August 31, 2007
The Other Day In A Cab
Those of us who dwell in large cities know that when we climb into a taxi cab, the odds are better than 90% that the driver will be a Muslim (American born cab drivers seem to be either retiring, being beamed up by Scotty or moving to the suburbs for one reason and another while few others enter the cabbie business) or at least someone from a Muslim country. North and Central Africans and Southwest Asians have been gradually taking over the front end of that industry.
One thing I’ve observed is that the vast majority of these cabbies seem to spend their entire shifts gabbling away in Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Berber or whatever on cell phones. Of course, most now wear those things you hang from your ear to conduct hands-free conversations (while I own a cell phone, I only do so for emergencies and for when I travel — I hate talking on the damn thing, and Verizon gets no OT from me, I use at most about 30-40 of the 400 minutes I pay for per month — I would never walk around with one of those headsets on, they make people look like mobile high tech communications centers or the evil mastermind in last year’s season of ‘24′. Some even make them look like they’re about to start singing “Like A Virgin”).
So the other day I was in a cab and in the mood for some amusement, and I interrupted one such driver’s never-ending conversation to ask him, “Do you know about assimilation?”
“Asseemeelation, what eez dees?” He inquired.
“You know, when you move to a new country, adopting its way of life as your own, that kind of thing.”
“I leev like American.” He said.
“That’s why I’m curious.” I told him. “I’ve always been told that manhood is important to guys from your part of the world, yet you seem to spend all day talking on your cell phones. Here in America, real men don’t spend hours and hours on the phone unless it’s part of their job. Here in America, only women do this.”
Which ticked him off to some extent, as he didn’t talk to me again.
He also stayed off the phone for the duration of the trip…
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=737
August 31st, 2007 at 9:56 am
[...] Zac Efron The Other Day In A Cab » This Summary is from an article posted at Hard Astarboard on Friday, August 31, 2007 This article’s contents are copywritten by the author of Hard Astarboard . Please click "View Original Article…" below to view the article. Summary Provided by Technorati.comView Original Article at Hard Astarboard » 10 Most Recent News Articles About Lindsay Lohan [...]
August 31st, 2007 at 11:40 am
Heh, surprized you didn’t tell the cabbie that real men don’t eat Fattoush. You raise a couple interesting questions: Why don’t these folks assimilate & howcome they all gravitate towards driving taxis? Which methinks may be that they are recent immigrants & taxicabs are easier to direct than camels.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:21 pm
They manage a lot of gas stations too, Seth. You even see them running gas stations out in the middle of the Mohave Desert. They’re everywhere!
Just so you know, I may be a rare bird, but I hate cell phones too. I also only use them for emergencies. Actually, phones of all sorts are an annoyance, but unfortunately they’ve becoming a necessity because our families are so scattered and no one actually writes letters anymore. Also, most of the people I know in real life are computer illiterate and don’t even know what e-mail is let alone how to use it.
We don’t have cabs where I live so I don’t run into Muslim cabdrivers, thank goodness. I guess I could call a cab from Temple, which is the city nearest to us, but I’d have to pay at least 200 bucks just for him to get out to our place. Not feasable. Nope, I’ll either drive or if push comes to shove, ride a horse.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:25 pm
I can only say that I’m glad I have to drive myself to work and back home; ’cause cabs don’t run in my ‘neck o’ the woods.’
I do appreciate your intervention in the cabby’s distracting use of communications while driving.
Glad you’re still getting a message out. Keep up the great work, Seth!
September 1st, 2007 at 2:26 am
BB —
I asked one of the only three gringo cabbies I’ve met here in Chicago (actually, he drives in suburban cities and towns) how this came to be, and he said that there are classes and tests to be taken in order to obtain a hack license. He told me that most American born cab drivers go into that line of work because they haven’t the education to do too much else, while Southwest Asian and North African “Asian” immigrants are usually better educated when they arrive here, and have little trouble scoring higher on the tests. As in numerous other jobs, many cities and states, mostly liberal ones, tend to pour on the licenses and knowledge requirements that are overkill for the jobs they represent. As such, the cabbie told me, a lot of drivers move to the suburbs, where there is less competition for finding work.
I think there are a few reasons why so many Muslims end up driving four wheeled passenger camels instead of bactiaries or your basic dromedary. I know a Moroccan, for example, who was a bank officer in the old country but couldn’t get a job like that here until he’d completed some additional education to acquire U.S. bankers’ skills. He was working in retail, now, I believe, he has gone back to college. Others in the same basic boat drive cabs because it’s better money and more freedom (also, there are a lot of female supervisors and managers out there, as one scenario goes, and there’s a little known fact that men of the Islamic persuasion tend to have a small problem taking orders from women) than doing anything else they might find to do.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:33 am
Gayle –
Uh oh, Muslims and flammable liquids…
One of the things that irritates me the most is that most of these Muslim cabbies really don’t assimilate from a work point of view.
American cabbies tend to keep their eyes open rather than gabble on cellphones, learning not only the streets of the city, but noticing which businesses are where.
For example, you get into an American’s cab downtown in a metropolis like N.Y., and say, “I want to go to a bar called The Snug. It’s on the upper West Side –”
“Yeah, I know the place.” interrupts the cabbie. “Small local joint up on Amsterdam, right?”
You get in a Muslim cab and tell the driver you want to go to places like Arturo’s or Bond 45, and he’ll ask you for a street address. He’ll have no clue as to where The Snug (a tiny little local watering hole but a great favorite of mine, by the way, when I’m in New York) might be.
