Cairo's Champions

I may take some flack for saying nice things about taxi drivers. Truth is, there have been a multitude of blog posts and ahwa rants degrading the drivers of some of the worst cars in Cairo:

"I hate taxi drivers. They always try to rip you off."
"This one time, a taxi driver was masturbating while I was seated in the back."
"I've had taxi drivers chase me in their cars. One almost ran me over."
"The worst is when you give the driver the right amount and he gets out only to accost you in the middle of the street!"
(None of these are direct quotes)

All of these are valid complaints. I, myself, have encountered a few guys who take exception to the fact that a "rich" foreigner is paying the correct price. Ironically, however, it seems Egyptians have a harder time with cab drivers simply because they can speak Arabic. Every ride usually involves a yarn about some hardship or other. And if you ever want some amusement, try watching a local attempting to flag down a cab for a long distance trip.

But when it comes down to it, how can you complain about a service that's available to you basically 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

Taxi drivers deserve some credit. Why?

• They sit in a car all day and sometimes all night
• They have to small talk with people they could care less about
• They are expected to subjugate themselves to their clientele
• They have to listen to people
• They have to drive 1970s Fiats and Ladas
• They drive with the window down in the winter
• They take a lot of shit from irate passengers
• Nobody is on their side

That's just it. Taxi drivers don't have a friend in the world when some foreigner is screaming at them over some relatively miniscule amount. And then there are the comparatively rich locals who treat the drivers like lesser beings (not all locals do this, mind you). Do you really expect to be respected in return?