Taxi Humor

So, I have learned in our short time in Greece, that you never know what you are going to get when you call a taxi. A week and a half ago, we called one to take us to the Embassy. The guy got here, spoke no English and proceeded to take a different way than we had ever been. He ended up on a dead end street, going the wrong way. He quickly backs up, almost hitting a pedestrian and other cars...He makes several more wrong turns, goes the wrong way down a one-way street, TWICE, then ended up on another road, speeding around a car, only to have to slam on the breaks at the light, making the car he zoomed around slam on their brakes so they wouldn't hit us! Kayla and I easily get car sick, so I pulled out some gum to help with the trip. When we got to the Embassy, I was shaking. I literally felt like we had taken our lives into our own hands. I didn't go anywhere for the next week and a half, I did not want to have to deal with another taxi.

Today, we called another taxi. We get in and he is watching us closely as we put on our seatbelts. We get started down the road and he starts saying something in Greek about the seatbelts, which I didn't understand (and we all had them on!). So, he looks back at us again and says "No, no no!" and pulls the taxi over. He then starts saying something (in Greek) about the seatbelt and pointing toward the bottom of Kayla's chair. So we of course think we have plugged the seatbelt into the wrong place and Kayla unbuckles her seatbelt and we start looking. He proceeds to get out of the cab and goes around to Kayla's side of the taxi and starts pressing some button that is between her legs. She gets out of the cab and he pulls the seat up a bit...it's a booster seat!!!!!!!!!! I start laughing, I couldn't help it. He motions her to get back in the cab and she looks at me and says with all the preteen anguish she can "Really!?" I'm like "Shh." I didn't want to offend him, but I seriously thought it was sooooo funny!!! My child, who is almost as tall as me (literally!), and he starts with her and puts her in a booster seat! She has not been in a booster in years!

 

Then, he says the other side is the same. I tell Elijah "Quick, trade places with me!"(He was in the middle seat) before the driver decided I needed a booster too. He helped Elijah do his seat too and then started driving again. He also went the wrong way and ended up on the dead end street, and he  ended up having to turn around and go back the way we had come. Once he got going in the right direction, he started talking to me again (in Greek) about the seatbelts and how some people couldn't wear them and how if they were not high up enough in the seat it would cut off their necks (he made the motion with his hands), and I'm like "Uh-huh, yeah, I see." Kayla's like "What's he saying?" And I'm like "You have to sit up higher so the seatbelt doesn't cut off your neck."

I really wish you could have seen Kayla's face. She said "I hate this!" And I said "It's very sweet, he just wants you to be safe." And she said "I can touch the floor with me feet, even from up here." I'm like "Yep, you are tall." and she said "This is very uncomfortable and I hate this!" and I said "Please try to see the humor in this situation, because I am so amused and happy!" she looked at me and grinned.

 

This has provided me with countless chuckles today and I hope you find it amusing too. I totally get where Kayla is coming from, she was embarrassed. But, sometimes you just have to go with the flow. I was not going to waste time and money (the meter was running) arguing with the cab driver. I just found it so funny that he started with her (and not Elijah), since she is about as tall as me. Elijah wasn't too thrilled either, but he is still in a booster seat and will be until he is tall enough and weighs enough to safely be out of it. But, usually in a cab he gets a break from it.

 

So, for anyone in Greece with small children, know that the cabs have built in booster seats! I had been in at least 5 before today and no one had bothered to mention it.