Welcome to Chicago!

I can't believe I didn't share my "Welcome to Chicago" story!!

And that one is too good to miss.... LOL. I have retold it many a time since that Thursday night when I experienced it. But it's always good for a laugh, especially now that I am alive and all.

So when I arrived in Chicago on Thursday, I got to my hotel and unpacked, then I decided to head over to the convention center to help the girls from Michael Miller set up. We worked pretty hard for several hours. At 11:30, I decided it was time for me to go - I needed to get a good night's sleep, and there were still a few layouts and projects I wanted to put together for the following morning at the booth, which meant I had to come early.

I told them I was going, and they asked if I was sure I'd be okay - after all, it was late and I was in Chicago. "Don't worry!" I told them. "I'm just going to go right out front and take a cab back to the hotel. I'll be fine!"

I left the convention center and there was nary a cab in sight. I went to the roadside to hail a cab, but to no avail. None would stop for me. Argh. So I crossed the street to where a couple hotels were, figuring I could at least get the front desk to call me a cab. But there was one waiting right out front, so I got to take it! Woohoo!

The cab driver was very nice... He gave me his card and told me to call him personally if I ever needed a ride around town. Um, okay. haha. His cell phone kept ringing... I am pretty sure it was the theme from The Godfather playing... and he talked to all the callers in Italian.

Just as I was musing over whether my cabbie was in the Italian Mafia, I noticed my hotel right up ahead, about 500 yards.

And that was when it happened. This black car with two well dressed men in their early 30s pulled out in front of the cab, causing the cabbie to slam on his brakes and sending me (who was not belted cause, well, there were no belts) catapulting forward. We nearly hit these guys.

As I was gathering my bearings (and belongings, which didn't remain on the seat next to me), the cabbie rolled down his window and was yelling at the other driver.

"What the f&$% are you doing? I was driving here!!"
And the other man replied "A$$%!*#! You almost hit me! F*%&$in idiot!"
Lots of yelling and cursing happening here - oh and spitting. This guy spit on the cab driver. This riled him up something fierce, and the cabbie, who by the way was not at fault at all, replied in more expletives, this time upsetting the other driver so much he got out of his car and came over to the DRIVER'S SIDE and was trying to open the door and START A FIGHT with the cab driver. Meanwhile I was trying to make myself as small as possible in the backseat, my eyes as wide as saucers.

Finally the cabbie pulled away and started driving again. He apologized to me, telling me it wasn't his fault and people in Chicago aren't normally like this. Just as he was saying this, however, the men pulled up next to us in their car and started yelling again. Apparently they weren't done.

The cabbie slammed on his brakes again, causing me to catapult, again. More yelling and cursing and threats. I was expecting one of the two to brandish a gun at any moment, and I just crouched in the backseat and was praying for my life, wondering if I could safely climb out of the backseat of the cab and make it to my hotel at midnight in Chicago.

Suddenly the guy from the black car said, "You wanna be that way? We'll see about that!" and he peeled out ahead of us. I watched as he drove several hundred feet, peeled into a 180 degree turn, and started SPEEDING TOWARD US. IN OUR LANE OF TRAFFIC. I ducked and prayed and hoped to God this guy cared more about his own fancy car than revenge.

And I guess that was the case... cause at the last second he swerved and missed us - by inches - shouted a few more expletives, and drove off.

I couldn't help the tears by this point, and I was on the verge of hyperventilating, not sure where I could get enough air into my lungs. When we got to the hotel (which was just steps ahead at this point), the cabbie apologized profusely to me, asking me to please not cry, and telling me to please not pay for the cab ride because it shouldn't have happened like that. I could barely get out of the car and into the hotel, and didn't stop crying until I took a good, hot shower.

But, hey - now I know how to get a free cab ride in Chicago!! ;)

(and did anyone else have flashbacks of Adventures in Babysitting while I was telling the story? Cause I did!)