Being in a small enclosed space with a complete stranger is probably up there on most people’s list of things to avoid at all costs. But, isn’t that exactly what we do every time we get in a cab? Add to that the element of speed and traffic, and it becomes a menacing cocktail of danger, discomfort and some really funky smells. These Redditors—riders, drivers, and innocent bystanders alike—share their most heart-stopping, and just plain hilarious, taxi moments.
1. He Got Canceled
I’m a Lyft driver and this is what happened to me once. It was late and there wasn’t much of a moon for light. The street was extra dark because there were almost no lights on. I hit the "arrive" button and my back door opened. A girl jumped in, sat on the floor, and said: "Go! Just go!!" I started creeping forward, trying to figure out how she got in when I hadn't unlocked the car yet.
Suddenly, outside the car, I saw what had her so terrified. There was this dude with a long dark thing, maybe a bat or poker. He started screaming as he swung this thing around. I decided it was time to get going. We were five minutes into the drive when the girl peeked out, then sat in the seat, latching in. She wouldn't answer when I asked if she was okay, or if I could help somehow, or call someone for her. There was just silence in the back seat.
We got to the destination, which was about 30 minutes away, and she was suddenly out of my car and into another one. The other car tore away down the street before I could see the color, make, or model. I went to end the ride and she had canceled it! I didn't get much for that ride, and she even left the door open.
After that experience, I stopped driving nights.
2. Follow That Car
I was clubbing with a large group of friends in Blackpool, and we had to split into two groups to fit in cabs. My friend, who knew where the club was, got in the front car, and me and a few others got in the one behind. Which meant I got to say those immortal words that I’d always wanted to say: "Follow that car". It was just like in the movies.
The driver just smiled and did exactly that.
3. To A Restaurant—STAT!
I was standing outside a nice hotel in Edmonton, Alberta about 10 years ago with two customers. It was around 10pm and we were trying to find a nice place to eat dinner. Suddenly, a well dressed older gentleman—with very silver hair—jumped in front of us and stopped a taxi that was driving by. He yelled “CSIS! I am commandeering this taxi!” By the way, CSIS is Canada’s CIA.
The guy then motioned for us to get in. For some reason, probably because of our level of inebriation, we obliged. Once we got in he said, “take these gentlemen to Sorrentinos immediately and ask for Mario", and off we went, no questions asked. None of us knew who he was or ever saw him again, but we went to Sorrentinos every time we were in Edmonton from that point forward.
4. He Burst Out Laughing
I drove a taxi for a few months in a town in the UK next to the sea. It was a quiet afternoon, and I’d only had two fares in 90 minutes. Whilst parked on the taxi rank reading, suddenly one of the rear doors got yanked open, a rucksack thrown in, and a guy dove in headfirst shouting: “Get this car to the boat as fast as she’ll go!"
I burst out laughing. I’d never expected anything like that to happen in real life. Anyway, being familiar with the ferry times, I knew we had plenty of time—it was only a two mile journey and the boat didn’t sail for another 20 minutes. Needless to say, no laws were broken getting him there. The guy was in too much of a hurry, though. When we arrived, he threw me a £20 bill and didn’t wait for his £18 change.
5. Cross Border Terror
Last summer, the main cab company in our town went on strike for almost six months. This was in Windsor, Canada, which is just across the river from Detroit, Michigan. So, because of the strike, when you went out drinking, it was really tough to get home. So, one night, me and a couple of friends stagger out of a bar downtown and start calling all the remaining local cab companies.
They're all busy. So, we keep trying while we start walking home. We make it about six km ( 3.5 mi) before we see a taxi driving down the street. My buddy flags him down, and as it pulls up we realize that it's a Greater Detroit Cab Company cab. We're desperate at this point, so we tell him where we want to go. He says "OK", and we get in. Then, we notice something suspicious: he doesn't turn on the meter.
The driver is this huge, scary looking guy, and the cab is absolutely falling apart: the front passenger seat has no actual seat and there are several cracks in the glass. The driver just starts talking. As it turns out, the reason he crossed the border into Canada is he was wanted by the law for hitting an officer and is attempting to lay low for awhile.
