And I thought Saturday was exciting. Monday tops it all, I think.

I am sitting in a post, where taxis sit when there’s no business. Someone calls us and wants a cab to pick them up from a house (we have the address and phone number), make a stop at the bank, and then they want to go to Denny’s, about 3-5 blocks from the bank. Totally normal ride.

The call comes out of my post, I get over to the house pretty quickly. Two ladies get in my back seat and two men are talking on the front lawn of the house. The girls make it clear that one of the guys is coming, but the other they don’t want in. I’m thinking maybe it was one of their boyfriends and they’re splitting up or something… So the guy they want gets in the front seat, and the lady in back already called him by his name (which does not match the name on the computer, and for the life of me I cannot remember the name she called him). I lock the doors as the other guy on the lawn reaches for the handle. We drive away, and the ladies and gentleman thank me very much for having a quick lock-the-doors reflex. I joke about how its my habit from bar time.

As the ride goes on, its sorta clear to me these three have been on drugs recently, I don’t know if they’re coming down from them or just took them or what, but they’re not acting normal. Fidgety, one’s quiet, one’s chatterboxgirl, but they smell like a dirty ash tray and chemicals. We make our stop at the bank, I park facing away from the bank looking at the main avenue.

After about 5 minutes the guy comes back (the girls had stayed in the car), and the man says we’re going to Rocky Rococo’s. In the beginning of the ride it was debated on which we would go to, Denny’s or Rocky’s… they’re within about 20 steps of each other so it makes no difference to me. As we come up to Rocky’s the guy’s shuffling a lot of bills down where I cannot see him, and it looks like he’s getting them in or out of his shoe. I find this kinda weird. But we get to Rocky’s, and the man says that he knows what its like to have’ta work for tips, so he gives me some money and says keep it, then they get out. I tell the ladies to enjoy the air conditioning in Rocky’s (they complained earlier that there was none in their apt), and they leave my car and close the doors… and don’t even go in to Rocky’s.

The bills they handed me were 5 $5 bills, with a paper clip on them. Sweet, $9 tip. That guy was pretty nice.

2-3 minutes later my dispatcher is asking frantically if anyone picked any flags up (a flag is someone who hails a cab without calling and ordering one) near East Towne Mall (where I had dropped). I tell him I did a couple hours ago… then he realizes where I had made a stop with this recent call.  Associated bank.  This was the specific bank that these people wanted to stop at before even getting in my cab. So the dispatch knew exactly where I was the whole time. “Call me right now on your cell phone,” he says over the air.

Apparently the man in my cab robbed the bank at gunpoint while we were stopped and used me as the get-away driver. >.>

Holy cow!!

I’m grateful I was nice and joked around with these people enough for them to like me! Otherwise I’d probably have gotten robbed too! Or at least they would have run on the fare or something.

But… I go back and talk with investigators for a while… and they take the money that the robber gave me as evidence… they just take it. All $25 and the paper clip.

grwwaawwrrwaarrrr

Who’s the robber now?!  Ah well… I may or may not be called as a witness if these people ever get caught. Apparently they robbed another bank and a gas station somewhere, too. All at gunpoint. This guy had a freaking GUN in my front seat that I didn’t even know about!

Well… its a fun story to tell, at least. And no, I don’t exaggerate any of my cab stories… truth is much stranger than fiction. I can’t believe some of these idiots.

Then yesterday I get this rickety old lady in my cab… it takes her 12 minutes to get from her apt into my front seat. The ride is only $6.25 but I’ve spent about half an hour with her…  But anyway! She gets in and she’s going to za bank! I ask her “You’re not going to rob the bank are you?” playfully.

“Why yes I am!” She says enthusiastically. …. ……