"Bah!" Scrooge blurted out and dismissed the video. He tried once more to connect to his accounting service, and this time it came through. He updated the accounts Clara had left for him, left the system upgrade half-finished and closed shop for the day.
Stave Two
Outside in the street, it was getting darker and chillier. It was Christmas Eve, downtown Athens was decorated with lights and snowflakes, people were cheerful going up and down, carrying wrapped gifts and last-minute dinner shopping. It wasn't snowing, but it was chilly enough to see your breath and frost windows.
Scrooge rubbed his hands together, tightened his old and patched coat and got to the street corner. He took out his phone and used the Supertaxi app, to call up his usual ride home. It only showed one available driver, and Scrooge grunted. "A 4.6 star rating! Really, I should send them a firm email about their low hiring standards. The man might as well be a drunkard, for what I know!"
He tried again for a few minutes but then decided to hail the driver through the app. He stood and waited, sidestepping behind an advertisement sign to shield himself a bit from the cold wind. He glanced at his phone, which showed his route towards him. "Bah! He should have turned earlier. The man is keeping a client waiting in the cold! I'll have a firm talk with him when he gets there, just you wait."
He was beginning to shake. The taxi finally came, pulled aside and Scrooge walked to the door. Before he could get in, the cabbie locked the doors.
"What in God's name?" Scrooge bellowed and rapped the door handle.
The window rolled down slightly and the cabbie turned to him. "Sorry sir, we've had an unfortunate ride before. I had a switch in my account and it didn't show up for some reason. I can't give you a ride, you'll have to find someone else."
"That's insane! Open this door at once," Scrooge said and raised his chin.
"I'm sorry sir, it is within my rights to refuse an undesirable client. Merry Christmas," he said and started the car.
Scrooge lost his temper, tapping on the window and demanding the driver to stop. The taxi left, turning into Ermou, the busiest shopping road and leaving him in the cold. "Did you see that? The man just left me here," he told to a couple passing by, but they shrugged and moved on.
His nose was turning red from anger. He fished out his phone and tapped for another taxi. There were no cars available, the app said. Please try again in a few minutes, we are sorry for the inconvenience. "What a horrible service! I'll be sure to leave them a firm review, I tell you that," he muttered to himself. Scrooge didn't drive. He had a license, sure, but he preferred to be driven and over the years, his skill had vanished anyway along with his eyesight. It was cheaper nowadays to use a service like Supertaxi, to use the car only when you needed it, driver included. He had done the balance sheet of course, it was the cheapest choice. He had been using Supertaxi for years now, relying on them for his daily commute to and forth from work, but also on the rare times when he needed to visit someone, usually for work related issues, and occasionally when he treated himself with a proper meal at a restaurant. Nothing too fancy of course. He would have a steak on his birthday, and a proper wine to wash it down. Table for one.
And he liked the Supertaxi's service, there was no interaction involved. Sure, Greek cabbies were always talkative, but when they saw that you didn't want to strike up a conversation they shut their yap and drove along. No interaction was necessary, tap the app, hail the cab, get inside, drive you there, get off and go home. The destination was selected from the app, no need to explain the address every time. So efficient. And the payment was taken directly from his bank account, in a neat exportable spreadsheet that could be put into his expenses with ease.
No talking necessary. Scrooge loved it.
But now, he had to call up a phone, wait in line, talk to an operator, like Neanderthals. The horror. So he found Supertaxi's phone number and called them to complain. He was placed on hold, said to wait patiently by a recorded woman's voice and was soothed by some modern music he had never heard of before.
A few minutes went by and Scrooge dropped the call in frustration.
He retried the app and found another taxi. A 4.9 star rating. That's more like it, a proper gentleman. He hailed it and shoved his hands in his pockets, enjoying his victory.
