Friday, November 07, 2008

Here Cabby Cabby!

In L.A., you can't hail a cab on the street. Apparently, you have to call for one. So imagine my surprise when I get to PhilaPA and am expected to hail a cab. WTH?! How the hell do you hail a cab??

I needed a cab to get to the Franklin Institute museum. OK, fine. I walk outside, feeling all stupid and nervous, and just stand in front of the hotel. Cars, cabs, buses pass me by. A couple of businessmen walk out of Ruby Tuesdays, into the street, raise hands and - voila! - cab stops, takes 'em away.

Well, that seems easy enough. I look up Chestnut Street and see no cabs. Tons of cabs are racing down 17th Street! But none pass me by. Crap! So, I stand there.

Down Chestnut, a car is double-parked, causing traffic to back up. A cab stops right in front of me - oh what luck! We make eye contact. I lamely raise my hand. He nods. It all seemed so seedy.

After my museum visit, I had to catch a cab all over again. Good grief! I didn't know what to do. I stood on 20th and Ben Franklin Parkway for 25 minutes trying to get a damn cab! I texted a friend "How the hell do I get a cab?!" The reply? "LOL. I don't know." Aww crap. At this point, I decided I should just walk. I crossed the street, started walking to Parkway. I turned around for one last look and there he was. A cab! I yelled "Taxi!" He waved me over and we were on our merry way. Yay!

This hailing a cab stuff is a piece o'cake.


1 comment:

Lori said...

Heh :) This cracked me up. I've been in Washington D.C. a couple of times and have had to take cabs there. I remember one time I hailed a cab who picked me up, but he also had a couple of other people in there and took them to their destinations first. I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be carrying multiple fares at once like that, but I guess you gotta give it to the guy for multitasking.