We say "that’s cool". Although it isn’t—we're just lying since we're really scared. We reach our destination, throw $20 at the guy and basically run.
6. The Final Farewell
I got an early morning trip picking a guy up from a busy part of the city, at like 7am. He told me to go sit in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot facing the main road. I was getting paid wait time, so I didn't care at first. After a good 15 minutes, though, I had to ask. Here’s the story he told me. He broke up with his girlfriend some months prior so that he could get his life together.
They broke up for both of their sakes, but it definitely sounded like her idea. Anyway, he tells me he's getting on a plane to another state to start a new job, new life kind of thing. Tomorrow. He knows his ex-girlfriend's route to work and we were watching her neighborhood exit. We were going to chase her down for just one reason: a final goodbye.
So, another 10 minutes pass and we finally see the vehicle he had described pull up to the light and turn right. We get to the light across from it, and are waiting to turn left. Naturally, when the light changes, she goes first and we end up having to literally chase her down through morning rush hour traffic on a busy two lane road for about three km (two mi) and four intersections.
Before we get next to her, he flags her down, and we all pull off into a restaurant parking lot. Much to my delight—and relief—she was actually glad to see him. They exchanged a lot of hugs and kisses, held each other, and spoke in intimate, soft tones for a good twenty minutes. And yeah, in case you’re wondering: the meter was still running.
It was really sweet, if a little boring to sit through. I got him back home afterwards, he was really grateful, and paid me what I was owed. No tip, but it was a decent fare of about $50.
7. They Couldn’t Get Out
So, this happened when Uber had just become a thing. Originally the app didn’t tell you what the car looked like or the license plate. Me and a friend were waiting, and a car pulled up right in front of us. We just hopped in, and my friend jokingly said, “Drive!” So, the guy did. My friend was in the front seat and I was in the back.
Suddenly, the driver was saying sort of inappropriate things like: “Y’all are pretty girls”, and stuff like that. We thought it was really weird but didn’t think to much of it. Then, I noticed we were heading in the opposite direction of our destination. Things were looking kind of fishy, so I said, “Um, where are we going?”
To our horror, the driver said he didn’t know. My next question came out fast: "Are you an Uber?" The driver looked like he’d never heard of Uber. I just asked him if we could please get out. The driver's response terrified us. He said: “No, it was you guys that got in my car". At the next light, my friend and I hopped out. What a creep!
8. His Heart Said No
I drove a taxi in my early 20s for about half a year. My taxi training was pretty comprehensive, and I really enjoyed it. It covered using the street directory effectively, rubbed in the point that I had a permit to drive a taxi, but I was still driving on the same license. This meant that, despite driving 12 hrs a day, I still only had 12 demerit points to last an entire year.
It taught me that passengers will not cover your fines despite any claims to the contrary, and gave very clear reasons to resist the temptation to accept "alternative financial arrangements". But it did not cover what to do when a guy—face covered in blood—jumps in the car with his girlfriend and urgently encourages you to “Go!” while angry people are running up the mall toward you.
I had no idea what to do! The compassionate side of me said, "Get this guy to the nearest medical facility", or at the least, away from trouble. The risk-averse side of me asked: "Do you really want to be an accomplice to whatever this guy and his girlfriend may have done?" So, coward that I am, I just left my foot on the brake and told him, "Sorry mate, not getting involved".
When they didn’t budge, I asked them to “please leave!” He tried for another 20 seconds then his girlfriend said: "He's not taking us, hon, let's go", and they both got out and hoofed it. Rest assured that I replayed that scene dozens of times in my memory that night and in the days that followed. Did I do the right thing? I still can't answer that question.
9. A Tearful Request
I was running late to my plane because I was in a new city. My phone was running low, so I borrowed the driver's car charger to call the airport. It was the last plane of the day and his ETA would have me arriving as the plane was due to leave. I asked if they could hold it for 10 minutes to save me spending the night in the airport, but they said "no".