The taxi arrived, a long and wide Mercedes, yellow of course but the colour couldn't possibly detract from the elegant machine's beauty. It stopped at the spot before him and Scrooge got in the back seat. Warming seats, in fine black leather. Aaah... His joints untensed, taking in the warmth. A smile came to his face, and he made himself comfortable and waited for the driver to take him home.
The taxi didn't move.
On the contrary, the driver switched off the engine and leaned back to him, putting his arm on the passenger seat's headrest. He was a weary man, middle-aged, flecks of grey on the sides of his head. He had a big well-trimmed moustache, quite old-fashioned. He seemed friendly, a man from an older age, where politeness and hard work were the norm. He was the kind that takes care of his old car, drives safe, makes sure he is dressed clean and his trousers ironed.
"Good evening Mr. Scrooge," the driver said in a deep voice.
"Good evening," Scrooge replied and turned to face the window again.
"I've been informed by the office upstairs that you have been flagged an undesirable client."
Scrooge stared back at him and his eyes flared. "What does that mean? I have been a client for two decades! Is my money not good enough anymore?"
"On the contrary," the driver said remaining calm. "It's because you are such a long time customer that instead of simply banning you from our service, we wish to offer another option."
"Banning me?" Scrooge spat out. "How can you ban me? I'm the paying customer! I give a star rating to the driver at the end of every ride."
The driver raised his palm. "And the driver gives a star rating back to you," he added.
Scrooge was caught unaware for a moment. Really? They rated him back? "What sort of business are you, banning paying customers?"
"You sir, have been rude to six out of ten drivers in these last few years," the driver said calmly, reading from a list on the tablet on his dashboard. "Have filed complaints to five out of ten, have rated below three stars almost nine out of ten, and have verbally assaulted four out of ten."
"That's just stupid. I have only made valid complaints where there was necessary. When I'm paying I demand a certain level of-"
The driver looked back at him. "You don't remember me do you, Sir?"
Scrooge gawked with his mouth open, trying to recall.
The driver sighed. "Well, I guess us cabbies really are invisible. Anyway, the Supertaxi Terms and Conditions you have signed and agreed to by using our service, allow us to deny access to undesirable customers." He put a big index finger in Scrooge's face. "You Sir, are undesirable."
"That's insane," Scrooge let out with a hiss. "What do you want, a bribe? I'm not giving you one."
"I couldn't accept a bribe, everything we do and say is recorded Sir."
Scrooge looked around the spacious car. "Recorded?"
"Of course. For your safety and ours. It's in the Terms and Conditions," the driver explained.
"I didn't know that," Scrooge said, his eyes darting around the place, looking for cameras.
The driver tapped the ceiling of the car, where a slight bump housed the cabin light. "It's right here. It's not hidden, nor is it a secret. It's just discreet."
Scrooge lifted up the coat to cover his throat and said, "Whatever. It's been a hard day's work, I need to get home and rest. Take me there."
"I'm afraid I can't do that yet."
"You what?"
"As a long-time customer, you are entitled to a special condition. You need to accept a disciplinary action, and take a reprimanding ride," the driver said, presenting the offer with a big palm."
"What's that? A ploy to get more money out of me?"
"No
Sir, no further cost will be incurred. The reprimanding ride in itself is free."
Scrooge squinted. "What's the catch?"
"The catch is that by the end of the reprimanding ride, it will be decided if you will remain a customer of ours, or if you will be blacklisted and denied further service."
"Nonsense. You are speaking nonsense. A company can't do that! You'll go broke in a year! Take me home right this instant."
"We can't do that yet. You need to accept the reprimanding ride, it needs to be on record."
"Blasted- I will not subject myself to that, no." Scrooge got out of the taxi and stood in the sidewalk once more. The driver didn't leave. Instead, he leaned forward and turned up the volume on his radio, muffled music coming in from the car. He sat back in his driver's seat and made himself comfortable, pressing the alarm lights on his car to make himself more visible in the dark. The orange lights just added to the whole flickering coloured lights of the street and the shop fronts.
