Yesterday I was standing on a street corner at rush hour, having waited a few minutes and getting “no go” from a few taxi drivers.
Then came a hi-so lady wearing her nose high on her high heels. She stopped right beside me. I thought “She is not going to snatch my taxi, is she?”. She was. When a taxi came I waved and she waved and it stopped in front of us.
The hi-so lady and I were so close that she was at the back door of the taxi and I was at the front door. She stepped forward and reached for the door handle.
- I was here before you! I yelled over the traffic noise.
With an unhappy grimace she stood back and I entered the taxi via the front door. From the look on her face I had done something terrible rude and ignored her birthright to be first, always. But there was no surprise in her eyes. She knew I was waiting but she had thought she could get away with it.
Then today outside one of the embassies on Sathorn road it was again rush hour and again I had waited a while. A man came out of the embassy. He was a rough-looking Asian in his 50ies dressed in office clothes.
The man came up next to me on the street corner. He looked at me. I looked at him. He went back to the shade. But a couple of minutes later he walked 10 metres up the street, in the direction of oncoming traffic. He lit a cigarette.
I thought “no way”. I walked up to him without making eye contact, went past him and another 10 metres up the street. This was just in time to catch the taxi that was coming. I entered the taxi. The man watched me with surprise but he said nothing.
February 17th, 2007 at 10:26 am
This “no go” think really irks me. In my corner of farangland it is illegal for taxis to refuse a passenger. I am so used to this that when in BKK I just flag down a taxi, get in, and then tell the driver politely where to go.
But when with my bf, he opens the door, tells the driver our destination, and sometimes the driver refuses or quotes a ridiculous fare.
I suspect that taxi drivers know that we crazy farangs don’t recognize their right to refuse a passenger. So from now on I have resolved that I will enter the taxi ahead of my bf and simply announce our destination.
And before anyone suggests that these hard-working taxi drivers have the right to refuse any passenger, just watch an Indian or black person in BKK trying to hail a taxi. Often a dozen empty taxis will go past until one stops.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Well in one particular farangland city the cabbies are striking because they are being told they may not refuse a passenger who ‘violates their religion’, i.e. is carrying alcohol (sealed, as in coming from the grocery), has a dog with them (lap or seeing eye), or is an inappropriately dressed female (i.e. not covered head to foot in black). Probably being effeminate is also sufficient, although I haven’t seen that example given.
Its just outrageous that by flaunting our laws against discrimination in hiring and employment certain ethnic groups can create a critical mass that has the clout to lobby for official permission to discriminate against everyone else, and that progressive thinking people support it all in the name of political correctness.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Bangkok also has a rule which says driver’s can’t refuse a passenger or a destination. In theory they can lose their licence if they say “no go”, but as you can tell this is not enforced.
I saw a phone number to a taxi complaint line once. I never tried it.
I like to talk to them before I enter the taxi, Thai style. I do that so I can estimate how sane the driver is.