Hysterical

Due to a buggered cab I'm currently off work, so here's a tale from last weekend...

Well after midnight at a quiet suburban rank a fight broke out over queue jumping, despite there being half a dozen vacant cabs and no other passengers!?

The participants were two young guys in the blue corner and a young couple in the red, all of Asian descent. Alcohol was involved, of course, mixed with fake pride and bravado.

From the back of the rank I heard a commotion, raised voices followed by a girl’s squealing. And if the following twenty minute melee was memorable for anything it was this girl’s guttural and primeval screams, at full volume, at two o’clock in the morning.

As I wandered up to see what the other cabbies were laughing about she threw herself to the ground at her boyfriend’s feet, in an attempt to block his movement. But he was a big guy and simply side-stepped her, so she commenced a frenzied lashing out with her feet, coupled with blood-curling screams.

This pantomime carried on whilst the two other guys commented from the sidelines, which I learned later were taunts and threats to the boyfriend. He responded by ripping his shirt to pieces and further freaking the girlfriend when they moved into the tunnel.

Next came the frightening roar of a Rottweiler security dog which, fortunately for everyone, was restrained by a hotel bouncer. So for the next ten minutes the guys yelled, the girl screamed and the dog roared as lunges and blocks occurred between the half-willing scrappers.

By the time the security guards forced them from the subway I’d made point car. Yet when the guards attempted to load the young couple into my cab I locked the door and refused entry.

I wasn’t interested as the boyfriend was bare-chested and totally enraged and she continued throwing herself to the ground, screaming, every time he made to confront the young fellas. “There must be something in the fuckin’ Constitution," he protested, "against being hit in the face for no fuckin’ reason.” Quite.

Finally I allowed the two young guys, the blue corner, to board, by now standing idly by and eyeballing the infuriated boyfriend. They climbed in and said, “Let’s go, here comes the police.”

“What happened?” I asked. “Aw, we were about to get in the taxi when that idiot pushed in, showing off to his girlfriend. So we called him out. He thought he was a hard c..., but fuck him, we gave him a smack in the mouth.” At every opportunity, it seemed.

After dropping them in a quiet neighbourhood, the cab radio came to life. The operator requested details of the drop-off, whether it was a house or a unit block. “Stand by,” she ordered. Evidently she was responding to a police directive and had monitored our trip with the GPS, camera and microphone.

Obviously the aggrieved participant was insisting the police enforce ‘the Constitution’. Though all concerned can thank the hysterical young woman's performance which quite possibly averted a lethal outcome.

Comments

[Rainer.the.cabbie]

All I can say is that you are keen Adrian, I steer away from Idiots like these, no matter what my position on a rank is. My experience is that dickheads like that don't care if you are the cabbie taking them home or the person they just fought, all they want to do is steer up trouble.
Pity about the cab, nice weather though, and you are not missing a great deal.

[Paradise Driver]

Lets face it. If you had taken the "red corner" the ride would have last 30 seconds or 30 meters. Whichever came first. You know she didn't quit screaming.

[Goldstein]

God, that screaming.. not too good for the ol' PTSD -I'd be tempted to park the cab on her just to shut her up..

[Cazzie]

Wow, that girl sure did have a great set of lungs! Life never gets dull does it? I am a nurse and I get to see these sort of people on any given night in the Emergency Department. Joe public calls the ambo's or the police and the people making drunken/drugged commotion get dragged on in. Sadly, that sort of screaming comes through with them and frightens the living daylights out of the other patients :(