The pick up is at the train station, a mom and her son, accented English. They've been on trains all day, it's late, and there's no car seat. By the law, I shouldn't take them, but it's a 5-minute ride in a depressed area, I need a bunch of short rides to make a bonus with snow coming in, and I don't have the heart to say no to this woman and her little boy. We roll and I hope he'll stay in his seat with just a seat belt, but...
Nope!
Since he's not in a car seat and it's a novel experience for him, and he's three and male and the way he is, the next five minutes is... not exactly relaxing for any of us. He's not feeling safe and having a tantrum, his mom is trying to control him with a rising lack of patience, and he wants to control his environment... which means that my stuff in the seatbacks (cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer) and signage is Fascinating. I hit the child locks so he can't roll out into traffic, drive slow and safe as alays, and bore him into passivity. Not the first time this sort of ride has happened, to be candid.
As we make the drop on a quiet side street, the mom and son make their way out, only to wave back at me ten seconds later, before I pull away, because in all of the commotion, she's left her phone on the floor. I roll down my window to talk to her, find out what she needs, and in five seconds...
My guy has opened *my* car door several times. The mom apologies once more, and I coast away, quite thrilled that he is Her Problem and not mine...
