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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

regarding taxi driver and lost mobile?

74 replies

GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 18:14

so today i lost my phone. after a couple of hours of ringing it, DH finally gets an answer at 12.30 pm.

turns out it was in the back of a taxi, the driver asks for our address & says he'll drop it off when he next gets a fair in our area. i come home shortly after 1pm and try to contact driver via my phone to ask him to bring it down & i'll pay the fare to cover his costs, but no joy. i try several times on & off until 4.25pm, then i give up.

at 5.10pm, the door goes & DH answers it. it's the taxi driver, who hands over my phone, & DH thanks him & says to hang on & he'll get me.

i go to the front door, planning to thank him & offer him a fiver to cover his costs (which would more than cover them) as a wee token of gratitude.

i get halfway through my "oh, thanks a lot, i thought i'd lost it, i was panicking" etc etc and he interrupts me with "eh, i thought i'd AT LEAST get a fare off you, i've been down here twice already (he's a fucking liar as DH has been in all day & i've been in since the back of one) but no, never fucking mind" so i said "actually i've been trying to phone you all afternoon to tell you to just bring it down & i'd pay a fare, seeing as i needed it" and he goes "eh well, i was driving so want to gives it" & i said, "what, for four hours solid? no fucking chance after your attitude" and he says "eh, nice to be nice hen, i could have kept your phone but i didn't" storms off down my path,shouted something about me being a fucking something or other, so i just told him to "fuck right off you prick" & slammed the door shut.

now i am seething. i had every intention of giving him money to cover his costs, but after he interrupted my thank you with a demand for it, i just thought no, fuck you mate. he came after his shift (shift changeover's at 5pm) & DH tells me he recognises his face, says he lives in x street, so it actually cost him nothing as he has to pass my house to get to his own home anyway.

aibu? should i have paid the rude bastard a fare anyway?

OP posts:
Nancy66 · 31/10/2012 18:21

You both sound delightful.

AgentProvocateur · 31/10/2012 18:21

Ha ha - I bet you get loads of posts asking why he called you a hen! But I presume you're in the west of Scotland. I would have paid a fare, because, for me, there would definitely be a next time (phone, keys, coat etc) and because I use the same company all the time and wouldn't want to piss them off.

scurryfunge · 31/10/2012 18:26

He did you a favour. He could have left it at his office for you to collect. You over reacted.

TinyDancingHoofer · 31/10/2012 18:26

I would have paid the fare.

My local taxis have now returned my phone 3 times and my whole bag once, posting them through the letter box without asking for money. Always gave the drivers tips next time i saw them, lovely london cabbies.

queenofthepirates · 31/10/2012 18:27

Yeah, you kind of were being. It sounds a bit direct and maybe rough round the edges but he did bring your phone back which was nice of him.

I think I'd swallow your pride and stick a tenner in an envelope with a thank you card and pop it down to the taxi office for him. The next phone he finds might be mine and I'd quite like it back!

Teabagtights · 31/10/2012 18:28

You should have given him more than the fare to be honest you are lucky you got it back at all.

I'd give at least £20 for the return of a phone. Not a measly fiver.

Coconutty · 31/10/2012 18:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

quoteunquote · 31/10/2012 18:34

You should of given him the fare and a tip, and he should of handed the phone to police if he didn't want the hassle of returning it.

Numberlock · 31/10/2012 18:36

If I'd been the driver I'd have smashed your phone on the floor.

cricketballs · 31/10/2012 18:38

I can't believe you are being so ungrateful! You should count yourself lucky that you got your phone back, never mind arguing about giving him a fiver

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 18:38

must be nice to have 20 quid to spare, a "measly" fiver goes a long way for me. and as i said, he would have gotten it if he hadn't had such an attitude. as for the "i'm lucky to get it back at all" remark, i've found umpteen mobiles , i just call mum/dad/ whatever number, let them know i've found the phone & get them to contact the owner to contact me. i've went to meet people to return it & never once have i been offered (or expected) compensation for doing so.

OP posts:
JustFabulous · 31/10/2012 18:39

You should have sucked up his strop for the bigger reward of getting your phone back. I suggest you don't try and book a fare with them again as I suspect you will be left waiting. You think he is out of order which means you are too since you swore at him.

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 18:43

and i was polite to him, until he was rude to me. then i spoke to him the way he spoke to me. i'm actually quite surprised eveyone thinks i'm BU. btw, the fare to mine is less than 3 quid, so he would have actually made a profit, if he hadn't started shouting at me when i was in the middle of thanking him.

OP posts:
PoppadomPreach · 31/10/2012 18:45

What a dreadful way to behave towards someone who did you a favour!

TinyDancingHoofer · 31/10/2012 18:45

A "measly" fiver wouldn't have bought you a new phone, which is what you'd have had to do if the cabbie hadn't made the effort.

CelstialNavigation · 31/10/2012 18:46

Wouldnt a new phone cost more than a fiver though? if you look at it that way?

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 18:46

well, i phoned up the taxi office and he doesn't appear to actually work for them anyway (i didn't phone my taxi, i got it from a rank) so i doubt i'll be getting him again anyway.

OP posts:
Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 18:48

i would have had to do without a phone if it hadn't been returned, i certainly couldn't replace it.

OP posts:
Autumnchill · 31/10/2012 18:48

Rude of him to interrupt and demand but perhaps you can salvage it by ringing the taxi office, apologising and posting him the fare?

Florabeebaby · 31/10/2012 18:48

He did you a favour...my H is a taxi driver and if someone leaves their phone in his taxi he either takes it to the town hall lost items office or tells the client to come and collect it from our house. He won't drive around returning stuff.

Just be glad you got your phone back.

Nancy66 · 31/10/2012 18:48

did you head butt him as well for good measure?

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 18:50

why on earth would i headbutt him? he shouted & swore at me, so i responded in kind...

OP posts:
FellowshipOfFineFellows · 31/10/2012 18:51

I think he was out of order. BUT it possibly would have been better to cut him off halfway through his rant and said "well, when you've quite finished being verbally abusive, I was just thanking you before I offered you the fare plus a tip, but as you are s sure I'm out of order then perhaps you'd prefer me not to pay?"

That way, he'd have felt like a tit, and he'd have had to apologise.

He could've nicked your phone and had it down cash converters quicker than you'd noticed it had gone, so he did deserve a couple of quid at least.

redexpat · 31/10/2012 18:52

Maybe he was really busy and wanted to get home?

I always go out of my way to return stuff and would never expect someone to give me something in return. It's just what you do. Isn't it?

NatashaBee · 31/10/2012 18:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.