Another difference between gringos and Muslims is in customer service. Not only do they have those unending, unsolicited by passengers, irritating cellphone conversations no fare wants to listen to, but…
…I tend to take a lot of cabs from airports to hotels, and while I have no problem with handling my own luggage, I’ve observed that all the American cab drivers I ride with tend to pop the trunk, get out of the cab and stow my luggage, while their Muslim colleagues, seeing luggage, simply pop the trunk and stay hunkered down behind the wheel without interruption of said gabbling away on the phone.
I imagine most Muslims find it demeaning to provide any more service than necessary to us infidels.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:44 am
Old Soldier –
Thanks!
I look forward to your completing that awesome home and returning from your hiatus. I miss your spot-on posts.
There’s yet another reason Mohammed’s Cabbies should refrain from excessive cellphone use: As professional drivers, they have a responsibility for the safety of their passengers, which means concentrating on the road, not on conversations with Achmed or their cousin Habib.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:51 am
Tsk, here you would be on someone’s hit list for being “something-ist” for a comment like that. My experience with men from the Middle East is that they suffer terminal withdrawal symptoms if you ask them to turn off their phones. There are few things worse than having to teach a class of these guys, not only do you have to watch your idomatic expressions and your gestures (some of them are insulted by your showing your palms) but you also have to cope with their phones rininging throughout - and their answering them!
September 1st, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Updated my blogroll - welcome aboard at Burkean Reflections!
September 1st, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Gray Monk –
Things are becoming so PC these days that they’d brand you a vicious racist and Islamophobe for simply suggesting that Osama bin Laden just might be a terrorist, or referring to a Muslim from Africa as anything other than an “Asian”.
The political left, in conjunction with various Islamic organizations, have discovered that they can use the courts to exclude Muslims from following rules that apply to everyone else.
Example:
White guy displays mildly suspicious behavior at airport. He is escorted away at once. Nothing more is said.
A bunch of imams put on an aggressive dog & pony show of suspicious behavior that scares the hell out of an entire planeload of passengers, and are taken off the aircraft.
Media coverage about the violation of these Muslims’ “civil rights”, and lawsuits fly in all directions.
It has gotten so nobody wants to “mess with” Muslims for fear of expensive (expensive, win or lose) lawsuits, and as a result, “the faithful” now have a free pass to do as they please and make whatever demands they wish on the rest of us, in our own countries, in order to make them feel more at home.
Politicians, who dread losing any potential votes, march right along with the rest of the parade.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Donald –
Thanks!
September 3rd, 2007 at 5:49 am
LMAO! Good job Seth. The fact that these guys think so little of women ticks me off. Just like my ex. He would do the opposite of what I suggested for just that reason. He went broke, but… he never took any orders from a woman!
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:16 am
Lone Pony –
Years ago, I was involved with a local retail chain in San Francisco. We had several male Arab Muslim employees. My immediate boss was a sort of dictatorial Mexican lady who had worked for the company since coming to the U.S. 12 years or so earlier, from a poor village that didn’t even have indoor plumbing.
While she and I frequently locked horns over my employee friendly management style (I was known to countermand some of her more aggressive “disciplinary” measures from time to time), she could not fire me as I was there at the pleasure of the company’s owners.
She was, however, very sharp, could think on her feet, solve problems instantly and proactively and was an asset to the firm. Despite our usually being at odds, I found myself on more than a few occasions having to intercede on her behalf when Arab male employees were making it plain to her that they didn’t take orders from women, no matter who they were.
The ones who got tired of my sending them home for the day or having them taken off the schedule for several days either quit, or gritted their teeth and went with the program (the American one, that is). Needless to say, whenever I did something like that, I got wide-eyed stares from employees who’d rarely seen me treat any offenses, even insubordination, that “summarily”.
Most of the Arabs ended up leaving the company to drive cabs, anyway — one of them, who evidently had more class than his brethren, went to work driving a long black limo-camel.
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Your response to my comment is very interesting, Seth. I didn’t know all that. I could surmise, of course, that they (Muslim cabbies) didn’t know the city as well as American drivers, but I didn’t know they were addicted to cell phones and wouldn’t carry your luggage. How arrogant these people have proven themselves to be. Reminds me of all the lawyers I know.
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Before any lawyer comes in and gets ticked off, I didn’t mean all lawyers… just the ones I know personally. Arrogance is their middle name!
September 4th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Gayle –
Like all too many of today’s crop of immigrants, these guys aren’t here to assimilate into our society and become Americans, they are only here because it’s easier to make money and live more comfortably in the U.S. To them, the American way of life is merely an inconvenience they need only circumvent until their advocacy groups, in conjunction with the political left, have brought down or otherwise changed our system.
Lawyers: Whether as politicians or through the courts, these critters man the front lines of the ongoing erosions of our country’s morals, culture, spirituality, public safety and national security.
September 4th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
LOL…. thanks Seth… I needed a good laugh, and if I ever take a cab, which I wouldn’t up here, I’ll have to try that.
September 5th, 2007 at 6:51 am
[...] Hard Astarboard [...]
September 5th, 2007 at 7:24 am
AB –
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, I may well make it my SOP for certain ca(mel)b drivers.
September 5th, 2007 at 11:39 am
LOL!..youre a brave man Seth!..next time I hail a cab
I will share it with u! ha
September 5th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Way to get the Muzzie off the phone and his eyes back on the road lol
September 5th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Angel –
Sharing a cab would also reduce our camel footprint, which should make Muslim Democrats (now that’s an oxymoron) happy.
Marie –
Yup. In other words, make him do his job, and let him enjoy his “friends & family” cell phone account on his own time.