April 21, 2008
TTC Strike Avoided, Conservative Election Fraud Scandal, and Hooray For The Toronto FC Not Sucking
No TTC strike! Now we can all rest easy, content that we will continue to have access to the same below-par underfunded service we all know and love. (More details here.)
Elections Canada has accused the Tories of violating federal elections law. The Conservative Party apparently overspent by over one million dollars during the last election and intentionally filed misleading statements in its returns. The Conservative party responded by pointing out that a million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to, you know, and besides, they didn't even get a majority so what are people complaining about, huh?
Toronto cabbies are demanding a fare increase. The rising price of gas is rapidly cutting into their ability to make a living, even when they pretend to not hear you and take Bloor during rush hour.
It's now officially legal to use a clothesline. Unless you live in a condo or apartment building, due to safety concerns. (What safety concerns? Are they worried about people emulating the Die Hard movies and pulling a John McClane to use the clotheslines as emergency escape routes?)
Danica Patrick has become the first woman to win an IndyCar race. Now we finally know for sure that women can waste fuel in the name of meaningless spectacle just as expertly as men can.
Finally, Toronto FC won its home opener this weekend, bringing its record this season to 2–2, which means they already have one-third as many wins as they got all last season.
Photo by votreceinture from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
|
My favourite cabbie ploy?
When they ask, "So do you want to take College Street?" and you reply, "Sure, that's the most direct route to where I need to go." And then you get on College and traffic is at a standstill because there is construction.
And then you say to the guy, "It's totally gridlocked! Why did you take College?" and they say, "That's the street you told me to take."
"You didn't tell me that there was construction!"
"You didn't know?"
Classic.
I'd sure like to go to a Toronto FC game, too bad they're all sold out. This is like the Leafs all over again.
I've only recently started noticing cabbies pulling that kind of slow route nonsense; I guess I had better luck my first few years in the city.
So guess what? You want to be a dick and take a route with the most left hand turns at the slowest lights? You don't get a tip.
Bad cabbies (and not all cabbies are bad) who pull that kind of stuff need to remember that the service they are providing me is a safe, efficient ride to my destination and if I didn't get that, either because you took the long way or because you nearly killed three cyclist getting me there, I don't tip.
Are enough people exercising this right as a consumer?
LOL I thought I was the only one who tipped like that. I don't appreciate incompetence in cabbies. Part of their job is to know the most efficient and safest way to get to their customer's destination. So if they want to try to screw me over they can forget a tip.
My first visit to Toronto in 2000, I had a cabbie argue with me about not providing him a tip. I had to gently remind him that almost hitting pedestrians in the crosswalk basically negated him getting any tip from me.
It should be noted, however, that if you tell them a route, that's what they're supposed to stick with. Plus, from what I gather with the gazillion taxi rides I've taken, cab drivers don't like to be stuck in traffic any more than you do. The money is in cab occupation + long distances, not sitting still in a traffic jam.
I just had an experience like this last week with a taxi driver! I didn't tip him because he drove me on a 5-dollar detour (his doing not mine!) and then drove up the shoulder of the 401 to cut people off. I appreciate he was trying to make up for his detour but I expect the taxi to obey the rules of the road.
It felt weird not to tip but I was really disappointed in his driving.
did he get off of his phone to do that?
probably not.
My favourite was the cabby who, when I asked him to go from Bloor & Spadina to Dundas & Jane started to head south because he didn't know that Dundas crossed north of Bloor.