I started balling my eyes out because I was broke and facing the prospect of spending $300 and a night in an airport all alone. Without saying anything, the driver took the very expensive toll roads and got me there with five minutes to spare. I ran like crazy and made it with literally seconds to spare. I think the Uber cost $50, but the toll roads were like $10.
10. Avoided Prison
I was in Cartagena, Colombia and was doing a little weed outside the city walls on the beach. Now, we knew this was dangerous, but we thought it would be okay. Well, low and behold, an officer of the law strolled up. We could see him from a ways away, so I put out and then swallowed the joint. He came over to us, and started harassing us because he figured that we didn't know Spanish.
He thought he didn’t speak Spanish because I'm a tall, white dude, and my wife is short and light-skinned. So, all of a sudden, my wife, who is South American, started yelling at him and accusing him of targeting us because he thought he could get some money out of tourists. Right then, a taxi cruised by, so we waved it down and had it take us to the other side of the city.
I'm so glad we didn't wind up in a Colombian prison.
11. Dirty Money
One night, about six hours into my shift, a young man, who was obviously inebriated, got into my cab. The young man asked me to tail a woman for approximately five blocks. While I drove, he asked me to describe every dirty thing I would do to her, if I had the chance. I was feeling kind of gross about the whole thing and I was about to ask him if we could stop. When I looked in the back seat, I saw something that really freaked me out.
The guy had his hand inside his coat pocket and it was furiously moving up and down. To complete the picture, he had sweat dripping from his brow. After 20 minutes of following random women and reciting my penthouse stories to the best of my ability, he had me drop him off a block from where I picked him up.
I had him leave the money on the seat and, to be honest, picked it up with a plastic bag at the end of my shift.
12. He Expected More
Once, the dispatch center sent me to a hotel to pick up a client. I gave the estimated time of arrival, but the receptionist said to come faster. I arrived there as soon as I could, and the client was already waiting outside. We put his stuff in the trunk, and he said that the ferry was departing in ten minutes. Luckily, the road we needed to take was a rural one with no traffic lights so I thought we could make it.
I was going as fast as I could but without crossing any limits. I then immediately drove into the port area—not where the taxis should be—with only seconds to spare before the ferry was about to leave. I drove him a couple of meters away from the ferry's ramp, and he arrived on time. After all that, he only gave me a 2€ tip.
That was a high risk, low reward that I'm not willing to take again.
13. He Took A Gamble
One night, I was driving home from work at about 11pm. I stopped at a traffic light and to my surprise, a random guy got in my car and asked me to drive him to the casino. He was pretty young, and I could tell he’d been drinking. I didn’t find him threatening or anything, but I just wanted to go home—I was really tired from work.
I was explaining that I wasn't going to drive him to the casino as I continued driving toward my house. Suddenly, I was struck by a terrible thought: Did I really want this stranger to know where I lived? I quickly changed directions and ended up dropping him at a tram stop on my way, so he could get a tram straight to the casino.
The funniest thing? He put a five dollar note in my cup holder like I was a taxi and walked off. It was a very odd experience!
14. Off The Rails
I have been the person to jump in a car and yell “Drive". My debit card expired on the day I was going to embark on a very expensive train journey. The loss would have been crippling to me at the time and I also could only do this journey once. Because of my expiring debit card, I couldn't get the tickets, so I had to go back to my house to retrieve documents to prove I was allowed aboard.
I tipped him very well for his speed and understanding—by which I mean I threw a twenty and a ten at his passenger seat, shouted "thank you very much", and hurried out the door because I had only a few minutes to get aboard the train on the ride back. He went so fast that I skidded into the station. I always get my tickets in advance now.
15. Followed
We were walking home from Chelsea and passing all the construction at Hudson Yards on a very dark 10th Ave. Some guy started following us, so we stopped to “check our phones” and he just stood there next to us. This proved to us that we were indeed being followed, so we ran to a cab that had just dropped someone off. We jumped in and yelled: “Drive!"
The guy following us also tried to get into the cab, and was well within striking distance if he wanted to hurt us. I think he was just high as a kite but it was still scary. The cab driver sensed our panic and took off as quickly as he could.