Scrooge snarled, and went down the road to hail a taxi the old fashioned way, by raising an arm and yelling at it. Supertaxi had pretty much engulfed the whole taxi service, leaving freelance taxi drivers few and in-between. There were some though, since this was the centre of Athens, so Scrooge tried to hail one.
After a lot of running about the busy streets and a lot of wild gestures, he managed to hail a taxi. He had two more passengers inside, and the man leaned towards the passenger window to talk to Scrooge.
"Where are ya going? South? Nah, sorry, going the other way," the driver said and moved into the traffic again.
Scrooge just stood there exacerbated. He turned back towards the Supertaxi that was waiting for him calmly, so he sneezed at it literally and went on with his search.
Standing at the road, waiting for a taxi to roll through another man came close and was doing pretty much the same. But then, the man walked infront of Scrooge so as to pick up a taxi first. Scrooge wasn't going to accept that, he was here first dammit! Scrooge walked infront of the rude man, cutting back the line. The man sniffed his nose loudly, checked the old Scrooge for a second and then cut in his line again, going further down the road. Scrooge went forward, and then some more, standing on the street corner, and looked at the man with a triumphant face. There was no more pavement to rush forward to. The man raised his palm in an open-fingered gesture that was very rude indeed and left to go to another street.
A quarter of the hour later Scrooge located another taxi, and this one was empty. He wasn't going to leave anyone before him, so he rushed to it, hailed the driver, and even before the vehicle was fully stopped he got inside and blurted out his address.
The taxi driver looked at him from his rear-view mirror. His cheeks were red and there was a whiff of alcohol on the air. "Sorry man, only going east. Going back home to my family, Christmas Eve and all. You understand." He shrugged.
"No I don't understand! It is demanded by law, that once a customer steps foot into the taxi you are obligated to take him to his destination!" Scrooge said a bit too loudly.
"If you happened to be going my way, sure. But you're not, so bye bye. Get off."
Scrooge was pretty much furious at this point. "I'm going to file a complaint about you!"
The driver shrugged. "Don't care. I just want a ride near my place and then retire for the night."
"So, to be clear, you are not accepting to take me to my destination, even though you know fully well that this is forbidden by law?"
The taxi driver leaned back and popped the door open for Scrooge. "Just get off mister."
Scrooge did.
The taxi left, leaving him once more into the cold. Scrooge cursed a few times and gritted his teeth. He was too shaken up to really jot down the taxi's license plate. "People have gone insane," he muttered to himself. "Denying a customer proper service, rejecting money!"
He stared back at the parked yellow Mercedes that was waiting patiently for him. He decided to wait five more minutes, just to spite the man. But in the end, Scrooge was the one standing in the cold instead of a heated luxurious car, so he gave in.
"Quick as you like, take me home," Scrooge said, rubbing his hands together.
The taxi driver simply rubbed the tip of his moustache.
"Oh fine. I accept the damn reprimanding ride. There. I said it. Happy now?"
The driver grunted in approval and turned the ignition on. The classic car rumbled in a deep satisfactory purr.
They got into traffic and moved in the city roads. "I'm obligated to inform you about this ride. The AI that monitors our clients and helps us provide a better service for you, has flagged you for this reprimand. At the end of the ride, you will be taken home. Until then, we will do a small detour."
Scrooge waved a hand and stared outside the window. "Whatever. Let's just be done with it."
The taxi took on speed and moved into the dark afternoon.
"Where are we?" Scrooge demanded, looking around at the place. It seemed familiar, but it must have changed so much over the years, so he couldn't really put his finger at it.
The driver pointed at the big and flashy entrance to the Titania Hotel. It was lit up, decorated to perfection, a warm welcoming to their guests.
"Oh right," Scrooge said, and a few buried emotions seemed to stir inside him. Just a bit.
The driver tapped a few buttons and the monitor for the back-seat passengers turned on. It showed a distorted image, a wide-angle view of the inside of a taxi. It wasn't this one, but it was something quite similar. A couple was sitting in the back, you wouldn't call them young, but they weren't elderly. In their late thirties was more like it. Scrooge squinted and put on his reading glasses.
