French honor
Jen and I are trying Delta's direct service between Paris and Salt Lake today, and so had to fly from Manchester (We watched Arsenal stomp Blackburn, 0-4, yesterday afternoon) to Paris last night, arriving after 10:00 PM.
This was fine but for the incompetence in Manchester and the insolence of the taxi drivers in Paris. In Manchester, the ticketing agent refused to book us an aisle and and another aisle with a middle seat left empty between, despite 15 empty rows of seats, because "Delta would be angry if I left an empty middle seat on the plane." I didn't know how to explain to him that with 15+ rows of empty seats, Delta had more to worry about than a few scattered middle seats lying fallow, but....
It got worse when we arrived. The hotel had a shuttle but apparently there was a bomb threat, so no one ever came to our terminal. Despite at least 10 calls to the hotel, each time receiving the assurance that some day the bus would come, we sat at the airport for an hour with no sign of a bus coming.
I finally went to look for a taxi, only to be told that they couldn't take us because it was "too close." I started offering ever higher amounts of money. At nearly $100 for a 10-minute taxi ride, you'd think that an enterprising taxi driver would take me up on my offer.
Nope.
What follows is a transcript of the conversation, except that it kept going back and forth between French and English, neither of which was very good on my side:
Taxi: I cannot take you to somewhere so close. I've been waiting for my turn for some time, and this is my last job of the night.It is not surprising to me that there was a bomb scare. I'm guessing someone threatened the taxi "service."
Me: So, I'll pay you more than if you took someone all the way into Paris.
Taxi: I couldn't do that.
Me: Why?
Taxi: That wouldn't be fair to you. I can't cheat you.
Me: I want to be cheated. I am happy to be cheated. See, I'm smiling? [At this point I was actually in a daze of anger and gibbering madness, but no matter.]
Taxi: I'm sorry. It wouldn't be right.
Me: $20?
Taxi: No.
Me: $50?
Taxi: No, that wouldn't be fair to you.
Me: $100? Please? I want to give you $100. That will make me happy.
Taxi: I'm sorry, but that would not be right. It's so close. You really should take the hotel shuttle. It is free.
Me: It's also not coming, as I've explained to you. [Mutters something not very righteous and stomps away.]
Anyway, we finally made it, but I'm reminded of all that I love about the US as Jen and I wait for our flight. In the US, there's always someone willing to take your money. :-)
6 comments:
I too love paying gargantuan amounts of money for things. Because as we all know I have gargantuan amounts of money to spend. I'll take you anywhere you want to go Matt. If you need a taxi somewhere just let me know. For $100 bucks I'll drive you and Jenny to a movie.
Ha ha, I would normally agree with you except that last night we tried to order a pizza and she insisted that if we want the family deal we HAVE to have two toppings on the pizza. We just wanted one. We said, "But that will save you guys money since you will only have to put one topping on when we are really paying for two." "No, we can't do that," she says. What is wrong with people!?
Matt, I promise the next time you try to give me money, I will take it. I love you, that's why.
In Argentina they would take your money and they would ask for even more if they could. Sigh----I was sort of suprised that they wouldn't take it in Paris. I love you MOM
Oh I am crying! I like traveling with you and Jen because you guys know how to handle every situation and get exactly what you want... or at least you used to.
Lots of empty seats, huh? Not a good sign for us being able to keep that SLC-Paris flight. I was on a Delta flight to Virginia last week that was about 2/3 full. I fly quite a bit, and I can't remember the last time I saw a plane that empty. Planes today are nearly always totally full, crowded, and uncomfortable. It was a blast from the past to have so many empty seats.
Trust me, cabbies are the same even in the States. I used to work at an office building that was literally four blocks across the street from the airport property. Obviously, it was much more than two blocks away from the actual airport terminal. But once you left "the airport", you were virtually at my office. It was a decent place to park (gated) when you went out of town. Yes, there happened to be a hotel with a shuttle next door. But that was odd because most of the time you'd be the only one getting picked up and, uh, you're not actually staying there? Uh, no. So I had to get in the taxi, tell them I was going to a certain city name. It was the correct city, I just didn't tell them where we were going until we were off the airport property. I finally figured out that my airport would issue them a "local trip" ticket/pass. It meant that they could take me to my destination and then get back in the front of the line when they returned.
Post a Comment