Stepping Over the Fine Line

  People don't expect to see a woman behind the wheel when they get into a taxi, so it's always fun to see a surprised reaction.  My favourite is.. “Wow you're the hottest cabbie I've ever seen”. (Not the highest bar ever set... especially by drunk people.. however...)This is often followed by “you must get hit on a lot?” To which I delight to reply with a smile.. “best part of my job”.  At my age, hidden by the  shade of my night shift, it's kind of true. Who doesn't like to be called beautiful, even if it's by an inebriated, testosterone charged, hipster dude..or country boy.. or medal head .. or business man ..or old guy..or chic?
   Other reactions are fun too because it's more often than not, concern for my safety, which always reinforces my faith in humankind and my belief that most people are good ...and nice. Women sometimes ask me if I'm ever scared .. and men never do..cuz that would be creepy. I tell them no because that is the truth. I am never scared and I couldn't do the job if I was. I reassure them that it is a small town, that I have a lot of repeat clientele, and for the most part I am in constant radio contact with my dispatcher. Then I tell them about my “bitch switch” and the confidence I have in my ability to deal with ever happens within the confines of this car, and they are usually satisfied. Almost everybody who gets out of my taxi wishes me safety.. because I'm right, most people ARE good and nice.
   Once in a while though someone steps over the line and I am tested by the Reaction Gods..
   One such night, I was dispatched to a country inn, in a snow storm, to pick up a group of guys going even further into the dark and snowy night. Normally this would be a good call but this night it was going to be a test of my ninja driving skills and feminist principles. They were successful, middle aged business guys that had been friends for many years,  on a “guys” kind of weekend, reconnecting. All of them were married except.. you guessed it “Shotgun”.  He was in from a northern town and going through an ugly divorce. He did not hesitate to make a move on me, egged on by his friends, because I guess that's just what you do when you come across a single woman, now that you find your own self single ..but it was lame and easily dismissed with a smile.  They were nice men and the most trouble I was going to get from this trip was going to be the road conditions which were horrific .. snow covered country roads accompanied by that kind of snow that flies at you making it difficult to see.. and stressful.
   They had been drinking and the conversation was loose from the start.. I was able to disappear for the most part, to concentrate on getting them home safely but it didn't stop me from listening.. The trip was all downhill from there though.. I mean literally and figuratively ..  and some pretty steep parts too. Shotgun would participate in the conversation with his friends and then retreat from it to engage with me for a while..  We exchanged incites about online dating.. Then he went back to his friends... You could tell he was newly single..  When we got near the bottom of the hill the conversation from him was hitting depths of its own.. did I really need to know that all men shave their nether regions now?  And I guess you know you're invisible as a woman when a man announces out loud to his friends, that all he wants is a “shaved box”.
   Yep..reduced to our genitalia, shaved to look prepubescent, is all this middle-aged, seemingly successful, respectable guy wants in a woman. Thank you Porn Culture, you are doing so much for humankind.
    We came to a stop at the bottom of the hill from hell which gave me an opportunity to look at him in the eye while I advised him to calm down. Suddenly I was no longer invisible.  Suddenly I was the eyes of all women getting a glimpse of uncensored male culture.  And they knew it. The back peddling, especially from from the backseat was voracious.. and I got a good tip.
      Another such time of line crossing in the feminist realm of my taxi cab happened with a young man  who is a regular customer. He is in his early twenties, and often flirts with me when intoxicated. This time, after we had made the money transaction, he leaned over to kiss me.. so I gave him my cheek. This was apparently not enough and he went for my lips.. I turned away and informed him of my no kissing policy ... then,  in what I could only interpreted as youthful exuberance, he reached over and put his hand on my right breast. It was the weirdest thing. He seemed to be trying to express affection  It crossed the line but I did not feel assaulted. (I think largely because of the ironclad construction of today's bra). He bowed to me as he walked away from my car. There was nothing a reasonable person could do but to let it go, so I did.
   That wasn't quite the end of this little episode though. You see the following night I happened to pick up at the very same address, three young men who were eager to hear funny taxi stories..  I told them a couple of my favourites before I remembered the previous evening and the fact that I had a funny story about a guy I picked up from that very same place... They guessed who it was immediately. I hesitated to tell them the story because I would be dropping him right in it, but they egged me on and I couldn't resist.  Of course they howled with amusement. And seeing as they were off to a party at which he would also be,  spent the rest of the trip planning ways to tease him. It was a very fun kind of revenge. Oh to have been a fly on the wall. ( For the record he was very apologetic the next time I saw him and thanked me profusely for not calling the police)
    There is a fine line we walk when we are in this service industry, deal with the public and depend on tips for our living. Good customer service depends on a human connection  But how much of ourselves should be revealed?  When is it a good time to just disappear? And where is the line over which we will not tolerate behaviour in the name of our own principles when we are dealing with intoxication in a world where most people are nice and good?