If you live in Cairo, chances are you’ve had to resort to taking a taxi somewhere at some point (read: every damn day). Before Uber & Careem hit the city, that was pretty much your best option given the others were public busses or the metro...
Transportation apps are great, but sometimes when you’re running late the easiest thing to do is try your luck with a white taxi. And rarely is it a lucky experience....
Here are 23 moments we all experience when consorting with those dreaded cabs:
When you’re running late and every single taxi that passes is full.
Karma is a bitch.
When you’re walking along, minding your own business and taxis honk and stop by you even though you didn’t signal them.
When a taxi that’s already carrying people stops for you.
When you’ve given up on life and just get in anyway, hoping the other passengers’ destination is at the end of the street.
.....and the driver proceeds to go in the opposite direction.
When they go too fast.
When they go too slow.
When you realise the metre has been tampered with and runs fast.
*internal screaming*
When the metre is broken and you have to ~ haggle~.
When the driver says the metre’s broken and you can see quite clearly it is in working order.
When you pay them the exact fare displayed on the metre and their face be trippin’.
....and they proceed to argue that the metre will have gone up by the time you exit the vehicle.
When the driver takes the long way and argues that it’s a shortcut.
When the driver tries to chat with you. About politics....
When the driver flirts with you.
Audacious, much?
When the driver hits another car’s wing-mirror and you cringe.
When the driver gets into a full-blown fight with another car. And gets out to yell at them....
When a car stops, posing as a white taxi, then you realise there’s no metre or black-white checker pattern. After you get in.
'So this is how I die....'
When you’re a non-smoker and the driver is puffing away.
When you’re asthmatic and the driver is puffing away....
When the driver is a multi-tasker—drinking tea, talking on the phone and weaving through traffic.
.....on the Da2ery.
When the driver is on the phone to his girlfriend, then calls his side-chick after.
When the driver blasts sh3by music and you arrive at your destination with a headache.
When the taxi is decked out in blue flashing lights and nonsensical bumper stickers.
'Is that a noose hanging from the rear-view mirror?......'
When you get in a taxi and the driver gets you to your destination in one piece, without prying into your personal life or trying to overcharge you.
How many of these have you experienced?
Got one we didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments!
__________
By Salma Thanatos Rizk