5 Things: Shanghai Taxi Drivers' Strangest Passengers

By Sylvia Feng

A That's series where we ask a Shanghai-based somebody to tell us 5 Things specific to his or her life.

Being a taxi driver in Shanghai means you are at high risk of being exposed to all kinds of strange people. It is estimated that a taxi driver has to deal with 50 to 100 people in a single day, so chances are one or two of these people are a bit unorthodox. We talked to several taxi drivers here in Shanghai to hear about their weirdest encounters.

1. Forgetting essential items
People forget their stuff in taxis all the time, but this case was a bit unusual. An old lady once left behind a bag with her false teeth inside on the back seat. When the driver discovered what he was holding in his hand, he tells us he wanted to laugh and faint at the same time. 'How could someone forget something that important?!'

2. 'Multitasking'
A man once decided to give himself a pedicure while riding in a taxi. The worst part was that the man sat in the front seat, and the smell when he liberated his feet from his shoes… is something that the taxi driver says he will never forget.

3. Pet-car-sickness
Apparently dogs get carsick, just as men do. A woman once brought her beloved dog with her to ride in the taxi, but the poor dog ended up getting carsick and vomited all over the interior. The woman had to pay extra to clean up the carpet and, to the driver’s embarrassment, told him his bad driving skills had been the cause of the carsickness.

4. Losing face in order not to lose face
People don’t just make excuses to not pay the bills; they actually fight to pay sometimes. Two obviously drunk passengers who both insisted on paying the taxi bill ended up physically fighting with each other to pay. They ended up both covered in bruises, and the driver had no choice but to watch because they wouldn’t let him go without paying.

5. Determination at its finest
Talk about choosing five minutes over life… One crazy passenger attempted to block the traffic with his own body to help the taxi switch to a faster lane because he was in a hurry. According to the driver, the passenger was on his way to a meeting. After realizing that they were hitting traffic on the highway, the man jumped out of the car and rushed into the next lane over to stop incoming traffic.

[Image Via The City Fix]

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