My virtual middle finger

Irish flatmate came home in a state last night, venting about the way her supposed service driver charged her full taxi fares (10 000) for her short trip home, and not the expected 2 000 service fare. She was huffing and puffing in fury, which sparked on my huff and puff too.

We've had it with these bloody taxis. Enough of taking advantage of us foreigners. Just because I speak Lebanese with the accent of an 'ajnabieh' (foreigner) doesn't mean you need to treat me like a fool who doesn't know better. You might think I'm rolling in it, but trust me, if I were, I'd be purchasing a car and giving you the finger as I drive by, screaming profanities with my non-Lebanese tongue.

Yesterday, the guy bringing me back from the pool demanded 10 000 before I got into his taxi. I worked him down to 5 000 (although I had originally asked for a double service price of 4 000). A guy (Lebanese with a very Lebanese accent) got in 100m down the road, and got out at exactly the same place as me, and only paid 2 000. I asked the driver why he made me pay more - was it because I'm ajnabieh? No, he said, it's because he only took this route for me, and then the other guy happened to want to go in the same direction. Slamming-door session number one.

Last night the taxi driver said he'd take us to the art gallery in Quarantina for a full taxi fare (10 000). Fair enough, it's a little out of the way. Once we got there, he insisted on an extra 5 000 because we made him go in circles, he said. Slamming-door session number two.

Just now I asked for a 8 000 ride to a meeting in Hazmieh. The driver agreed, I got in, I gave him very thorough directions as given to me by the person I was meeting. He took the longest route possible, then went in the opposite direction and had to be rerouted by another person who jumped in, and then demanded another 5 000 for the complicated ride (which, I discovered on the way back, with a driver organised by the company I'd visited, was actually a simple 10-minute ride from home!). I gave him 10 000 and slammed the third taxi door in two days.

Bride-to-be cousin is picking me up tonight and I'm heading to the village, leaving taxis and door-slamming very far behind me.

Take that (here's where I show my virtual middle finger)!