3 weeks ago we are traveling to meeting for service. Along the way the taxi driver approaches a car in the middle of the road that is moving slow, really slow. Instead of coming close to the car with caution, its full steam ahead. And of course as we get close to the car, the person decides to make a left turn, yes in front of us! ... At this point the driver slams on the brakes and we go flying forward planting our faces into the back of the from seats..... I can tell you from several experiences its not fun. .... Usually, we keep our mouths shut when this kind of thing happens .... however this particular driver had committed this type of crime for the last time with us in his car (yes we had driven with him several times before). And to think we were sympathetic a few weeks earlier, when he tells us he was robbed for 300.00 in his pocket while driving... What's a driver doing with 300.00 in his pocket? (he is tonto!)
I think it was Carol who screamed when he hit the brakes hard.... (I dont know maybe it was me.) Then I told him, it might be a good idea not to assume that a car in the middle of the road is broken down especially when its moving, and one should proceed with caution, as they get close to the car.... well then he tells me she didn't have her emergency lights on, and there would be no reason to think anything was going to happen.... my answer to that was, a car moving slowly in the middle of the street, where one can drive 40 miles per hour, is a good reason to approach with caution ... that defensive driving would cause one to think, that something maybe wrong ..... with or without emergency lights flashing..... he didn't like that idea. He then told me he had driven in Chicago for 15 years as a taxista...... Aaaaand? ... As if that somehow qualified him to be a a bad driver ..... I mentioned in the US that persons are trained to drive defensively, and that you are trained to look not just at the car in front of you, but several ahead of you, so you can take measures ahead of time, so that when you approach a bad situation you dont have to slllllllllam on the brakes at the last minute, and plant your clients faces into the back of the front seats.
At this point he decides to show me how "foolish" I am, to suggest that he drive that way. (after all he is the expert, right) When he sees a car entering into traffic about 200 feet away he hits the brakes, "oh like this, I should slow down when I see something ahead" At first I dont get that he's mocking me, then he keeps doing hitting the brakes hard each time .... finally this time he hits the brakes so hard he almost plants our faces into the back of the seats.... thats when I said .... "NO SEA TONTO" or dont be foolish.
UUUUUps .... he goes off into a tirade about calling him foolish ..... Im thinking he was being foolish, and he didn't like it one bit. So now he really startes to mock me with the hitting the brakes, of course each time we fly forward, finally Carol tells him you can let us off here! But he wont, she has to tell him 4 times before he finally lets us off. Mind you I'm willing to pay him for the distance traveled. 2.00, so I hand him a 10.00, all I have, and he can't make change, so I tell him it's only a 10.00 not a hundred. He tells me he cant make change. Well "sorry but I can't turn a 10 into singes and pay you"..... as I step from the car I ask his name, so when I call in for the taxi service next time I can let them know, I don't want Luis for a taxista.... he must think Im going to call in and complain.... because that afternoon when I call the service for a taxi, the dispatcher lady asks me if we had a problem with a driver and I tell her the story.... She doesn't act surprised at what passed, but then tells me that his version is that we called all the drivers of the service "fools"..... now you have me mad, as we have a super relationship with 97% of the drivers in the consortium. I told her he's a liar and he's just trying to cover for his tontedad..... foolishness. I didn't say that, but did say that he was a lair! Then she apologized, but told me that she couldn't send a taxi because the manager of the consortium told the drivers not to give us service...... BANNED from the consortium? .... That's when we decided to take the plunge and get a car.... no more bad drivers, late drivers, nightmare rides. Kissed them all goodbye.
So a week later we are sharing the story with the Webbs one day and needless to say Carl is getting a good laugh out of all this.... and when I ask him if the word Tonto is worse then Necio he informes that it is ..... Im thinking it's softer and he tells me it's like saying someone is stupid or an idiot..... then he pauses and thinks for a moment and says..... "well that's what you meant wasn't it" ... so I think I did use the right word they just dont like to be called Tonto.
Going forward Ill use the word sparingly and probably under my breath. Lesson learned!
Just for your reference .... what the word NECIO means according to the dictionary....
YOU JUST CANT WIN HERE!
Hi Bill, thanks for the entertaining blog, to be safe you might want to just say: NO SEA ASÍ which will be easily understood but nobody can take offense.
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