People! Aren’t they just awesome! I mean good heavens! In Taxi world we see all kinds; the good, the bad, and the ugly. And they all vary just as much as the clothes they put on their backs. Let’s start with the good.
It’s 2am in the morning, you are parked on a pavement just about anywhere in this hellhole that is Nairobi doing any of the three things that all Taxi drivers cannot help doing. Sleeping, napping (please note there’s a difference between the two), or simply stressing over things that really never happen anyway.
Out of nowhere, a car pulls up by your side and the guy behind the wheel smiles at you and asks for a hand in changing a flat tyre. You oblige and a moment later they speed off leaving you with that silly look on your face without as much as a thank you! Or perhaps a tap on your window rouses you from that snooze.
The man on the outside wants to know if he can “hire” your vehicle for a couple of hours! Sure he can, but not at two in the morning! So you motion him to get a life. He doesn’t budge; in fact, he has another idea, or, is it, approach.
He reaches for his back as though for the wallet but instead pulls out that metallic thing and points it straight in your face then politely asks you to lower your window or else he sends you on a one-way ticket straight to hell! Again you oblige, see, guys with guns always win.
Enter the bad. It’s Wednesday evening and you are driving one of your corporate female clients home from work when you happen to pass by a shopping mall and she decides you stop-by just so she can “grab’ a few things she’s been meaning to. She invites you to join her.
Naturally, you are excited (see, taxi drivers never get invited for anything, not even fundraisings). Now imagine being invited to a supermarket by what looks like a supermodel!
It’s like throwing a birthday party for a village kid full with cakes, candles, balloons and everything. Anyway, as it turns out all she, correction, all they ever want is someone to push that shopping cart for them while they try on the different make-up, clothes, shoes and what not after which they always leave the place with either; ice cream, chocolate or frozen yoghurt, all in one hand while the other clutches onto the wallet and smart phone.
The kicker in all this, however, is the part where they actually leave you behind struggling with all those shopping bags while they go sit pretty in the car taking selfies before uploading them on social media hash-tagging everything. It’s always fun. And no, I’m not complaining at all!
Lastly, we have the ugly. These ones walk around in oversized, worn out yellow coats and clamps in hand with an attitude straight outta hell. Call them local authorities. Moto kama pasi!
