Friday after close
Due to the misunderstanding between me and another cab, I had to match the energy of being followed and stared down with that type of energy. The only problem I saw with this, in hindsight, is I didn’t time it well.
I had just made some progress in restoring a person’s faith in pedicabs. She had been taken advantage of, scammed, by a few pedicabs in the past, and she was just in a frustrating conversation with another who kept ignoring her questions, for the sake of negotiating a ride she didn’t want.
I stepped in and answered some of her questions to the best of my knowledge. ( I learned later the other cab knew more of the info, just refused to tell her for fear they would just walk, [which was a valid fear since they wanted to walk]).
I had offered to take Brooke, who had strong Felicity Shagwell energy with the crochet dress, and her two friends a free ride, but a 3rd friend walked up putting the crew over the legal limit. I knew she was done talking to the other cabbers, and she didn’t want to prevent us from making money. I assured her, I was in my charity portion of the night, and what I was offering was a legit free ride, just to get me moving too. She grabbed one of the friends, I took them half a block for free, and agreed to bring them right back if they didn’t like the look of the place. As Brooke was looking for a few bucks to share, I told her it wasn’t necessary. She let me know it would maker her feel good to throw a little love back my way. In this moment the other pedicab rolls up and starts staring daggers our way.
When a dude follows ladies and stares that direction you learn quick working downtown that if you tell them loudly to fuck off, they almost always do, so I did just that. Turns out he was following me, not them. He tells me to calm down, I stay the course and yell back at him “Dude, you’re the one who followed me”. I don’t know about most people, but if I’m followed, that is aggressive behavior and my mirroring ass struggles to play nice with aggressive behavior. What I had lost sight of, is how this is affecting Brooke. This was not the right move on my part. I rarely yell, but when patterns match patterns I have seen before I will raise my voice. A number of seasoned downtown going people see it, and are here for it, understand that calculated fuck offs are part of urban life. This reinforces the perceived benefit of this behavior. Some folks aren’t here for it, and it will wreck the vibe. While I will still likely be ready to stand forcefully between a dude and ladies when being followed, I should have ignored him after the first fuck off until the ladies got inside the club.(When I am wrong about mirroring aggressive energy, it’s at worst a buzzkill like tonight, but if I’m right in my actions it can be a quick preventative solution).
This wasn’t the truly worst part. All this above nonsense is part of the profession, the worst part is when my brain told me, to ask Brooke to tell this guy what she told me, that she didn’t want to ride with him while she was getting he bag checked by the door guy. I should have already known from the earlier interaction, Brooke is the type to avoid all or most confrontation of any kind. And while this would have settled the dispute in question, it wasn’t her fight. When I saw her face, as I very much overstepped my bounds trying to find the quickest resolution, it was at that moment I knew I fucked up. What little progress I had made to restore her faith in pedicabs as being a fun form of worthwhile entertainment that also gets you where you’re going, was torn down and likely made unrepairable. When Brooke saw two grown men have an argument over something she didn’t really want to do in the first place, and then try to bring her in the middle of it, I saw in her eyes the confirmation of her feelings that pedicabs are to be avoided.
So for all this Brooke, I apologize. I can’t give you back the good vibe I had a part in ruining. I would offer a free ride the next time I saw you if I thought it would mean anything. (This is a legit offer if you decide to claim it) I know you’d just rather not deal with it, or pedicabs in general, since you had already sworn them off before all this.
With regret,
My sincerest apologies,
Your Favorite Pedicab (no longer).