Unless the taxicab driver is some scary looking dude who emits grunts (and some are and do), cab rides can be an interesting and delightful experience.
My latest cab adventure:
After the initial hi, how are ya, where ya going, cold weather, huh? blah, blah, blah, the conversation went like this:
Cabbie: (with heavy accent) “You smell really nice. Is it your perfume?”
Me: (with a smile) “Why, yes, I think so. Thank you.”
Cabbie: “It smells flowery, refreshing… I like it.”
Me: “Nice of you to say so.”
Cabbie: “Some women wear really heavy perfume – makes me feel sick.”
Me: “Well, I’m glad mine doesn’t.”
Cabbie: “Is it for men, too?”
Me: (momentarily nonplussed) “Uh, I don’t think so. It’s only available in the women’s section of department stores.”
Cabbie: (undeterred) “But men could wear it?”
Me: “Well, sure they could.” (If they want to smell like a woman.)
Cabbie: “Could you write down the name of it for me?” (Hands me a business card and a pen.)
Me: “Sure.”
I scrawl the name as best I can while in a moving vehicle, hand it back and we go on to discuss other matters (the state of the world, etc.).
Surreal perfume discussion is over.
So, if anyone in Toronto ends up in a cab with a driver who smells “flowery and refreshing,” you have me to thank.
Perhaps I should have tipped him with my purse size bottle of perfume?
15 comments:
ROFL!! You have some of the BEST adventures...when I read the title of this post I was thinking, "oh yeah, cabs have such a distinctive smell" -- little did I know it was Estee Lauder!!!! :)
odd....
but, I've always thought this: aren't women's perfumes supposed to be enticing for men, and men's cologne to be enticing for women?
there are some colognes that I just think smell sooooo yummy, but it wouldn't be socially acceptable for me to walk around smelling like a man....ya know?
I salute your dear cab driver for bucking social norms. Way to go, dude...
A Toronto cabbie wearing white linen? No.....too weird.
Ha - too funny!
Sounds like you made the cabby's day.
I could go for a flowery cab ride! I think you've made a positively fab-u-lous contribution!
In Africa, I got into a cab where the smell of the driver's BO was so strong, I felt I was going to vomit. The windows were all shut, and when I reached to roll mine down, there was no inside door panel and no knob-crank-thingy!
I asked him to roll his down, not saying why. He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a knob-crank-thingy and handed it back to me. He said, "Go ahead and roll down your window."
I attached the knob-crank-thingy, rolled it down as fast as I could and hung my head out of the window for the rest of the ride, where I emerged sicker than a dog!!!
It takes all kinds of people to make the world go 'round. And a nice smeling cabbie would make it nicer!
My favorite cab ride was in Athens. The cabbie stopped, bought some exotic (to me) Greek street vender bread, tore it in half and gave me one of the pieces.
Geez, I've never had a cab driver who was so interested in me like that! How do you find these people? It only goes to show that you must get out as often as possible, for no other reason than to entertain the rest of us!
HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I think you should have TOTALLY given him your purse size perfume!!!!
sherry:
Yeah, Estee and I have sweetened many a cab...
lainey-paney:
Well, my perfume certainly enticed him - right into planning to buy his own bottle!
oreneta:
Watch for it (sniff for it) next summer when you're back in TO.
trish:
Kind of made my day, too - it was nice getting complimented on my choice of perfume.
she:
I've had those kind of rides, too - gag...
patti:
That was truly a wonderful gesture - and one you never forget.
patricia:
Now that I think of it, it's not just cabbies - all sorts of strangers talk to me. (A post in the making??)
Hi...
Its too funny. i like perfumes..
I've actually been in a cab in Toronto! But I can't say he commented on my perfume...
Oh, that would've been too funny. If you'd tipped him with your perfume. Or even just offered him a couple of dabs for behind his ears!
Maybe he's trying to change the impression that we have of cabbies as being rough guys with one delicate spray of eau de flowery and refreshing. I wonder what perfume the guys on Taxi splashed?
Ha! That really goes beyond simple appreciation, doesn't it?
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