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On Saturday night, I went out to downtown Minneapolis for some drinks and good times with good friends.  It was a grand time until we decided to head out and find a cab for the drive home.

Now this may have been an oversight on my part but I did not have any cash for this cab fare.  Perhaps it is the fact that cabs in Chicago always accept plastic payment, in addition to my expectation that all cabs accept credit cards as payment (especially if you can see the credit card machine of the dashboard)…Saturday night around 2:30am while it was 6 degrees outside and snowing, cabs didn’t seem to like to the idea of someone using a credit card.  We’re talking about a $20 fare here so I had no doubt a credit card would be accepted.

The first cab we hopped into seemed like a nice enough guy.  He drove for a while, then spontaneously asked if we had cash.  I’m not entirely sure what made him ask the question, given that the fare was already up to $8.  We made the mistake of answering the question with “No, but you accept credit cards, right?”

His reply was “No! No! No!  No accept cards today.  You have cash?”  I responded honestly once again “No cash.  Just card.  Why don’t you accept credit cards today?”

He slowed his taxi and said “No accept cards today.”  I again asked, “Why not today?  Do you accept cards any other day?”  He said, “Yes, but not today.  Not now.  You have cash?”  I said, “No, we don’t have cash.  You can just run the card with your credit card machine right there when we get to our destination and everything will be OK.”  Needless to say, he pulled into a parking lot (less than half way to the final destination), stopped the meter and said “OK, that will be $8.00.”  So, I reached into my wallet, pulled out my credit card and handed it to him.

Did I mention the sign on the back of the driver seat explaining how he accepts credit cards?  Anyway, he refused my card and repeated the fare total again (”No, that will be $8″).  So, I handed him my credit card again.  He handed it back so we exited the taxi cab.  Despite the sign on the back of seat explaining about how he accepts credit cards and the credit card machine on the dash, he kicked us out of his cab and into the cold, snowy weather.

Now, it’s nearly 3:00am, snowing and freezing cold outside.  We’re less than halfway home.  We end up getting into another cab about 15 minutes after the other guy threw us out into the cold.  Now as we all know, I am new to Minneapolis, so as a result, I am new to the bitter cold temps.  I’m used to 25 degrees being my base “cold temp”…

Obviously, I contemplated lying to this new guy about having cash because I really wanted to get my slightly drunk self home.  He also had a sign on the back of his seat about how he accepts credit cards.  He begins driving and asks if we had cash.  I made the mistake of being honest again and explained that I only had a credit card.  He turned his cab around in the middle of street and started driving back to where he picked us up.

At this point I was just pissed off.  Why is there a sign that states you accept credit cards but for some reason right now you DO NOT accept them?!  I yelled “Stop the cab right here if you’re going to kick us out!”  He kept driving further from my home so I was left with no choice but to raise my voice and yell, “Stop the fucking cab right here!”  More than likely in fear of his own life, he immediately stopped the car and politely told me to get out of his cab.

Just for the record, I am not a violent person.  Also, I try to be a very nice, polite individual for the sake of humanity.  However, when it is flippin’ cold outside, snowing, windy, and may or may not have had a few adult beverages on a Saturday night… and you are hindering my ability to arrive at home where my warm bed is waiting patiently for my presence… I might raise my voice and be very angry with you.

Now it is nearly 3:30am and I am standing outside with snow piling up on my head.  Another cab finally stops.  I had already decided at this point that I will have “cash in my pocket” if anyone asks until I am sitting on the street in front of my house.  I will feel bad but survival called for the tiny lie.  Luckily, the third cab driver did not ask whether or not we had cash.. but to add an extra element to the situation, the third cab driver talked about his financial situation and consequential troubles the entire ride.  He talked about how he wasn’t making the kind of money that he would like to in Minneapolis and wanted to move his driving to a larger city such as Chicago.

So, we finally made it home.  When it came time to pay I handed him my credit card as payment.  Turns out he really didn’t accept credit cards.  I handed him my business card, explaining that I could meet him anywhere in the city tomorrow to pay him cash plus some extra for doing this to him.  He handed my business card back to me and said that it would be all right and to please get out of his cab.  I apologized profusely and exited the taxi cab.

I made it to the safety of home.

Hmm… Who wonders if I will have cash for a cab next time?