16. Schnell, Schnell, Schnell!
Many years ago, I was on a trip to Germany with a couple of colleagues, and we got our flight times mixed up and realized, almost too late, that we would miss our return flight to the US. We called a cab and, as soon as it arrived, we jumped in and I yelled out, “Der flughafen! Schnell! Schnell!!” This was about the only German I knew. I hoped it meant: “The airport! Fast, fast".
The cab driver turned out to be this little old lady who was clearly alarmed at these foreigners yelling at her, and she took off to the airport at 200 kmph (125 mph). She could barely see over the steering wheel, and that scared all of us in the back seat. I tried to look up the German words for “OK, maybe not so fast”, but didn’t manage to make my point.
It was a tense ride for everyone, but we didn’t miss our flight.
17. Eyes Like Red Demons
I was on a holiday in The Hague and left a bar quite inebriated. It was a weekday, so I had some trouble finding another place to party. I got to a place I’d been to years before, it’s called Miller’s. Unfortunately, they pointed me away, and I ended up hitching a ride on bicycles with these university students to a place called Ghabour, I think?
This place was a hole-in-the-wall kind of bar. They didn’t accept cards, so I went down the street to get cash out. Right after, I realized I was so hammered that I forgot how to get back, despite it being just a block or two away. I stopped to ask this group of shady looking guys for directions. They said they didn’t know where I was going, so I started walking off in the wrong direction.
About a block down the way, one of them ran up to me and said he knew where I needed to go. He then offered me a spliff which inebriated me said "yes" to, and we started walking. Alarm bells were going off in my head repeatedly, but the booze and weed kept pushing them out. After about 20 minutes of walking, I knew things were gonna end very badly.
I kept trying to get the very, very few random bystanders to help me, but everyone on the street was either partying hard at that time, or they were also tourists. Eventually, it became fight or flight for me, and when I saw a cab driving down the street, I literally jumped in front of it waving my arms. The driver already had a passenger in it, but he opened the window and asked what I wanted.
My eyes were red like demons and I hissed, “Man you’ve got to help me. This guy, I don’t know him. I don’t know where he wants to take me, I need to get back to my hotel. I’m staying at the Novotel on the high street". The driver took one look at the passenger and went, “Get in". The dude I was walking with just booked it down the street and the cab driver took me home. My fare was like €10 but I gave him €50 'cause he may just have saved my life.
18. It Leaves In Ten
Me and my wife booked a taxi to get us to the train station after a date. That station had the first of two trains, and if we missed it, we’d have a ton of trouble. So, as soon as the taxi showed up, we jumped in and went, “Dude, train leaves in ten, drive!" The guy drove like crazy, got us there in time, and got a €20 tip. There was no time for change and he fully deserved it.
19. She Fancy
So, I sort of have a fancy car and because of that, people sometimes mistake my car for the Uber that they are waiting for. I've actually had this happen to me more than a couple times. Some random person jumps into my car and yells: “Drive!" So, then I have to explain to them that, "No, this isn't your Uber, it's my personal car". It's kind of annoying but at least I know my ride always looks good.
20. Their Out Was My In
I was living in New York City and as I got out of the subway, these two dudes started following me. I deliberately made an odd turn and sure enough they continued. Then, they came up and demanded my iPod—yeah, this is a few years ago. Anyway, I said "no", and started running. While running down the street, I noticed someone getting out of a taxi.
Just as they got out, I jumped in. I closed and locked the door and yelled to the driver: “Go!" The cabbie just looked at me like, “Are you serious?” I kept yelling, “Go! Go!” Then, the dudes tried to open the door, and the driver figured out what was going on and took off. Suffice it to say, he saved my iPod and possibly more than that.
21. Drive, Momma
I remember a time when we were waiting for our parents to come pick us up after school. This was in Portugal where school buses are not common. A friend of mine saw his mother pulling up, so said "goodbye" and off he went. He mindlessly opened the car door, sat down, and yelled, “drive” to his mother, as a joke. That's when he made a frightening realization. It turned out the woman was not his mother.
It was some other lady with a similar car, who was now super scared because some kid that was tall for his age barged in her car yelling!
