&games

Frequently passengers will ask me if it is difficult dealing with drunks all the time. I have developed a standard response:

"Have you ever been in a bar and seen a complete asshole? The guy who wants to fight, or who is too loud and obnoxious, or who is just generally an asshole?"

The passenger responds with, "Yes, of course."

To which I respond, "You can bet that that guy is drinking and driving. It would never occur to him to take a cab. Generally, taxi passengers are the more responsible drunks. They rarely cause any trouble at all."

While I stand by that general statement, I have found it needs tweaking.

This time of year, that being the company-Christmas-party season, I find it to be less true.

Over the years I have noticed that more bad drunks are taking cabs this time of year and the incidence of bad drunks seems to revolve around company Christmas parties. I hypothesize that the bad drunks are taking cabs when they leave the company Christmas party instead of driving themselves in order to keep appearances with their co-workers and bosses. Every other time during the year when they get drunk they drive themselves home. When the boss is watching they are responsible.

I should clarify that by "bad drunk" I don't mean someone who is merely falling-down-drunk, a puker, passed out, or even too drunk to remember his address. By "bad drunk" I mean the drunk people who want to fight, are unbearable assholes (or bitches), don't want to pay, or who are otherwise very obnoxious.