Hi guysss……. Remember the post I made about transportation in Akure? Here’s one of my experiences in one of those small painted taxis.
On this day, I was asked to get a few things from the market. As usual, I boarded one of those small taxis.
Two guys were sitted in front with the driver while I was sitted at the back, a guy on my left and a woman on my right hand side.
As we moved halfway through the journey, the woman dropped so I was sitted at the side this time.
Just few metres after she dropped, a man waved us down. This man was at his prime age, probably in his late 30's. He was huge and dark in complexion.
When he waved our taxi down, I dropped down to let him sit inside so I could sit at the edge since; 1. I was going to drop before him anyways and secondly, I just happened to be the only female in the vehicle and wasn't comfortable with sitting in the middle of the vehicle surrounded by hefty guys.
This was when the problem began. The man who waved us down refused to sit in the middle. In fact, he got so furious and started raising his voice saying that I don't have any respect for expecting him sit in the middle while I sit close to the door.
My small self was obviously no match for him. He was older, bigger, louder and of course stronger. In addition, I'm really not the type to exchange words with anyone. I just don't have the strength or time for it. So, I quietly moved away from the taxi and the small scene the huge guy was creating from all the shouting.
What baffled me in this experience is that the guy who wasn't even in the taxi with us initially would have easily joined another one if he wanted to stay by the window side so badly but instead he resorted to creating a scene.
At a point I told the driver I wasn't going to continue the journey anymore and this guy raised his voice even louder!
He snatched the little bag with me, opened it, took out money and threw the bag on the floor. He gave the driver the money and asked him to drive. In my dejected state, I told the driver that the amount he was given was more than I was supposed to pay but he didn't listen. None of the other guys in the taxi took my side and the small crowd that gathered didn't do anything about the harassment either.
I felt soooo bad. You know the feeling when you're being maltreated but there's absolutely nothing you can do to fight back?
They zoomed off and I just stood there trying to control the tears already falling down my cheeks. My things were still on the floor. The crowd started reducing. One of the women at the scene helped me put my things together and tried consoling me. She said for security reasons, I made the right choice when I decided not to stay in the middle of those guys. She made me realize that it was suspicious for the hefty guy to take things so personal and even insist on riding in that particular taxi with me sitted in the middle.
A lot of things could have gone wrong. My small self wouldn't be able to fight back if anything had happened while in the taxi. I would have been at their mercy. This woman told me to be grateful for the experience and that it was God trying to save me.
I thanked her, stood for a moment to get myself back together and proceeded to the market to get what I was sent to to get before heading home.
I'm glad I wasn't physically hurt. Though I felt bad the whole day but I got over the feeling eventually.
Have you been bullied in a taxi before?
Let me know what you think in the comment section.
Thanks for reading through as always.
Bye for now!