22. She Downloaded To Escape
I was an Uber driver and got called to a house. The woman jumped in my truck and was like, "Go! Go! Go!" It turned out she'd been seeing a guy who was going through a divorce. That day, the wife had come home early, and the woman learned that they were still together and living in the same house. This woman went into the bathroom while the couple argued.
While she was in the bathroom, she downloaded the Uber app, called for a ride, then jumped out the back window when I got there.
23. Seeing Red
A few months ago, I ordered a McDonald’s breakfast through UberEats and when it arrived I went to the kitchen to get ketchup. Little did I know, this would lead to the most horrifying moment of my life. Instead of getting ketchup, I met up with my boyfriend's schizophrenic brother. He ran at me with a kitchen knife and stuck it in me. I was injured and had to escape. One problem: my three-year-old child was there, too.
I grabbed my son and ran out of the house. Luckily, the UberEats driver was still out front so I jumped into his car and shouted for him to drive. I was covered in blood and my little boy was too because I was holding him. So, he drove toward the hospital as fast as he could. While we were driving, an ambulance was on the other side of the road, so he stopped and I jumped out with my son and the paramedics rushed to help me.
I never got to thank the driver or get his car cleaned, there was blood everywhere.
24. Dream Unrealized
I once jumped into a taxi and yelled, "Get me to the airport. Go, go, go!" There was the usual traffic and my timeline was borderline delusional. I would have honestly paid a few hundred on top of the fare if the driver could get me there on time, and said as much. My driver said, in a totally normal tone for taxi drivers: "Ok boss, I take care of you".
We proceeded to sit in stop-and-go traffic for over an hour, with the driver seemingly unhurried and totally silent. I wasn't even remotely close to catching my flight.
25. He “Lyfted” Her Spirits
I’m a Lyft driver and people are always asking for special treatment. One day, this woman texts through the app, and tells me to hurry. Then, she’s telling me where to pick her up. Her texts were like this: “No, pull further forward. No, around the corner. Hurry, we can't be seen here". I'm starting to get sketched out. Like, am I a getaway driver for some not so lawful activity?
I pull up and she's got three big suitcases and two big duffles. In addition to these, she has a giant beach tote bag that seems to fit everything, and her massive purse. We load up quickly and book it away. She tells me her ex-boyfriend could be home at any time, and she's leaving, so we have to go a different way. She proceeds to give me directions and the app is all: "You're not heading to the destination, do you need help?"
She's on her phone the entire drive to what she says is a friend's place where her cousin will pick her up tomorrow. I hear her tell her sister that she took a bunch of bottles of booze from her abusive ex-fiancé for the night. The following is what I learned about her ex-fiance from hearing her side of her phone conversation with her sister.
He body shames her regularly. He often drinks too much and then pees the bed. He drinks before and after work and all day on days off. He "joked" about taking her to a partner swapping club to show her that no one else wants her. He even got a puppy just so she wouldn't leave him. He canceled three out of nine vendors for their wedding and took the deposits back to spend on booze.
She told a story about how once he even called into her workplace to tell her boss she needed time off to take care of him while he was sick. She knew the truth though: it was just a hangover. I gave her a hug when we got to her destination. She was really pretty and, even if only half of it was true, she deserved better.
26. Her Face Said It All
I’m not a taxi driver but, when this happened, I felt like one. A few years ago, I was stopped at a traffic light in London, when a young, blonde lady in her 20s jumped in the back seat of my car. The light changed as I looked over my shoulder, and I just saw a terrified look on her face as she lay crouched on the back seat.
I drove off and soon stopped a few blocks down the road at another light. Once I’d fully stopped, just as suddenly as she got in, she jumped out. No words were exchanged the whole time, but her face definitely said: “Drive".
Freepik, katemangostar
27. A Light In The Storm
One night, it was raining like crazy and my mother and I called a taxi to pick us up. It was a proper storm with intense lightning and loud thunder. When a taxi stopped in front of the house, my mother jumped in the back seat. But tt turned out that it wasn’t our taxi, the driver had just slowed down because of the rain.
