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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:
Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 18:59

laughing at cash converters. the phone cost 70 quid 18 months ago, i doubt he would have even got a measly fiver for it Grin .

to be honest, i was so shocked i just opened my mouth and let him have it right back at him.

i also go out of my way to return things to people, wouldn't dream of keeping someone else's things.

OP posts:
Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 19:03

what good would that do, NatashaBee? it turns out he doesn't actually work for the local taxi company, so no idea why he was in the rank. unless the phone operator was lying. however, she said if it was one of their drivers then they (the company) wouldn't tolerate it.

OP posts:
sudaname · 31/10/2012 19:03

Numberlock me too, it would've just sort of slipped out of my hand onto the concrete at the first swear word.

FellowshipOfFineFellows · 31/10/2012 19:04

I think tbh, I'd have probably been really narked off that he assumed that I wasn't going to give him some money, and I possibly would have gotten a bit shirty too.
Perhaps you could pop into his offices and hand something in? It would make you the better person after all.

I meant the Cash Converters as where I'm from that's where you are bound to find anything you've lost, however much its worth (or not worth!)

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 19:05

we didn't ask him to drop it here, the driver offered, we would have been more than happy with him dropping it at the local police station.

OP posts:
Numberlock · 31/10/2012 19:07

I love it when the OP backtracks when they don't get the response they were hoping for.

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 19:08

he swore at me first. i only swore because he did. and considering he'd already handed the phone to DH, who then came and got me, he would have been hard pressed to do so.

OP posts:
Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 19:08

how have i backtracked?

OP posts:
maras2 · 31/10/2012 19:10

He's a bit of a chancer but my God you are a real piece of work.

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 19:11

i'm a real piece of work? lmao yeah, ok then Confused

OP posts:
Toughasoldboots · 31/10/2012 19:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

McKayz · 31/10/2012 19:14

I must be really odd as I don't think the OP did much wrong. The taxi driver was abusive and swearing first, why should the OP have to stand there and take it?

MrsKeithRichards · 31/10/2012 19:16

I don't think you were really being unreasonable although I'm sure you'll acknowledge it wasn't the ideal outcome.

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 19:18

thank you to the few posters who have agreed with me, nice to know i'm not the only person who would have lost the rag.

still interested to know where i've backtracked.

OP posts:
Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 19:19

oh yeah, i admit retaliating was wrong but after he spoke to me like that, i just lost the head & shouted back.

OP posts:
Birdsgottafly · 31/10/2012 19:28

My DP is a hackney driver, he charges the standard fare for where he starts out from every night to the address, if he finds a phone.

You wasn't making a show of gratitude by covering the fare.

You should have took him being "off" with you considering you got your phone back on the same day, he could have waited until he was back in work.

Bringing it to your door, deseves a tip, that isn't rewarding basic honesty, it is thanking someone who has done you a favour.

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 19:35

the standard fare is much less than the fiver i was going to give him, so he was getting a tip too- even though he would have been passing anyway.

i never asked him to bring it here, he offered.

OP posts:
crashdoll · 31/10/2012 19:55

I think you were unreasonable but you obviously don't think you were, so why bother asking?

Toughasoldboots · 31/10/2012 20:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 21:27

my point is, he would have got it if he hadn't been rude. when i pointed out i had been trying to contact him to offer the fare, his response was "eh well, i was driving so want to gives it" . up until this point, i hadn't refused to pay him, & i was going to do so. THIS is the point at which i told him "what, for four hours solid? no fucking chance after your attitude" . bearing in mind this is the first time i swore at him, he swore at me prior to this, in his opening sentence, as wrote in my OP.

still wondering where i have allegedly backtracked.

OP posts:
picnicbasketcase · 31/10/2012 21:31

I don't think YABU actually - why should he expect politeness if he can't show it to others? It sounds like you were ready to do exactly the right thing until he acted like an arse tbh.

dollywashers · 31/10/2012 21:34

I think he does sound rude. But was it really necessary to shout and swear back when ultimately he had returned your phone. Think you were definitely bu.

EuroShagmore · 31/10/2012 21:37

He did jump in a bit quick, but I have to say, you sound lovely. He did you a favour.

Original poster
GlitterySkulls · 31/10/2012 21:39

that's my point picnic, he brought it on himself.

and the reason i bothered asking, crashdoll, is he obviously thought i was in the wrong, i didn't, so wondered what others thought. i'm totally bemused so many of you think he should be rewarded after being so horrible, when i was thanking him & going to give him a token gesture. might only be a fiver, but when you don't have a lot of money even that small an amount is accounted for.

OP posts:
tinkfairy · 31/10/2012 21:46

glitteryskulls i think the taxi guy deserved what he got and you didnt its just typical scottish behaviour ( im from scotland btw) so i know how you feel there all cheeky feckers.