It Felt Like a Nightmare
About ten years ago I went to Vegas for a conference. On the last day, I was waiting for my bus shuttle to bring me to the airport. As I was waiting, I noticed one of those Hummer limousines.
It was absolutely cool and awesome, and I wondered what it would be like to ride in one. The driver saw me looking at it, so he came strolling over. He looked harmless enough.
He struck up a conversation with me and asked where I was from and how I liked Vegas. Then he offered to bring me to the airport for a mere $20 bucks. That price is unheard of, even for a taxi.
I said, “No, thank you,” without realizing it. So, then he offered to drive me for $10 bucks. Again, I told him, “Nooo. Sorry, sir. But thank you.”
Then he said that for free, he would take me to the airport and drive me around the city for a bit so I could experience being in a Hummer limo. Just for a second, I thought it would be fun.
Instead, I again declined respectfully. By this time, I really started to worry-worry. He stared at me for the longest time, and then he offered to pay me to ride with him.
He wanted to pay me! There was just this coldness…this dead-eyed look he had while he smiled at me the whole time. I was terrified! I grabbed my suitcase and walked back into the lobby to wait for my shuttle.
I believe I would never have made my plane had I gone with him. Oddly, the entire time he was trying to convince me to ride with him, interested customers were asking him for a ride, but he kept blowing them off.
I’m pretty sure that had I gone with him, I would have been taken to the desert, and I would have never come back. Walking away from him felt like those nightmares where you’re trying to run and you can’t.
That whole experience turned me off going to conferences there for quite a while.