Coping with taxi drivers
In my job I get regularly sent all over the place by taxi. The time spent in the taxi alone with the driver is really difficult because I don't feel I can just sit and not say anything and once I start to speak I tend to try to say the kind of things that I think a normal person expects to hear and end up telling the driver a load of private information about myself which I had no reason to tell him about at all and which he certainly didn't want to hear and then I have to extricate myself from the mess I've got myself into and give a whole load of explanations about all the odd information I've told him about which certainly weren't the kind of things an average person would have wanted to hear in the first place anyway. Which is not good. So what I try to do now is to pretend I'm under great time-pressure to complete some incredibly urgent paperwork during the journey. I bury myself (not literally) in my papers and look intently at words and phrases as if I was checking out something incredibly important and difficult. That's embarrassing, too, because it's often the same taxi drivers week after week and they must think I'm totally disorganised and unprepared for my job.
(I've just realised there's already a thread on a closely related topic. Sorry.)
Mummy_of_Peanut
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I hate being in an enclosed space with someone and nobody is talking. So, I actually prefer the chatty drivers to the silent ones. If I try to keep the conversation to holidays, the weather or kids, the journey is fine. But, I'd much rather take the bus or train.
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Mummy_of_Peanut
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I don't particulary like chit-chat either, but it's definitely preferable to a discussion about immigrants, etc with a stranger.
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"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiatic about." Charles Kingsley
Mummy_of_Peanut
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I don't know about the OP, but I'm not an introvert. Sitting in silence, when someone is so close, does not come naturally to me and I have an overwhelming urge to speak (otherwise it's just uncomfortable).
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"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiatic about." Charles Kingsley
The last time I was in a taxi it was on the way to the train station and the driver talked endlessly to the person with me and not to me. I thought he would never stop. Some people are very uncomfortable with silence.
The easiest way to deal with it is to act like you are not interested in talking with them. If you have a cell phone, start fiddling with it. No need for papers. Some people even pretend like they are on their cell when they aren't to avoid having a conversation. If I ever did that, I would just mutter an "uhhuh" every once in a while since making up stuff to say is even worse than talking to the plebs.
What I really hate are intrusive questions they ask about my personal life, career, etc. If they stuck to non personal topics I would feel more comfortable but I hate being pumped for information. I am still waiting for one of them to ask me what my social security number is. They get way too personal for my liking.
(I've just realised there's already a thread on a closely related topic. Sorry.)
Oh! Oh! This post is RIGHT up my alley. I spent a few years as a taxi driver, so perhaps this might help you:
Taxi drivers pick up all sorts of people. You name the type, I've had them in my cab. I have seen EVERY form of mental, psychological, and "normal" personality types. Once anyone has driven a cab for about six months, NOTHING surprises you, and most of the more whacked things don't even phase them. Those that are phased don't last six months. They quit.
Trust me, the drivers really don't care. It part of the job. Don't worry about it. They've seen much, MUCH more than you can possibly imagine.
What you're describing here is what I would refer to as a "shoulder-shrugger." No big deal. I've got PLENTY of stories that stand out a hell of a lot more than this does. I've had a lot of customers just like you, and I don't remember any of them.
The ones I DO remember?
Some of those stories would make your hair curl.
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I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...
Why not? Really the only thing on the driver's mind is where to pick you up, where to drop you off, and where the next fair is.
The only fairs that stick in a driver's mind are the ones that stand out. Drivers don't forget the couple that had sex in the back seat, or the ones that sexually accost them, the guy that puked in the car, the hooker that offered a "freebie" in exchange for a ride, the schizophrenic with the "FBI file," etc. etc.
The people that do nothing more than talk about themselves, no matter how "normal" they may seem or not, are just lumped in with everything else that happens between picking them up and dropping them off. When you deal with as many passengers as cabbies do, passengers are somewhat like packages that talk. What most of them say goes in one ear and out the other, with few exceptions.
Being a cab driver is a lot like being a bartender on wheels, without the bar. Part of the job is just listening, or at least pretending to listen.
_________________
I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...
Ichinin
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If you really just don't want to talk to them at all, just say, "I'm in kind of a mood, and would rather not talk if you don't mind. Can we just get there please?"
I've had plenty of fairs who have done that too. Trust me, you WON'T be the first fair that's ever done it. They will just blow it off as "part of what happens (or doesn't happen) between here and there."
It's really NO big deal, either way.
BTW, the same situation works in reverse. Imagine being the driver and not being in the mood to engage in small talk. Try dealing with THAT! You guys only have to deal with it between the pick up and the drop off. Imagine being the DRIVER, in the mood your in, having one (thankfully) quite fair, but having to look forward to dozens of others who are probably going to talk your freaking ear off about all kinds of garbage you don't give a crap about!
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I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...
A) Walk
or
B) Offer them some money if they drive you to your destination without chit-chat.
Pay them not to talk? Why not say, "I don't feel like having a conversation if you don't mind?" Or would that just piss them off? I am afraid to say something like that to hair stylists because they are standing very near with a sharp object.