putting up with all 5 of us. :)


Virginia-I was here several times for work trips at the National Conference Center, which is by far one of the most interesting bunkers buildings I've ever been in. By about the fourth time, I finally figured out how understand the naming conventions they use for their hallways/buildings/and rooms so I wouldn't get lost anymore. I also learned that it's best to use the underground tunnels to get everywhere and only go outside from the main building because otherwise you will never find where you're going. It was definitely good times, though - and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Washington D.C.-I went once on a day trip with a friend when I was in Maryland for work and we spent some time in Georgetown, which was very cool, and we got to meet up with a high school friend for dinner, which was even better! The other time was just an overnight work trip for a 1-day conference we were hosting.

Maryland-Went here a bunch of times (5? 7? 10? - well, probably not 10, but probably 5-7). Mostly for work at our office there, but have spent a couple of weekends hanging out there, as well. I posted already about the last time I was there and spent some time hanging out over the weekend.

New York-I've been here twice and I loved New York City. You can get anywhere you want to go by subway and walking and there are so many things to do and see. Friends Abby, Shannon, and I went one time for a few days and had a blast with friend Greg. The other time was an overnight trip when I was going to be in Maryland for work that week and it was a lot of fun! It seems like you could live there for years and not run out of stuff to do/see. I'd like to go back - want to come?

And finally, New Hampshire-This was another work trip, but the interesting thing about this one was that on my way out, my flight was canceled out of Manchester, so I ended up having to find a hotel and stay until the next day - that was the first time that had happened when I was by myself. And, no, I did not become that angry girl this time. Instead, I looked at it as a challenge to show myself I could take care of myself in that type of situation. Turns out, it's not that hard. Get cab. Book hotel. Eat dinner. Sleep. Get cab. Get on flight. Somewhere in between, you call the travel agent and tell them to re-book you. Worked like a charm.

Outside of the U.S., I've only been to the Bahamas for my cousin/godmother's wedding when I was a freshman in college and that was one awesome trip. Singing "We are family" and dancing at the reception, going to the Zoo, the very interesting booze cruise, my first time being in a casino, and touring the Atlantis hotel that you see on the travel channel all the time. :) Good times.

And there you have it - this is what happens the night before I fly out in the morning. No sleep and now you're subjected to my long rambling post. If you made it all the way to the end, kudos and thank you for reading.

Now... on to post #100!  Bear with me, please. As you know, I'm headed to Chicago for a few days and may not have a chance to finish it up until late next week or next weekend.

me? angry?

It may surprise you to find out that I'm not always sunshine and rainbows. Well... for those of you who know me well, you may not be shocked, I guess. :)

I mentioned at the end of my vacation post that I'd tell you about our flight experience later.

Everything was planned to be perfect. We flew through Houston where we met up with Julie to take the same flight to Florida. We left on time for our first flight. And our layover was short. ... Apparently too short. This is where things got ugly.

I'm not sure why, but our flight that departed Minneapolis on time landed in Houston 15 minutes late. Our layover was only 35 minutes, so we hauled bum to get to the other terminal where Julie was waiting for us - so we had to run through Terminal C, take the tram to Terminal B and get to our gate. As we rushed toward the gate, I see our plane backing away. It left without us. It left 4 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. I know this because above the door to the walkway it tells you what time they left: 9:51 a.m. It was supposed to leave at 9:55 a.m. [Insert wave of anger here.]

The conversation with the guy working the gate went something like this (at least as I recall):

Me: That's our plane.

Guy: Yes, you all arrived 15 minutes late on your other flight. I already re-booked you on the next flight, though. Guy smiles.

Me: So, you knew we were late and on our way, but didn't wait.

Guy: I asked them if they could wait and they said no...

Me: But they could leave early?

Guy: ummmm...

Me: They took off early. Without us.

Guy: They said they couldn't wait. But you are re-booked for the next flight.

side note: next flight is 4 hours later. This does not please me, either.

Me: Please help me understand this. My flight on your airline took off on time in Minneapolis. Your airline got me here late. But your airline wouldn't wait for us even though you knew we were on our way. Correct?

Guy: I'm sorry ma'am.

Me: Instead of waiting, your airline decided to take off before the posted time. The time that is on my itinerary.

I give Guy a confused, unhappy look.

Guy: I'm sorry ma'am.

Me: I put my phone number in the reservation for a reason. It would have been nice if someone from your airline would have called to see where we were so I could have told you we were close.

Guy: I'm sorry ma'am.

Me: Fine. Whatever. What do we need to do now?

Guy provides re-issued tickets for next flight for me and the guys; gives me two exit row seats because I had upgraded when we originally checked in for 3 seats with extra legroom. He explains the next flight only had two available.

Me: I paid for three. I assume you will be refunding the third.

Guy explains to me again that there were only two (yes, I understand that - I paid for three) and then tells me the information desk located directly behind us should be able to help.

Julie: What about me?

Julie was on a different original flight so did not get rebooked with us automatically.

Guy: Well, you could have made it - you arrived over an hour ago.

Julie: Um. No, I didn't.

Guy: Well, you could have made this flight either way.

Me: Yeah, no. She is travelling with us and we were meeting here. She arrived just before we did. It was not over an hour ago. She was waiting for us and your airline decided to leave early.

I become afraid we will begin the cycle again and take deep breath while Guy looks at his screen again and types a bit.

Guy: Looks like I can do something for you.

