The Adventures of Tap

I try to avoid the use of cabs when I can. They are expensive, and I know enough people with a vehicle that I can usually find somebody to take me where I’d need a cab to go. But sometimes a cab is the only way to go, and when that happens, I’m always prepared for a treat.

For a recent example, lets take my ride to the Thunder Bay airport with my roommate. I wasn’t sure about the guy driving at first. He was bald with a giant mustache, and didn’t seem into talking. I’m okay with not talking. Soon after we packup and head out, he starts talking. He sounds normal, asking if we are going on a trip for the holidays (we had a ski tube) and we said no. Just going home for a bit. Then we somehow got onto hourly and salary pay. He was pretty knowledgeable, and it was actually an enlightening conversation. He seemed to really get into this, and the more we talked the more excited he got until his voice was a good octave higher. At this point I’m just trying not to laugh at the ridiculous combination of bald head, big stache, and high voice. But it didn’t end there. We got onto the topic of real estate, and then he mentioned that he lived with his mom. The guy was probably in his late forties, and he was suddenly less cool with this statement. But it didn’t end there.

As the airport came into view, the topic switched again and anything cool/interesting this guy had going for him just died. He started talking about how he chats online with this 24 year old Russian girl, and how he has a box of photos of her, etc. The pain of not laughing was almost unbearable, and as we said goodbye to him, I turned to roomie with grimace and thought to myself the $4 tip was so worth it.

The weirder they are, the more I pay them. I guess I try to make myself feel better about how awkward they are by paying them more. Or maybe I just feel the entertainment value is worth it!

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