SO tonight I had the super cool privilege of attending the Drama League gala as a volunteer which was AMAZING and perfect and everyone was a fairy princess, but the event ran pretty late, so I took the train part of the way home with a friend, got off at her stop (a very safe area that I am super familiar with) and got a cab from there (this was around 2/2:30am ish).

so I get into this cab right, and the driver starts driving aimlessly and claimed he couldn’t understand me when I told him where I wanted to go, ultimately asking me to write it down on a piece of paper. OK FINE, whatever, no biggie. it’s not totally uncommon or weird on it’s own, so I felt okay doing it. I wrote down my cross streets and he handed it back to me and asked for my exact address so he could put it in the GPS. OK SURE that makes sense. The driver did not give the paper back to me after typing it into his GPS.

so now we’re driving and he sprays something in the car, and I couldn’t tell what it was but it was def strange, so I opened the window because I am paranoid AF. the driver told me to close the window and he would put the air on. I was like nah the window is fine, but he insisted. after I shut the window, he began driving super erratically; stopping short, not paying attention to lights, looking back and staring at me instead of at the road. he then sprayed the thing a second time and then looked back at me again, so at this point I’m like WTF so I called my mom, first texting her to let her know what was going on. We talked as normal as to not make a problem, I gave her updates of where we were driving casually in the conversation. we finally made it to my apartment, still on the phone with my mom, and as I took out my card to pay, the driver said that I didn’t need to pay. now I’m like MAJOR WTF man, so I asked him again and he insisted. I didn’t know what to do so I said thank you and got out.

the driver got out and FOLLOWED ME to the steps of my apartment building. I quickly typed in my apartment access code and closed the door behind me and immediately started hysterical freaking on the phone to my mom. the driver was still at the foot of the steps, so I walked down the hall to my apartment where he couldn’t see me but I could still see him, he got back in his car but didn’t drive away. I went inside, still on the phone with my mom, and at my mom’s request, had my roommate call 911 (keep in mind, I’m like hysterical freaking out so ofc my mom was like call the cops). my roomie goes outside to check while calling 911 and the cab was STILL outside, so total of at least 10-15minutes. my roommate was trying to explain what was happening to the 911 operator, but she said he was being rude to her and they asked to speak to me, so I got on the phone with the operator and he literally starts yelling at me that I need to stop crying and talk, I wasn’t like super upset at this point and was honestly pretty understandable and coherent, just sounding a bit shaky/tearful. so like, doing my best to be chiil, I told the 911 operator everything I just wrote above and he just like, “And what would you like me to do ma'am?”

NOW obviously this isn’t a life or death situation, but in the moment it felt like it could have been tbh. who knows what the cabbie was planning to do ya feel me? and like with all the recent reports of people getting kidnapped by taxis and ubers it’s just really a scary thing to think about. PLUS this guy has my address and knows where I live.

so on goes our conversation, and ultimately the operator did not feel that I needed to submit a report, which I understood bc I didn’t have the cab ID or license plate, so Iike yes I get that, but now the 911 operator is continuing to ask me as to why I had even called, like totally minimizing the situation and talking down to me. I finally said that I was scared and didn’t feel safe. idk what happened but at this point the operator FINALLY took me seriously, but did explain again that there was nothing to be done other than to stay very aware when I’m outside alone the next few days and to report if anything else happened. like cool, fine, I get that, but why did it take that long to be treated like a human???

this whole situation just really ticks me off because

1. I hate that because I’m a young female in New York City, I’m vulnerable. like I’ve lived in the city a while and am a pretty aware person and it’s rare that I feel like I cannot handle a situation, but the fact that I’m an immediate target because of who I am is SO BEYOND annoying.

2. it’s really frustrating that because I was upset and scared, I wasn’t treated as a real person. like yeah, okay I understand now that there wasn’t much to be done but WHY are people instantly discredited when they have ~vulnerable emotionz~ there’s no need to be rude and like the whole demeanor of I can’t even be bothered to offer something helpful seems so counter 911. it definitely felt like the operator just thought I was some dumb girl freaking out over nothing.

edited 12/2016