It is Called ‘Choice’: Why I Do Not Use Non-National Taxi Drivers
There are a couple of words that are gnawing at me this evening. One is RACIST. The other is BULLYING.
‘Bullying’ has been used a lot of late because of the dreadful reports of young people who take their own lives as a direct result of cyber-bullying. It is a trend that our opportunistic politicians have been very quick to identify as a platform that they should be seen to be attached to. It’s a handy one for them. No one likes a bully. It’s a safe thing to say. It’s the kind of thing that our spectacularly cowardly gang of so-called representatives simply love. There’s no danger there.
Of course our politicians are so intellectually limited that they cannot see how they lead by example with their petty, 12-year-old, schoolyard antics in the Dail. They embarrass most of us grown- ups and I’m pretty sure that they equally embarrass our teenagers as well.
I had the weird feeling yesterday that I would be writing a very unusual article. I thought that for once I would be complimenting a politician on telling the truth; and not only a politician but a member of the Senate to boot. That of course was too much to hope for since the politician in question immediately backed down to the bullies of the Dail. Well, there were a few vested interests involved as well, of course. Be that as it may, these bullies all used that word that is equally safe in our increasingly timid and brow-beaten society: RACIST.
I’m talking of the Fianna Fail senator Paschal Mooney.
He had said in the Seanad that:
“It has gotten to the point, and I make no apologies for it, that I prefer to go to a local taxi driver rather than somebody who is obviously a non-national”.
So far, so good. That is his opinion and as a customer who has the right to choose there was absolutely nothing wrong with this statement.
I do exactly the same. I will always use my right to walk past a non-national taxi driver in order to find an Irish one. I’m not asking for this right, I’m taking it as something that I have. It’s called ‘choice’.
Mooney was challenged as to how he could know that a particular driver was non-nationalist by looking through a windscreen. The questioner obviously doesn’t use a cab from the rank late at night too often, that’s for sure. It is generally possible to guess who the non-national is because they’ll be the ones who are hanging out beckoning you over and then giving you dagger looks if you keep going. It’s something that is so simple that even a politician should be able to grasp it.
I am not naive. Before I moved to Galway I lived in Dublin for twenty years and know that some Irish taxi drivers can be the mouthiest, most infuriating that it is possible to sit in with. But perhaps because I’ve been lucky I have never had one try to rip me off.
Nor have I always behaved this way. Listen:
I have never sat into the cab of an Irish taxi driver and been confronted by a sign on the dashboard informing me that THIS IS A RACIST-FREE ZONE.
What the hell is that about? Talk about putting your passenger at ease! Are you having a laugh?
I have never had a local driver say to me, as soon as I have sat down, “You point, I go”.
Quite frankly I do not believe that it is racist of me to expect—when I am a paying customer—not to have to explain the geographical outlay of Galway to the worker who is supposed to be providing a service. I’d be equally put out if I walked into my local pub and asked for a pint of Carlsberg, only to be told: “Please point at tap. I will pour.”
To hell with that; that’s not being a racist, that is just how the service industry works—or at least should until you come up against a non-national taxi driver in Galway.
I don’t go on anecdotal evidence; I go on what has happened to ME. Several years ago I took—on two separate occasions—taxis from outside the Eye Cinema to my home in Oranmore. On both occasions the black—am I allowed to use that word, even?—taxi driver tried to charge me the guts of THIRTY EUROS! One was the beauty with the RACIST FREE ZONE sign in the front. On both occasions I asked politely that they turn their car around and take me down the road to the police station, where we could sort it out there. And yes, on both occasions I was told that I was a racist. They never turned around of course. I simply paid what I always pay and walked off. But twice was enough for me. After that it was a case of “never again”.
Since then I have spoken to non-national drivers who have told me that a few of them are their own worst enemies. I accept that; but still, unless I actually recognise the person, never again.
I would have had a lot of time for Paschal Mooney if he had stuck to his original statement; but no. He had to back down to bullying by his peers and by guys like Garrett Mullan of ‘Show Racism the Red Card’.