Guy issues ticket for Julie on the next flight, also, with no extra fee - probably because at this point he likely doesn't want to deal with me anymore. Who would?

At some point during this debacle, I think the guys had backed away and just let me go. Then I went to the information desk and, long story short, got all three of my upgrades refunded and got to keep the exit rows. I relaxed a bit with the woman at the info desk, presented my documentation, and took a few deep breaths. Not sunshine and rainbows, but I was well-behaved.

Now, you might be thinking Whoa, Crazy Lady - I'm glad I wasn't there with you! Or you may be thinking Haha, I would have paid to see that! In my defense, I didn't yell, stomp my feet, or cry (almost, though). I like to think I held my ground and voiced my displeasure with the situation in a way that got the point across but they didn't have to call security (barely, perhaps - it's all a bit fuzzy).

I think that Belva will especially appreciate this post because she was with me the one and only other time I was that irate girl at the airport when we were delayed and then almost stranded at the airport because of a snowstorm - that was my second or third time flying ever. This is probably my... I don't even have any idea - 40th trip? I've flown a lot.

Here's the thing: I've been stranded overnight a couple of other times and have been delayed a bunch, too. It's bound to happen and it's part of flying. Given this story, you may not believe me, but I normally don't care. Stranded? Find a hotel. Delayed? Find a book. Not a big deal. In fact, the first time I was stranded overnight, I thought it was great! It was an opportunity to prove to myself that I could take care of myself because I was travelling alone and stuck overnight in New Hampshire. And on our way home we were delayed for 3 hours because of the high winds back home. I didn't really care - I had a book to read and we were still getting in that night. And Julie had a long layover so we were there with her.

So what happened this time? I put a lot of work into coordinating this vacation. My second real vacation in 5 years. I was looking forward to this, planning for this, and not only did it affect me but it affected 4 other people. And they left without us.

That being said, I probably should not have been mean to the guy at the gate. It wasn't his fault personally. So, Guy, I'm sorry. But I'm still mad at the airline.

In the end, the vacation was totally worth it, though. I had a blast and I relaxed and I was happy and nice and sunshine and rainbows. :)

 

Disclaimer: This post reflects my recollection of the events which may have happened completely differently - but this is my story and I'm sticking to it. Even though it's a bit unflattering.

and p.s. if it makes me sound any less ridiculous, we (the 5 of us) were 10% of the passengers who were scheduled to be on that flight. It was a small 50-seater plane.

vacation & family

As some of you know, I went to Florida on vacation with my brothers and cousin Julie to visit our aunt Gail and uncle Duane - we left last Saturday and got back last night (Wednesday). It's funny because when you tell someone that you're going to (or just returned from) Florida, they give you this look of jealousy and get excited for you. I think they assume that you went to Miami, Orlando, Key West, or one of the other usual suspect vacation spots in Florida. But when you tell them you went to Tallahassee, a look of confusion overcomes the jealousy. Why Tallahassee? Because that's where our family is. And to be honest, I would take that over Disney any day.

An overview of the trip:

Saturday
Travel day from Minneapolis to Houston (where we met up with Julie) and then Houston to Jacksonville. We rented my cool mini-van there and drove to Tallahassee, stopping in Live Oak at Big Daddy's for dinner.

Sunday
We went to the beach house and enjoyed great food, drinks, views, and company. We took an intermission to our sitting around and visited St. Mark's lighthouse, saw some gators there, and then returned to the beach house where we continued to relax and had a great dinner there.

Monday
The boys swam a bit in the morning. We split up for the day and the boys did the antique car museum (which actually held a lot of other things - pianos, boat motors, motorcycles, etc...) and then they went out for wings/beer with Duane. Julie and I went shopping with Gail and we only made it through Bealls, which was great - but we then had to figure out how to pack for the way home. Gail made appointments for me and Julie to get massages, which was awesome.

Tuesday
Duane took the guys and Julie to Wakulla Springs to do a boat tour to see more gators and other wildlife. I stayed behind at the house and sat in the sun by the pool with a book and some coffee. One of my goals for the trip was to relax - so this was perfect. Gail could do her thing for a while and I did mine - and then we had some nice one-on-one time. That night, Russ did a test-run with Duane's new smoker and we had smoked pork chops that were awesome.

Wednesday
Another travel day. We left early in the morning and drove back to Jacksonville and then back to Minneapolis. It was cold when we got home and were all ready to go back to Florida weather.

What I Learned
Something I learned from Duane: y'all is singular; all y'all is plural. :)

That's the brief version and I'm happy to tell you more if you want more. All I can say is it was amazing - we all thought so. We all appreciated Gail and Duane letting us invade their home and their lives for a few days. We ate in for most meals (awesome food, including the best key lime pie I've ever had) and spent a lot of time just hanging out, relaxing, and having fun. We can't possibly thank them enough for their hospitality and generosity.

I've mentioned before that last year was a rough one for us. Among other things, it was the year we lost both of our grandmas. And it was the year we became grandparent-less. One of the things that I worried about (and still do sometimes) is that extended family came together for holidays and events so that our grandparents could see everyone... so what now? That was part of the reason this was important to me. And we've never been to Gail and Duane's to visit and it's something I've talked about and wanted to do for a long time. So, why Tallahassee? Because that's where our family is. And that's why I head to Caledonia regularly, and have visited Becky in Atlanta, and hope to go to Colorado again.

And without further adieu, here are the pictures:



More later on our flight stories... :)