Who pays the taxi fare?

No. This is not another article of the role of a guy and a lady in a relationship and no, I’m not going to tell a story about which of them should pay when they go for dates. If that is what you thought you were going to read about, you can leave now.

Okay, I really didn’t mean. And thanks for staying.

So I know a lot of folks have had this very annoying experience but I really want to rant about it just because I want to. It was a Saturday evening and I was just returning home from an evening out with my buddies. As it usually happens after dark, the ‘trotro’ station was closed so I could only pick a loading taxi home. Of course I could pick a dropping, but I mean…really 🙂

So, I got to the station and unfortunately, I was the first person in the taxi. Arghh!!! I was dreading this! First person means a long wait for the taxi to get full. So I sat down. And waited. And waited. And waited. Then a second person came along. Phew! Not long after, a third person too. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. Oh! We really waited! At that point, I said to myself that I should call the driver to come move the car so that I pay the extra ¢1.50. But you see, spending extra money is not fun. So I told myself I would wait about 5 minutes. Maximum, 10.

As I was having this money conversation with my inner self, one person at the back said in twi, “Friends, let’s each add an extra 50 pesewas so the car can move for it is late.” Silence. He repeated himself. Silence. A few minutes later my ‘time’ was up and with reluctance in my heart but great determination to get home, I called the driver and told him we should leave. He asked me if I would pay and I replied with this tiny bit of confidence that we would pay. And my ride home began. Finally! Mr. Suggester who spoke twi was the first to get off. He gave the driver ¢2.00 and mentioned it to me. I nodded in acknowledgement. I silently waited for Mr. Quiet Man to pay. Luckily, he got off before me. He too gave the driver ¢2.00. And then! He waited for his change! What?!!! I mean I kind of expected it but I didn’t really think it would happen. Get what I mean?

When he got off, the driver commented that the man’s “head is hard”, literally translating that from twi. So from his comment, I thought he would take only ¢2.00 from me. No oh. I gave him ¢5.00, he gave me ¢2.50. Ah ah! And ah again! No, I’m not ranting about 50 pesewas. I’m just ranting about the fact that someone happily enjoyed an ‘early’ ride but was not willing to contribute. I know you must not judge a book by its cover but honestly, first impressions really count. I can easily conclude that this is the kind of person who lives to benefit from stuff but is not willing to contribute at the very least to it. But anyway, I didn’t see his face so luckily he technically still has a clean slate with me. And the driver. He sympathised with me but collected the 50 pesewas anyway. Hehe. Okay, I can’t blame him for that. He wants to make his ¢6.00 anyway. Nothing, not even sympathy must stop him.

So to conclude, there must be a point to this ranting right? Of course there is. Simple. Be willing to pay for stuff if you want to benefit from it. It’s totally human to want to spend less if you can. My earlier conversation with myself obviously shows that I didn’t want to spend much. However, if you must contribute something extra for a good reason, just do it! It won’t kill you! Yeah, Mr. Quiet Man didn’t ask for the ‘early’ ride, did he? So he is justified. No he isn’t. Speak! Speaking wouldn’t kill you. Too many of us suck things up when our hearts are burning inside. Speak. It’s that easy.

Start today! Contribute! Pay to benefit! Speak! Do it now!