The worst part was that there was already a passenger inside. My mom got really scared.
28. It Was Par For The Course
Years ago, I traveled to Vietnam with a friend. One night, after an evening of drinking, we decided to go do one of those golf courses where you hit the ball and it goes into the water. My friend is a pro at golf, so he swings the driver hard, over and over again. He slips up and accidentally tosses the lousy driver into the water. My friend tries to find it in the water but he can’t.
The place blames us, and they want to charge us $400 USD for a new driver, which I'd guess is probably worth about $40. On the way back, being escorted by security, we take a sharp turn and dart for the exit. The security guards are on our tails. They’re running and yelling: “Stop, stop!" We manage to hop over the front gate and hail a taxi.
We get in and tell the taxi to “Drive, drive, drive!” The taxi guy steps on the gas and gets us out of there. The authorities never caught us. We even went and had drinks with the taxi driver afterwards.
Wikimedia Commons, Jaguar MENA
29. Amateur Paparazzi
I’m a London-based cabbie and have seen all kinds of things. Once, two guys jumped in and told me to follow a car that had just gone by me. This seemed right out of a movie, but I was interested, so I did it. As we were following the car, I found out that apparently Cristiano Ronaldo was in the car. It turned out that these two guys had made a hobby of getting pics of or with footballers.
We chased the car for a few miles from Knightsbridge up the Edgware Road but, unfortunately, lost them around St. John’s Wood. It was still pretty fun, though.
30. What’s The Word For "Taxi"?
My dad and I were visiting a small city in Mexico in the mid-90s. We were staying in a hotel near the airport. We didn’t know Spanish, but my dad knew if we hopped in a taxi and said, “Aeropuerto”, the cab would take us close to our hotel. We were out and about one night and realized we were going to miss the last taxi for the day. I think there was a route or something—I never really understood that. Anyway, we flagged down a taxi, jumped in, shouted “Aeropuerto!” and threw a handful of pesos in the front cup holder and relaxed.
The driver and the passenger in the front seat looked at my dad and me, looked at each other, shrugged, said “Sí”, and off we went. At about this time, my dad realized that we'd made a big mistake. He remembered taxis were usually retrofitted VW sedans, but lots of folks had the same type of car as personal vehicles. He said to me, “Hey, I don’t think this is a taxi".
The passenger in the front seat said “Sí” in a way that clarified that this was, in fact, not a taxi and my dad and I had just carjacked some locals, thrown some amount of pocket change at these dudes, and demanded to be taken to the airport. My dad was super apologetic and gave them more money for the ride and felt awful about the whole thing.
I like to think these dudes are telling their friends the story of when they got carjacked by two goofball Americans.
Freepik, wayhomestudio
31. He Tried Scoring A Triple
I'm an ex-cabbie, who drove from 1997 to 2012, with a couple of other jobs sprinkled in there for good measure. I was sitting at 5am one morning after a lackluster bar night, with a disappointing take-home. I always locked the doors because the month I started my career in cabs, one of our drivers ran into a lot of trouble because she’d just sat with her doors unlocked. Let’s just say she didn’t live to tell the story.
Anyway, because my doors were locked, this young dude had to knock on the window. I rolled down the window, and he told me that he needed to get to the airport. Apparently, his other cab couldn't pick him up because they’d overbooked. I knew the outfit he was referring to and they did this all the time. So, I popped the trunk and unlocked the doors. He loaded his roller bag and popped in. I got him there okay, and as he was unloading, he noticed that the driver who had canceled on him had just arrived with his other fare.
We were right beside this driver and we could hear him trying to charge each of the college girls in his cab the fare for the trip. We call this triple collecting. I saw an airport officer, waved him over, and explained the triple dip. The officer went over and assisted the young ladies. The crooked driver just stood there glaring at me, to which I calmly smiled and saluted him—with one finger.
The guy I took was really cool, we talked the half hour drive, and he tipped well. Meanwhile, the dishonest driver ended up taking just the one fee, no tips, and his customers came over to me for business cards. I was always honest with my customers, and ruthless to the jerks giving the rest of us a bad name. I made a decent living and never scammed anyone. I had great personal regulars—bar staff, waitstaff, hotel people. Be there for them, and they will show their appreciation.
