How I lost $30 by trying to take a cab.

I have been living in Pittsburgh for the past two months and while I brought my car with me, I have found that getting around can be quite a hassle. A problem I often run into is catching the bus on time. No matter what I do, I always seem to miss the bus that I want to take. I have tried leaving my apartment earlier and earlier but EVERY SINGLE TIME I walk outside, the bus blows by and I have missed it again. It's enough to make anyone want to punch a panda because then you have to wait 15 minutes to an hour for another bus to come. Sometimes I just start walking in the direction that I want to go and eventually end up catching a different bus but it's usually packed tit to ass and everyone on it has decided to skip deodorant that day. Seriously, it makes me want to punch a panda.

(I like pandas but Y U NO SCREW TO SAVE YOUR SPECIES?! Pisses me off...)

Well, this past weekend gave us the celebration of the most famous Italian known to man: Christopher Columbus. His birthday usually results in a day off from school for me. I love it. And I had not been home in two months so I decided about a month before hand to purchase a bus ticket. The ticket was about $30 and is cheaper than me driving the whole way home on the PA Turnpike. The only problem was getting from where I live in Shadyside to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center at the crack of dawn when the city buses are not running. Yes, I could drive but there's no where to park down there that is (1) safe and (2) a place where my car won't be towed after twelve hours. So the night before I was set to leave I called Yellow Cab and arranged for a cab to pick me up at 5:15am, which would give me plenty of time to get there and catch the bus.

Well at 5:14am as I am walking out the door the cabbie calls me.

Cabbie: Hey I'm here, where are you?
Me: Walking out the door. I'll be right there.
Cabbie: Okay.

So I go outside and go to the curb. No cabbie. I try to call him back three times to no answer. I wait about five minutes before I call the cab company to ask where my cab is. They tell me that they have no clue and that they'll send another.

Around 5:45am I am getting really upset. No cab has come to get me. I call the cab company while staving off an asthma attack and ask them where my cab is. They tell me that they cannot get anyone to take the job and even though I tell them through sobs and chokes of an asthma attack that my bus leaves at 6:20am. They tell me there's nothing they can do. It takes thirty minutes to get downtown and there is no way that I'll make it in time. I do the only thing I know how to do when I am in a crisis: I call my parents.

Me (choking and sobbing): Mom! The cab-- *sob* *gasp*-- never came!
Mom: What do you mean 'it never came'? I thought you made the reservations last night?
Me: *gasp* It never- *choke* showed up.
Mom: Did you call them and ask to send another one?
Me: Yes! *sob* And I'm gonna miss *gasp* my bus! I'll never *sob* make *sob* it!
Mom: Do you have enough gas to make it home?
Me *sucking on inhaler*: You want me to drive now?
Mom: Get in the car and drive home.
Me: Okay.

By this time I was really pissed. And what pissed me off even more was that as soon as I started my car I get a text from Yellow Cab telling me a cab had been dispatched and would arrive soon. It was 6:00am. I said "Fuck that" and started driving home. When I hit the Turnpike, there was nothing that could stop my lead foot adrenaline rush. I was pissed off and I was going home.

My bus ticket was non-refundable even though I did fight with the cab company and the bus company about it. And that's how I lost $30 by trying to take a cab.