Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for September 25, 2018

People in NYC are still living that hellish life — yellow taxis everywhere.

Maybe because we weren’t smart enough yet!

The buses didn’t smell like roses either.

Panel 3: take away the horns and Goat could be could be mistaken for Pig during one of his tantrums.

now that I think about it, is Uber taking over the taxi cab business?

Not only that but when we watched TV we could see the programs the networks lets us at the time they let us.

And we couldn’t skip the commercials.

Every generation thinks that newer generations have it easy. In some ways, I guess that’s usually true. Sadly, adults today may be the last generation for several to be able to make that claim.

Old and Busted: Drive around your personal vehicle for money as a quasi-cabbie.

New Hotness: Let other shlubs drive around your personal vehicle for money as a quasi rent-a-car outlet.

Not sure about taking over, but it’s certainly a poor replacement for taxis.

I believe that Taiwan has far more taxis than the US, let alone the state of California. In other words, if I was flattened here by a car, I believe that 9 out of 10 times it would most likely be a taxi. In the US, if I was flattened, 8 out of 10 times it would be a private car. ’Nuff said.

By the way, I Totally Recall that every cab in said movie was more or less operated either by a guy resembling Robert Picardo or a guy who could not tell whether he had four or five kids to feed on a cabbie’s salary.

Goat, are you talkin’ to me!?!

Putting valet parking out of business, too.

Something about what Goat said tells me he could have successfully robbed a bank by masquerading as a taxi driver.

Uncle Bob’s Ego Ride…..

He’s had a Checkered past.

What is this ‘big yellow taxi’ that you speak of, and what was it that happened to your old man?

Like a kid is going to say “Pardon me, Sir…..”

Nothing better then a Black London Cab…

Our childhoods were a mix of nostalgia, dreams, and nightmares.

Where I’m from (New York State’s capitol district), Uber came in relatively late to the game due to pressure from the taxi companies. The taxis around the urban areas are infamously awful (It’s about 50/50 if they’ll even show up if you call them, and after that they WILL take the longest route possible to rack up the meter, often going down the same road multiple times. Uber and Lyft turned out to be… slightly better. At least they showed up most of the time.

Lyft

I want to know where the hell this thing was back when I was taking Greyhound around the country. It’s replaced an entire rucksack full’f stuff.

Yep. It WAS Pastis sitting under that tree.

Thought those were contractors.

They won’t because Little Old Ladies who drive Uber aren’t from the Middle East.

The HORROR!! The horror…

Ah the good old days where the only people that hit you were parents dealing with kids or drunks, now everyone runs into you while they tweet on their smart phones and that assuming they are driving, hell one could be walking out in front of you not paying attention to the world.

True story. In the fifties, four ninteen old girls from out of state came to Chicago for a weekend, They stayed downtown at a hotel on Madison Street. Saturday night they came out, hailed a cab, and asked to be taken to the Blue Note, a well-known jazz club. The driver drove for about ten minutes stopping at the Blue Note. They paid him, stepped out and he drove away.They were right across the street from their hotel!

With my favorite taxi service, you can book in advance online, they always show up on time, you can pay with a card, and they operate a late-model Prius fleet, none of which smell bad.

You never know who your driver will be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7-wAy_8ss

Poor Goat! He’s now on the wrong side of the generation gap. ; )

Don’t swear in front of the kids!

How often have we seen Goat freak out like this? And, while teaching the little goats!

For those like me, resisting getting sucked into the Cellphone Life, dealing with either taxis or ride-shares is difficult. Have you looked for a pay phone lately, even in a big airport?

I still prefer Taxis to Uber. My husband only used Uber once or twice years ago and he STILL keeps getting hacked (someone keeps taking rides using his new debit cards…he’s had to get new cards reissued 3 times so far). He deleted his account, removed the app and yet every few months he keeps getting charged for someone else’s rides. Uber can’t/won’t do anything about it so we’ve just had the bank refund us through their fraud department. We’re thinking about switching to a new bank account to see if that stops it. It’s strange and it only happens with Uber. The thieves don’t/can’t use his cards anyplace else it seems. Tells you a lot about the safety of the Uber system. If you Google “ghost rides” you’ll see tons of stories of other victims, some who have never even signed up for Uber still getting their cards compromised somehow. Scary times!

I’ve been in some pretty scummy Ubers!

This on my bday :|