32. He Wanted Horsepower
I used to drive a horse carriage in a big city and I had a seriously cracked out guy come running up screaming something about dragons. I was hoping he was going to just run by, but no such luck. The guy was suddenly trying to climb on top of my horse. Luckily our horses are pretty chill, and Ryker just stood there with wide eyes trying to figure out what was happening.
Then, quite randomly, two more guys showed up out of nowhere as I was trying to get the man off of Ryker. These two random strangers grabbed him by the leg, and dragged him down the sidewalk, still yelling something about dragons. Needless to say, I got into the carriage and we got out of there to go sit somewhere else.
33. What Are The Chances?
Four friends and I got a cab home from a dull night at the bar. We started talking with our driver, Linda. She offered to score us an ounce of weed. This required leaving the money with her and waiting at a 7-11 for her to return. She did, and the weed was good, and we cruised around using it with the meter off. It was a nice surprising end to a kind of boring night out.
After the weekend was over, I went home to where I lived—which was 200 km (130 mi) away. I mentioned this story to my pal Rene, and did not tell him the driver's name. Before I could finish he said: "Wait! Her name was Linda, right?" The same thing had happened to him the previous month, in a city of 700,000 people, over a hundred miles away.
34. They Were Uber Surprised
I was just getting home from work, pulled up, and parked across from my apartment on the street. I sat there for a moment on my phone to decompress before going inside. This group of college girls who were dressed to party ran up to my car, opened the doors, and started getting in before asking if I was their Uber. Cue my shocked face and then their shocked and embarrassed faces when I told them, "No, I'm not!" I was their neighbor!
35. Right Up His Alley
I had a taxi driver taking me home one night, and I pointed out an alley that is a shortcut to my place. Since the alley is really narrow and a bit tricky to turn into, I say she can just drop me off and I'll walk the rest of the way, which also saves me the five bucks it takes to go the long way around. She's goes,"Oh, ho-ho-ho! I'll take you through, no worries!" Then, she proceeds to turn into the alley.
We then hear this scraping crunch along the passenger side. She's scraped the cement corner post, which is already banged up from previous incidents. The driver says, "Whoops! Ho-ho-ho! I’ll try again!" She backs out—scraping again—laughing and saying "whoops" the entire time. She turns back in, scrapes again, but forces the car through and off we go.
When we get out to my house, we both get out and look at the side of the car, which is an absolute mess. She just starts laughing again and says, "Whoops! Oh, well, not my car!"
36. A Formula For Danger
I was in Montreal attending the warped tour music festival in 2006. Me and my buddies decided to go to a bar at night. We got out at about 11pm and started to head back toward our hotel using the subway. It turns out we took the subway in the wrong direction, and it took us a good 30 minutes of walking to figure that out—all the drinking we’d done didn’t help.
So, we decided to take a cab. We got in, and the driver was awfully silent. He didn't say a word except a shallow "OK" after we gave him the directions. So, about five minutes into the ride, we noticed that the cab driver started looking around puzzled—like he was lost. We looked out the window and saw that we had ended up on a racetrack. Yes...a racetrack, a Formula One racetrack.
So, we started tripping out. At this point, we were convinced that this guy was up to no good, trying to rob us, or worse. Finally, he started talking. He admitted to being lost—duh!—and stopped the meter to ask around for directions. Luckily, we got to our hotel safely, and we still gave him a pity tip.
Wikimedia Commons, Shadman Samee
37. It Shed Some Light
I was taking a minicab in London from a club in Hackney to my flat across North London at 3am. I was kind of hammered, so it took me a while to notice that the driver didn't have his lights on. So, I pointed this out to him. He turned to me and said: "I know, man. That way they can't see me!" Then, I noticed that his pupils were so small that they were barely visible.
I told him I lived on the next street, got out and walked the rest of the way home.