You are not a twelve year old who is being cyber-bullied, Mr. Mooney. You are a grown man who should grow a pair.
You might have been surprised at how many took your side.
Well Charley ,
I find myself agreeing with you once again , however my own reasons are somewhat different. I use taxis on a regular basis as well as working in the business and have come across some lovely cabbies,Laurento ( excuse the spelling) from spain, Paulo from Poland etc and many more.
However on one or two occasions I have used certain non national drivers and will never do so again. I was subjected to a journey full of derogatory remarks, innuendo, etc, simply because I am a female. I have never felt so uncomfortable or dare I say it SCARED.
While I am no shrinking Violet,having worked mostly with the male species of all nationalities,I have never felt so creeped out in all my life. So, I will be using my right to choose in the future and will make no apologies for it,after all if i got a dodgy meal in a restaurant I would not go back and that is my right. The taxi industry should be no different….. I wonder would the chef call me racist.
I think you’ve summed up my point perfectly. If you get a dodgy meal I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t matter to you whether it had been cooked by an Irishman or a green man from Mars. It’s all the same. It’s a dodgy meal.
I’m more than a little fed up with the race card being thrown every time you make a comment that is not to someone’s liking. As a matter of fact I’m fed up with tags being put on people full stop.
“Racist” has become this catch-all word for guys like Garrett Mullen who seem to want to believe that the world is made up of honey-suckle scents. And that ‘racism’ has never worked the other way around.
You say that you were actually SCARED. Well, there is one thing in this life I have learned and it is that no one– and I mean NO ONE–has the right to take away your peace of mind. That is a violation of you in a very fundamental way.
I’m guessing that you went home that night and fretted on what you should have done, what you should have said, how you could have handled it better by just saying: “Stop this taxi, I want to get out of it”.
But realistically, how COULD you have handled it better? The last option in particular is not usually practical, especially late at night. The plain fact is that you, the paying customer, should never have been put in the position where your peace of mind was taken from you in the first place.
Because I guarantee you that guy went home and slept just fine while you were probably awake half the night.
Well, to hell with this. I’m fed up with reverse racism. I consider that when I get in a cab and see a sign posted by the driver, telling me– someone whom he has never met in his life– that I’m in ‘a racist free-zone’, then he is making an immediate and ignorant judgement on who I am.
How far do you think I would get if I insisted that he take me right away to the nearest police station so that I can lodge a complaint against his racist attitude towards me?
You’re kidding, right? I’d be laughed out of the place; and from the point of view of the cops who have better things to do, then rightly so.
But that is reverse racism! I would only be taken seriously if I wasn’t white.
Now that is just plain wrong. So I will continue to walk past (and let me make it very specific here) black cab drivers until they clean up their own act. Because I know that there are good ones out there. It is up to them, however, to get it together with the planks who give them ALL a bad name. It’s not up to me. I’m the customer.
And I will say this one last time: it is my choice to do this. If it was an Irish prick who had upset me I would exercise the exact same right to NOT GET IN HIS CAB.
As for this ‘racist’ bullshit being thrown around, I never want to hear it again.
It is called CHOICE.
Charley,
You are right,I was very annoyed with myself for feeling this way. I like to think of myself as a tough cookie and well able to handle anything that comes my way but, when you hear the central locking going on firstly, the antenna goes up immediately. A woman on her own how threatening is that, did he think I was going to do a runner ?
Then the leering looks and remarks, I swear I would have asked him to stop except I had already told him the destination and I felt uneasy.
I am a woman in my forties for Gods sake not a young leggy blonde I actually dread to think what a younger ,more attractive lady would have been subjected to. We live and learn…Never again
I shouldn’t be of course, but I am really shocked by that. I am so sorry to hear of anyone being terrified in that way.
I am tempted to just let your remarks stand as they are; but I think that it is important to say to you that whether you were ‘a younger, more attractive lady’ or not, it would have made mo difference. It’s only power over you that these scum want.
So please, don’t be hard on yourself.
Take care.