Blogslapping

When reporting on passengers behaving badly I’m forever changing identifying details in order they remain anonymous. Yet at times I really wonder why they don’t deserve public shaming. For example, consider the following passenger from last night’s shift...

Around midnight at a beachside hotel (there I go again, omitting the hotel name) a party of three, two women and a bloke climbed in for Kings Cross. The same crowd mentioned in last Sunday’s report, the 'Sunday is the new Saturday' mob. Sure enough, within minutes the alpha female demanded music. ‘Tunes !’, she barked. ‘Give us some tunes !’, then resumed big-noting to her new best girlfriend sharing the back seat.

The fella up front leaned down to the radio and I left him to it, not realising he was too pissed to even find the volume. When no music was forthcoming the alpha-female, oblivious to the blokes failed attempt to operate a car stereo yelled, ‘Where’s the fuckin’ music !? We’re paying for this cab - we want music and we’ll have fuckin’ music !’.

Standard stuff from this crowd, amped on booze and pub noise before heading to hard core clubbing with the prospect of pills and wild sex. And for some, I’m a nobody, just a bloody interruption half-way through their night out. Well, I’m not 'just a bloody cabbie', I’m a blogging cabbie and could have her story online before she hit the dance floor. Such as...

This image shows a party of three who’ve just alighted from my cab in Kings Cross. The (hair colour) woman was a total arsehole. Besides mistakenly abusing me for failing to provide music, she spent the entire trip bragging to her younger companions she’d met at (beachside) Hotel. ‘I work in the (boutique health) industry three day per week. Every day I run on (trendy) Beach then hit the cafés for a leisurely breakfast. I own (many) investment apartments. I buy crap units and spend (minimal) bucks on a cheap renovation and then rent them to students. They don’t know any better, ha, ha, ha. I’m only (wrong side of thirty) years old but I’m worth (more than two) million bucks. I, I, me, me, blah, blah, blah...where’s the fuckin’ music !?’.

A post around six hundred characters, well short of the thousand characters allowed on my mobile phone moblogging tool. Such a moblog would take some twenty minutes to compose and transmit direct to Cablog, whilst waiting at Kings Cross rank for the next fare. But I never do it, so immune have I become to these clowns. Or maybe I’m just too chicken to take the inevitable flak, once they become aware of their public shaming. Though boy, I’m sometimes sorely tempted.

Someone who doesn’t tolerate inconsiderate public behaviour is Amy Alkon, the famous Advice Goddess columnist in the US who is also known as a blogslapper of ‘assclowns’. Recently, Amy was so annoyed by a ‘cell phone shouter’ in a LA café, she immediately posted personal details of the assclown's conversation to her weblog. The icing on the cake was the assclown receiving calls directing her to Amy’s post, using the phone number she’d haplessly broadcast to all and sundry. Fittingly, one of Amy’s mottos is -revenge is the best revenge.

Indeed, shaming websites catering for pissed-off victims of public arseholes are springing up with a vengeance. Check this Wall Street Journal article, inspired by Amy’s experience for a list of blogslapping websites. One potential site not yet created could cater for the common problem of locals and families terrorising the neighbourhood.

An old friend lives in what was once an idyllic rural subdivision, now a rural nightmare due to the recent arrival of outright bogans. Similiar to the famous chav in England who won a Lotto motza and upon purchasing an exclusive property proceeded to turn the joint into a speedway and wrecking yard, complete with savage dogs and friends to suit.

However my friend’s story involving threats, assaults, AVO’s, videocams, et al is a long one and I’m trying to tempt him into creating a terrorist-neighbours shaming website. When it happens, you’ll hear about it.

Oh, almost forgot, for my American readers - have you ever booked a taxi and not waited ? Beware of taxi-bunko site, your phone number may be black-listed.

UPDATE : Neighbours from Hell in Britian. Feel free to post in comments any 'neighbours from hell' encounters.

Comments

[Fabian]

How would they find out that they have been shamed?

Assuming that they find out, public shaming may be desirable, but the risk of being threatened with a defamation suit creeps in....

[Anthony]

Let me guess: the Coogee Bay?

[Lee]

Great post, Adrian....some people are so up themselves it's a wonder they don't turn inside out!
And with the size of their mouth it's a wonder there's any oxygen left for the rest of us!

You should be commended for your self-control...I doubt I could be as controlled as you appeared to be in the face of that banshee!

[Ben]

I live in an older area of my small regional city, where the only disturbance is the occasional ambulance turning up nearby to give one of the many elderly longterm owner-occupiers in the area a lift to the other side. Until recently, that is. Bogans (let's call them "The Aus-bournes") have moved directly across the road from us and since then it's been a constant barrage of barking (sadly through neglect) dogs, V8 'comma-daws' dropping burnouts, 2am arguments and regular police visits.

What am I supposed to do about it? Well, they're renting, so I could call the real estate agent and lodge a complaint, but that might anger our new neighbours. And besides, if these tossbags had enough collective brain cells to apply for and obtain a lease, then the next tennants could be even worse...

[Other James]

Ben: Complain, complain, complain. They won't know it is you. The best thing you can do is use all the resources available to you (cops, rental agents, etc) to make life as uncomfortable as possible for them.

I once lived next to some terrible trash who played awful music all hours day and night, had drunken rows, and so on, and it was really affecting all of our mental and physical health, until finally I just started getting the cops around every time they showed a hair on their ass. They don't get friendlier but they did quieten down. You have the right to peace and quiet.

[adrian]

Good point Fabian and yes, if it can be proven a reputation is damaged.
Ab, sorry, can't help you.

[ab]

Sorry Adrian - I know I need help ;}} but I don't recall asking for any - what are you referring to?

Re Amy Alkon, that was so opportunistic & unethical, I know you'd never do something like that unless a person was completely morally vaccuous. Sometimes business happens on the run & I think people have a right not to have their personal space invaded just because they make a phone call in a loud cafe - that's just a disgrace. There's an excellent Perth lawyer who specializes in internet defamation and actually created a precedent in relation to suing successfully for it.