38. It’s A Small World After All
While waiting to pick someone up, some random guy who was engrossed in his phone got into my backseat and said, “Alright, let’s go". He thought I was his Uber. I turned around and started to explain to him that I wasn’t an Uber. It was then that we both realized that we knew each other. We laughed like mad over the ridiculous coincidence of it all before his actual Uber came and he hurried off.
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39. It Kinda Smells Back Here
I worked at a local dog grooming shop in San Francisco. My boss gave me a ride home, and we were parked along the street in front of my apartment building, just chatting a bit before I was going to get out. Suddenly, someone opened the back driver's side door, hopped in, and told us his destination. The guy was looking at his phone the whole time, so he wasn’t really aware of his surroundings. It took him a good couple of seconds to realize two things: we were not his Uber and he was sitting in the back seat with three dogs.
40. Stranger Danger
I’m waiting to pick up my friend when a nine-year-old boy jumps in my car and yells, "Stranger danger outside!" I lock the car doors and, sure enough, a man comes up to my car and yells for me to unlock it. I don't. The man eventually leaves, and I text my friend to ask if I should go to the authorities after explaining what happened. She says: “Yes, go". I drive the kid to the station, and it turns out that he'd been taken from his home six hours earlier by a masked man. The guy got brought in and, as far as I know, is currently rotting in prison.
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41. He Told Them Straight
I was a taxi driver for over 20 years. I have seen people do crazy stuff. When someone got in my cab and asked for something ridiculous like, “follow that car”, I always told them the same thing: "Life isn't a movie, bud". Then, I would just stop talking until the passenger had to either say something or just leave. Usually, once they realized how ridiculous they were, they just left.
42. The Wrong Side Of Town
My friends and I were on the sidewalk minding our own business when a taxi basically drove onto the sidewalk and scared us. The driver pushed the door open and screamed at us to “get in". He said: “They almost got you”, and then pointed behind us. We all turned around and saw something that still terrifies me to this day. There was a group of men with machetes sprinting toward us.
We jumped in the taxi, and the driver got us away with seconds to spare. We hadn’t realized we’d walked into a very dangerous area of the city. We tried to give the guy money as a "thank you", but he wouldn’t take it.
43. Take Me Out Of The Ball Game
This must’ve been over 20 years ago when my family took a trip to Venezuela. My dad and I were at a baseball game that was absolutely packed. I’m pretty sure it was just some Venezuelan league game, but the crowd was super intense. They were yelling, swearing at the players, throwing stuff onto the field, and stuff like that.
My Dad and I were getting some dirty looks from some of the locals during the game. Once the game was over and everyone was making their way toward the exits, the men started walking toward us. We started to move faster and the men started moving faster as well. My Dad and I ended up running and just made it to a taxi and yelled at the taxi driver to go. The men who were chasing us took off.
We definitely would have been robbed—and possibly worse—if we were caught.
44. A Reversal Of Fortune
I am heading to Brooklyn in a cab, and we get more than halfway across the Manhattan Bridge. We come to a stop and I am stunned when I see all the traffic ahead of us in complete gridlock. We aren’t going anywhere. My driver then gets a crazy idea. He decides to back us up all the way back to Manhattan—against all the oncoming traffic.
So, the driver gets us off of the Manhattan Bridge and gets us over the Brooklyn Bridge. Driving backwards like that, I was sure we were going to die. I had never seen driving like that outside of a Mel Gibson movie. We'd probably have been stuck there for over an hour. If there's some kind of taxi medal of honor, this guy definitely deserves to get it.
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45. You’re Going With Me
My great-grandfather used to drive a taxi for a living and one day, a man put a piece to his head and told him to drive. My great-grandfather figured the guy was gonna kill him eventually, at least once they reached a certain destination or met with someone else. So, he did something totally crazy. Once he got to a road facing the Hudson River, he floored it. Like, 100% pedal to the metal.
The guy started freaking out and saying stuff like, “What are you doing? Are you crazy?” My great-grandfather just said, “Well, if you’re gonna kill me, then you’re going with me”, and proceeded to slam on the brakes. The guy ended up flying through the windshield. I never got to meet my great-grandfather, but he sounded like a cool guy.
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