Grrrrrr

You  may be able to tell from the title of this post that I am not a happy bunny! I had to make the trip into London today.  Now I have worked out a method that allows me to make this journey without completely kicking my butt on the physical front. I take the train from from my local station right into St Pancras no issue here it is a breeze. Then I take a cab from St Pancras to Waterloo to avoid the tube and the 1 mile walk from St Pancras. I then take a train from Waterloo to Richmond (this is where my office is located).  So, the last leg of the trip from the station to the office is a 10-12 minute walk for the average person. However, for those of us who use a cane or other device to assist our walking it is a difficult walk.  Loads of cobblestones and old pavements (sidewalk) for the American readers. I opt to take a cab the short distance to be safe. The issue arises here. Due to the fact that this is a very short trip for a cabbie many of them are not very happy to take me. Some of the drivers have even been rude and borderline abusive, today I got one of those guys. I am always nice and I apologise in advance for the hassle. This I still not enough for some people. My driver today told me sarcastically that I “had mad his day!” (which is ironic considering my earlier post this morning), he went on to say he had waited at that rank for an hour and now what was he going get for it? “nothing!”  I apologised again but it made no difference. Besides being polite I also always pay them more than the metered fare.  I’m not sure what more I can do. I need a cane to walk, believe me if I had a choice I would love for it to be otherwise. Also, there are parts of all of our jobs that we don’t like but you deal with them. How many of us could get away with complaining to a customer for giving us business regardless of the size of the job. If we did complain I’d hazard to say we wouldn’t have that job for long.  So, what did I do.? Did I give the guy my standard over the odds fare? Or did I give him some abuse back, which would have been difficult as he was still complaining! I chose to take the higher road. The fare came to £3.40 so I gave him £10.00 in the hopes that he stops to examine his behaviour and doesn’t treat the next disabled person or anyone else that way in the future. I was hoping that when I gave him the tenner that he might say something.  Bets please…what do you think he said? Drumroll please…he said NOTHING!!  As I stood there with my mouth hanging open I thought “so much for teaching this guy a lesson” and I felt like a total prat. Upon reflection though I still think it was the right thing to do any who knows maybe he did think about after he drove off…I sure hope so.