BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT

Sunday night shift,Waffler picks up a fare near the Spar in Phibsborough at about 3 a.m.
Woman late 40 s gets in,"I've had to walk up from Dorset st and no sign of a Taxi",she says.
"Where to?",says Waffler.
"Blancherstown", she says.
Off they go.
The radio is blasting out,"Welcome to the Hotel California".(one of Waffler's favourite songs).
"Is that Q102?",she says.
"No its actually 4 f.m.",says Waffler.
"I normally listen to Q",she says.
When they get to about three quarters of the way to their destination,the passenger who was
sitting in the front seat beside Waffler takes out her phone from her handbag.
She flips open her phone and says,"Oh,I have a missed call from my son,I better ring him ".
She rings the phone and says,"Oh no I don't believe you".
Suddenly the phone is on loudspeaker and her "Son", says," You left your purse and cigarettes here ,Ma".
"What am i going to do, I have no money at home ?",she says.
"Send the taxi man back to me and i will pay him,Ma ",Her son says.
Waffler decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
He dropped her to a Cul de Sac in her estate.
She gives Waffler her son's phone number and address and gets out of taxi.
While Waffler is doing a U-turn the" Lady " walks into her garden.
She goes to her front door and puts key to her door.
"Okay ",thinks Waffler ,"At least I can go back to her house if there's any problem".
Waffler goes around the corner and rings the number the woman gave.
A guy answers and tells Waffler to drop in to him when he gets back into town.
Halfway to town Waffler decides to ring the guy again and the phone is off.
"Oh,no Don't tell me I've been scammed",he thinks to himself.
He rings a few more times and no luck.
He gets to Cabra and gets another fare back to Blancherstown.
He drops the fare off and gets paid this time.
He goes back around to the estate where he dropped the woman and pulls up outside her "House".
The house is in darkness.Its now 4.30 a.m.
"Sometimes I hate this job",thinks Waffler.
"Maybe it's the wrong house",he thinks.
He decides to go to the local Garda station to tell them.
They go to the house and lo and behold there's no woman in the house.
The cops and Waffler apologise to the people for disturbing them.
"That's it ,no more being so trusting ,Thanks anyway lads",says  Waffler to the cops.
  Sometimes you just take people at face value and most people are sound.
Waffler starts the taxi and ,"Welcome to the hotel California",blasts out from the radio.
"Off we go again",thinks Waffler to himself,"You win some and lose some".

" I'LL BLOW MY OWN HORN"

Driving down the North Circular ,Waffler pulls over for 2 guys.
One guy opens the back door,The other one opens the front one with a rolled up cigarette.
"Can i get in with this",he says.
"Nah,sorry,just finish it before you get in,no probs",says Waffler.
The guys finish their "smoke" and get in.
"That was too nice to throw away",the guy says.
"Where to,lads?",says Waffler.
"Bring us over to Portobello",says the guy in the front .
"Okey dokey",says Waffler.
The guy in the back who was quite hyper pipes up,"How far away is that?".
"Not too far,about 15 minutes",says Waffler.
"Ah that's too far,lets go somewhere local",he says to the guy in the front.
"No we're going to Portobello,so calm down and chill",the guy in the front says.
The guy in the back keeps moaning about going there but after awhile Waffler and the guy in the front
ignore him.
They come to a traffic light where they would be turning left onto the Quays.
The filter light showed green to go straight and red to go left.
"Go go,do a sneaky left",says the guy in the front.
"Not a chance",says the Waffler.
"Go on ,I would",says the guy in the front.
"I'm the one driving ,Buddy ",says Waffler.
They go along the quays and the guy in the back starts moaning again.
They come to a bridge which they would be turning right onto to go south side.
The lights are green and just as they are about to turn right 2 guys and a girl walk onto the road on the Bridge.

The Waffler slows down ,he already has them covered.
Suddenly the guy in the front puts his hand on the car horn and blasts it.
"W.T.F.",says Waffler.
The guys in the middle of the road are outraged and they glare at Waffler.
Waffler points at the guy in the front seat and lets the pedestrians  know that it wasn't Waffler's
fault. They stop at a red light and Waffler gives out stink to the guy for doing what he done.
"I'll blow my own horn ,that was totally stupid of you",says Waffler.
"They shouldn't have crossed the road there", says the guy.
"You had a bit of road rage,there, and you're not even driving",says Waffler.
"Don't worry about it ,I'm a cop",says the guy.
"That's neither here nor there ",says Waffler.
Waffler gets to their destination asap.
"Sorry,again ",says the guy.
"Good luck",says the Waffler as he flies off down the road.
.

"WE'RE NOT ANIMALS".

A Few weeks ago this guy (about 45 year old) staggers out of a Chipper carrying a bag of chips and chewing on a chicken leg and swigging from a can of coke  gets into Waffler's taxi.

He puts the opened can on the floor behind Waffler ,"Oh o",thinks Waffler,"I don't want any spillages".

So Waffler picks it up and holds it while the guy buckles himself in.

"We're not all animals you know",says the guy as he sucks the last of the chicken leg.

"Sorry?",says Waffler.

"Us Travellers,we're no different to anyone else",says the guy.
"Sorry ,Boss but some of ye buffers piss me off",he says.

"Yeah,no problem",says Waffler,"What's a Buffer ?".
"Don't tell me you don't know what a buffer is?",says the guy.
"You're a buffer,all settled people are buffers",he says.
"Oh,i see,"says Waffler,"Anyway where are you off to?",says Waffler.

The guy tells Waffler where he's going and then says,"I'll tell you what,I'll give you 20 euros?".

The Waffler is happy with that and before he answers the guy says,"Do we have a deal,Boss?"..

"Yeah that's grand ,can you pay me now?", says Waffler.

The guy starts rummaging through his pockets and eventually hands Waffler 3 notes.

"That's 15 euros i gave you",he says.

Waffler looks at the notes,2 were 5 euro notes and the other was a receipt for, funny enough a 5 euro pint 

of Heineken.

"That's only 10 euros you gave me,buddy",says Waffler.

"No that's 3 fivers i gave you",he says.

Waffler show's him the receipt.

"Okay ,so ",says the guy and he takes out a handful of coins and hands them to Waffler.

"Here take what i owe you out of that and take a euro tip for yourself",says the guy.

Waffler takes the extra euro and thanks the guy.           ."Lets shake on it,Boss,that's our custom when a deal is done we shake hands",says the guy,as he offers his hand to Waffler to shake.. Finally they head off towards their destination.

"I live in a halting site",he says.

"Practically everyone on our site is related to each other,brothers,sisters,first cousins,second and even third

cousins",he says. "Every community has good and bad",he says.

"A lot of the buffers think we're all bad",he says.

"We have our ways and buffers don't understand us",the guy says.
"We eat,shit and piss the same as anyone else",he says.
They both have a laugh.

They get to their destination and shake hands.

Turns out the guy was sound.
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P.S.

Maybe it's an age thing as any problem the Waffler had before not only with Travellers but with other

people ,they have mainly been young,and of course alcohol is always a big factor plus other kinds of substances.  

There's always psychos out there regardless of their age or what community they're from ,but thankfully not too many.

The trick is you have got to try and avoid picking up any nutcases ,you only have a few seconds of a window before you pick someone up to decide if you think they are going to be troublemakers.................Oh the joys of a Taxi-Driver..................