I had a fare the other night to collect a man from someone's house and take him home to a nearby village. I could tell as soon as he walked out that he had had a few.
While I was driving. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was peering at me which I have to say did make me feel uncomfortable. He also made a few complimentary remarks about my appearance (damn, I must get some of those beer goggles myself!). While this might sound nice, it can in fact feel vaguely threatening from some men, especially if they have been heavily drinking.
The first rule in these situations is to obtain as much information as possible from the customer in case you need it in the future so I started a conversation with him, asking him about his job etc. He was in fact quite conversational and volunteered a great deal of personal details, including the fact that he was a long distance lorry driver for a large local factory.
When we got to his home, I requested the fare showing on my meter and he paid without any trouble. However instead of getting out, he lunged towards me for a kiss. I anticipated his action and was able to lean back away from him and so deflected it. I calmly reached for my radio and said, "Car 2 clear, heading back to base" which told the man that I was in direct contact with the office. It seemed to work because he then started to get out of my cab and headed into his house in a wobbly fashion.
When I got home, I told H what had happened. He actually became quite upset about it and seemed very worried about me. I was touched by his concern and while I was basking in the warm glow of his protectiveness, I pondered whether he was more worried about me being a lone lady driver or he was jealous of another man trying to kiss me....or even a mixture of both.
Then he ruined the moment:
"I shall definitely have to get a Black Cab now. That situation just couldn't arise in one of those. You will have to drive it in the evenings for your own protection".
Altruistic motives? I don't think so.
