Ladders in Stilettos Workplace Safety Tips to Protect Your Home-Based Business

Here’s a good safety tip when travelling away from home for business: Don’t be a victim of a taxi cab kickback scheme!

A kickback is a term used in taxi cabbie circles but is rarely, if ever, exposed to the public. It is a form of bribery. How this works is actually very interesting. The following is from personal experience so don’t laugh.

After a whole day of air travel, I got in to the West Palm Beach Airport on the last flight of the evening. It was my first time in that area of the east coast so I decided to use the professional services of the airport taxi company there to get me safely to my hotel.  I was attending an early conference the next day.

You hear those stories of the taxi cabs ripping you off so I was happy to see that PBI (designation for West Palm Beach Airport) had a taxi dispatcher there. I told him where I needed to go and he told me to wait while he called a cab for me.

A taxi pulled up but he told the passenger in line after me to claim that cab. I found that a little curious as I was next in line but, just a few minutes later, the cab that was apparently pegged for me, pulled up.

My bag was loaded and everything was set and we were on our way.

I had a little difficulty finding the taxi meter on the taxi dashboard. (This is one of the things you should always do before you get into a taxi to make sure that the meter is at “0” or some basic minimal base rate.) I couldn’t find it but I did a little research before my trip and knew what the cost was going to be in advance so I was not worried about being ripped off…

It was almost 10 pm there and if you know West Palm Beach, there is a huge retirement community there. There was hardly any night life at that time let alone traffic. So we were doing great on time and I was looking forward to checking in to my hotel.

We were 3 cars back at a stoplight when my cab driver decided to go around a few blocks.

Follow your hunches like the ancient navigators
followed the stars.
The voyage may be lonely,
but the stars will take you
where you want to go. – David J. Mahoney

I Should Have Had My GPS With Me

I asked him if the hotel entrance was on the backside because he was basically making a “U” turn around a few blocks. He informed me that he wanted to avoid the TRAFFIC so he made a detour…(Turns out, we were nowhere near the hotel.) I wondered how bad the traffic in Palm Beach was since where I came from, 3 cars at a stop light was not considered a pile up!

When we finally did get to the hotel, I asked the cab driver how much the fare was as I couldn’t locate his taximeter. He said, “Oh, just give me $40,” he said. (Little did he know about my previous research. The fare really should have been closer to the range of $20.) There were no hotel personnel to be seen and he looked like he was going to keep my luggage hostage until I paid him. So I gave him $40 (no tip). He was so elated (note: he was elated with no tip?) that he wrote his name on his business card (no printed name on the card) and his personal phone number and said that he would be happy to take me back to the airport when I was ready to return back to the airport. “Anytime,” he said. “You are a good customer,” he said. Translation: “You are an excellent pigeon and I look forward to ripping you off again the next time.”

Yes, I was a KNOWING victim of a kickback. What I should have done was to have him wait while I grabbed someone from the hotel to help with settling the rate discrepancy. This is what I was told by a retired former cab driver, after the fact. It does happen quite often so don’t be embarrassed.

The kickback occurred when the dispatcher, who was in cahoots with a private cab driver, handed off the Mark (in this case, yours truly) to his cabbie friend. The cab driver marks the price of the fare up (no taxi meter) and splits the difference with the dispatcher cohort. Hey, I was only too glad that they both could have lunch, on me, the next day. I wish they would have told me at least!

Travel Broad Mental Note: Don’t get in a taxi without a taxi meter and do your research before hand. If you do get involved in this situation, seek the help of the hotel or someone you trust at your destination before paying the fare. If the taxi cab is part of a larger organization, call the main office and give them the details, they will likely refund your money (including tip) to protect their reputation.

How did I get back to the airport AFTER the conference?  I’ll talk about that some other time.

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