Why, it was him! A young Scrooge! With his fiance Beth! This was years ago. The young couple had just entered the taxi, and the woman was staring firmly outside, her lips pursed together and her arms crossed over her chest. She looked upset.
"What is this? How do you have this recording of me?" asked Scrooge with irritation in his voice.
The driver replied in a straight tone-of-voice, "As I said Sir, everything is recorded for your protection and also ours. This is only in case of emergencies, or to parse data so as the service provided to you be as smooth as possible. It's all in the Terms-"
"Terms and Conditions, yeah yeah," Scrooge interrupted. "It's still wrong, keeping a recording of me for so long."
"Please pay attention to the video or we'll have to go over it again," the driver said and then went silent.
Scrooge grunted but couldn't keep his eyes off the recording even if he wanted to. There is something mesmeric in seeing yourself, more so if it's something so old, almost twenty years ago. A part of your life that you had half-forgotten yourself.
In the video, the young Scrooge said, "Come on now Beth, it was a steal! Double dot they call it, charging twice the price for the very same dinner as always! I will not be subjected to their marketing ploys like that."
Beth was quietly sniffing a handkerchief, trying to fight back her tears. "It was all lovely until you ruined it all. I never asked for any expensive presents, or clothes. I don't nag like other women to take me to fancy restaurants. It was just this once, to have a romantic Christmas Eve, us together."
"We can go somewhere else, where they aren't price gouging so blatantly," young Scrooge explained.
Beth cried and said, "But it was my dream, to spend a perfect dinner with you up on the Olive Garden, in full view of the Parthenon, the lit Athens below, us tasting wine and taking in the moment." She rubbed her eye and her makeup got blurry. "It wasn't about the cost, you know me damn well. I just wanted an experience for us, something to treasure."
Young Scrooge sighed it away. "We'll just go to a nice gyro place, warm and cheap."
"I'm not going to a gyro place dressed in a gown!" she cried out in surrender.
"It's better to be overdressed than under, I say."
Beth now cried out loud and was going through the taxi's handkerc
hiefs like a river. "I'm sorry," she gulped. "I know this will seem that it's about the fancy date, but it's not. It's about you. I know you'll always love money more than me. I know you'll always feel cheated because my father has no dowry to give for our wedding. I know that you have placed me and our upcoming wedding in a balance sheet on your mind and are feeling an itch about it, constantly."
Young Scrooge just stared at her. Of course he had, it was how he viewed the world.
"You are bitter, you just are. You don't care for a romantic evening, just once in our life, because you don't think it's worth the cost. You don't think I'm worth the cost," she ended and exhaled through a stuffy nose.
"No darling, don't think-"
"We are done. We are breaking up. Because I love you, and you'll never be happy loving me. So I release you. There. No more 'girlfriend expenses' for your balance sheet. Merry Christmas my love," Beth said and demanded to be left out the taxi. A few seconds later, she got out, young Scrooge running after her. There were some muffled sounds coming in the video. After a while, young Scrooge got back into the taxi, alone.
Just as his young counterpart, Scrooge himself was staring out into the window, deep in thought. The driver didn't say anything, he just started up the car again and went into the flow of traffic once more.
Beth, his ex-fiancee. So long ago. He shuddered as he remembered how warm she made him feel. The touch of her hands, the tenderness. The love he never acknowledged. Scrooge just took in the dark roads, illuminated by red lights and green lights and yellow lights, all in a Christmas Eve.
"Why are you taking me back to my office?" Scrooge said wearily.
The driver nodded, "The reprimanding route is decided by Supertaxi's AI. I'm just taking you there."
They stopped right back where they started from, at the corner beneath his office. The driver tapped something and the video screen showed another recording.
The Impossible Quest Of Hailing A Taxi On Christmas Eve Page 2