Someone please explain this "not ever using taxi ever ever" thing to me

System

missbiggles1 wrote: »

My parents were just like this, taxis were luxuries that were only used for very special occasions, not for normal life.

It's not even a generational thing either, before I learned to drive at the age of 50, I took taxis quite often and lots of people thought this was really extravagant. If I'd run a car at the time it would've cost enormously more money but they'd've considered that perfectly normal.

My parents are the same, they just do do taxis.

Personally i never used to until i came to uni, where i found it was quite often cheaper to split a taxi with friends to get places, that said i think taxis here in the city are much cheaper than back home in a small town. I remember going back home and was going to get a taxi from the station but it would have cost a lot more there than for a shorter journey back here.

thorsoak

BillTrac wrote: »

Nothing to do with extravagance. I don't need to penny-pinch but if he's like me he will detest paying good money to cab companies here who employ a crap driver who can't speak our language and doesn't know where the !!!! he's going. :mad:

That's extremely judgmental! The cabbies in the area in which I live now - and also the area where I used to live have in the main, been born and grown up in the area in which they work - and have been extremely efficient and helpful.

If they aren't, I've complained to the company - and not used it again.

tootallulah

I don't have a car and take the view that if I did it would probably cost about £150 per month for fuel, tax, insurance etc. If I need a cab I take one and have never spent anywhere near £150. And I find the taxi drivers in my town, efficient helpful, kind and knowledgeable. But my Mum who drives everywhere is horrified by the cost of an individual fare and just wouldn't use a taxi because of the cost. It is a mind set and you either have it or you don't.

Ames

Primrose wrote: »

I wonder if, although he says it's a money extravagance issue, actually something completely different and that is a self confidence thing. Could he actually be internally scared of summoning a taxi and issuing somebody else, ie another worker, with an order to perform a transaction for him?

If he has never been in a position of authority in his working life and sees himself as "working class" it could feel a very alien thing for him to be doing. Explain to him that it's really no different to employing a painter or decorator or plumber or electrician to perform a task for payment.

I have a feeling there is a reverse "class" issue hidden away in here somewhere where he's not admitting that he doesn't feel comfortable issuing an instruction to somebody of his own working class. It's a shame because he's missiing out on real pleasure and wasting season ticket money into the bargain. Could he get somebody to go along with him in a taxi for the first couple of times then it wouldn't feel such an alien experience. Maybe it,s the process of tipping the driver that is freaking him out?

IIRC, Paul's dad won't pay for those either.

System

OP your Dad is not going to pay for a taxi if he can get you to take him for free.

If you cant take him, he'll use it as a stick to beat you with.

Savvy_Sue

Primrose wrote: »

I wonder if, although he says it's a money extravagance issue, actually something completely different and that is a self confidence thing. Could he actually be internally scared of summoning a taxi and issuing somebody else, ie another worker, with an order to perform a transaction for him?

If he has never been in a position of authority in his working life and sees himself as "working class" it could feel a very alien thing for him to be doing. Explain to him that it's really no different to employing a painter or decorator or plumber or electrician to perform a task for payment.

I have a feeling there is a reverse "class" issue hidden away in here somewhere where he's not admitting that he doesn't feel comfortable issuing an instruction to somebody of his own working class. It's a shame because he's missiing out on real pleasure and wasting season ticket money into the bargain. Could he get somebody to go along with him in a taxi for the first couple of times then it wouldn't feel such an alien experience. Maybe it,s the process of tipping the driver that is freaking him out?

That could well be part of it. And I don't know if this is a problem for Paul's dad, but one of my siblings suggested that our very deaf mother might be extremely reluctant to use taxis because she was worried she wouldn't be able to hear what the driver was saying.

RuthnJasper

BillTrac wrote: »

Nothing to do with extravagance. I don't need to penny-pinch but if he's like me he will detest paying good money to cab companies here who employ a crap driver who can't speak our language and doesn't know where the !!!! he's going. :mad:

Bit uncalled for. Echo Thorsoak's post.

wannabe_sybil

Judi wrote: »

OP your Dad is not going to pay for a taxi if he can get you to take him for free.

If you cant take him, he'll use it as a stick to beat you with.

I think this is the exact crux of it.

Paul - you cannot ever, ever win.

Savvy_Sue

wannabe_sybil wrote: »

Paul - you cannot ever, ever win.

Or understand.

Before he died, there was talk of my dad having some minor surgery, I don't remember what but it was a day procedure. They were very annoyed that it couldn't be done at the local hospital, or at least, not in a timely fashion. "How am I expected to get to X by 8 am? I need to go in the night before."

My suggestions of traveling the night before and staying overnight in a hotel were not well received. Taxis would have been necessary, to get to the train station if not for the whole journey. It would have been expensive, and inconvenient. But it might have improved Dad's health! You would have thought, however, that this procedure, at this hospital, had been suggested just to inconvenience them ...

margaretclare

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Or understand.

Before he died, there was talk of my dad having some minor surgery, I don't remember what but it was a day procedure. They were very annoyed that it couldn't be done at the local hospital, or at least, not in a timely fashion. "How am I expected to get to X by 8 am? I need to go in the night before."

My suggestions of traveling the night before and staying overnight in a hotel were not well received. Taxis would have been necessary, to get to the train station if not for the whole journey. It would have been expensive, and inconvenient. But it might have improved Dad's health! You would have thought, however, that this procedure, at this hospital, had been suggested just to inconvenience them ...

The days of being admitted to hospital the day/night before surgery are long since gone. Logically, taxi that morning would have been the most sensible option.

I recently had a 'procedure' in the local endoscopy unit and that involved not eating or drinking from the previous night and getting to the unit for 8.15 am. DH drove me there, but if he hadn't been around or if I'd had no other transport, taxi would have been the obvious solution. I wouldn't have given it a thought. I certainly wouldn't have spent time and mental energy on worrying about it.

Incidentally, we went on holiday to Alicante year before last. The local airport is half a mile away. Too far for us to walk - like Paul's Dad - and airport parking is costly. Cheapest option? Airport taxi.

The point I'm struggling to get at, really, is that I'm the same age-group as Paul's Dad and probably Sue's Dad too.