Steal our cab and you die, you rude person

So, here’s the thing. We were nearing the end of a train ride from Courtenay to Victoria yesterday. We often take the train in winter due to road conditions. And, as he always does as we approach the destination, the conductor asks if anyone wants a cab at the station. We did. Wendy gave her name to secure the cab, and that was that. We’ve done it many times before, since it’s a bit of a hike from the station to our apartment when you're hauling bags.

We get there, disembark, walk over to the cab area and there is a woman (who was on the train) climbing into 'our' pre-booked cab, and then they depart, leaving us standing there in the chill evening air with our bags. The complete and utter bitch! She knew it wasn’t her cab, but she was going to take it anyway. Unfortunately, the cabbie had neglected to ask for a name, but saw the woman and assumed she was his fare. The bitch, I repeat. The completely self-indulgent, sense of entitlement, it’s all about me, bitch.

We’d seen her on the train. She was 60-ish. She went to the restroom at least four times on the 130 mile journey, and spent about 15 minutes each time she was in there. People would gather jiggling outside while she was doing what? Showering? Hard to tell. She had more sense of entitlement than Hillary assuming it is her ‘right’ to be the next President of the US. We had her number.

What an insufferably rude society we have become. By that, I mean I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing. That doesn’t make me special, it only means I was raised to be heedful of the feelings of others. I was raised to be empathetic. I was raised to care about how my actions might impact others and, at all times, to be as honest in my dealings as I could. As I say, nothing special about that. It’s a mark of civil behavior.

But, some people ain’t got no couth. We see it around us all the time. We see pushing in line, we see road rage directed at poor sods who are following the highway rules, but are somehow impeding a brain-dead asshole whose destination and pace in getting there are more important than the safety and well-being of the hapless souls with whom he’s sharing the road.

We see it with air rage (which is often fueled by libation liberality on the part of airlines – why don’t they smarten up about proffering unlimited potables?) in which a drunken jerk proceeds to put everybody at risk at 35,000 feet because the world isn’t going his way.

For the cab-stealing bitch I’ll ask her to read the scenario through and see how her behavior might have played out. Let’s say we were forced to walk the 10 blocks (which we were), but let's also say I was mugged along the way, or Wendy was raped and I was stabbed on the process (the streets of Victoria aren’t particularly benevolent after dark). Her simple act of ‘me first’ could have turned the lives of two other people into a nightmare.

But, I’m sure she slept well. Such people always do.