So we plan on taking a cab to the airport one morning for a flight to San Francisco. We live on Beacon Hill in Seattle. Normally, one of us calls a cab the night before we fly anywhere and orders it for a specific time in the morning. It is always Orange Cab and it always arrives on time. I call the dispatcher at Orange Cab. A different dispatcher this time, apparently. I said I would like to order a cab for 10:30 the next morning. (The usual drill at this point is a barked "Address?", followed by "Name?", followed by "Phone number?", followed by "Okay, got it - they'll call you a few minutes before they get there so you're ready - goodbye.") But not this time. Oh no, not this time. "At 10:30 tomorrow morning?" he asks, like maybe only a crazy person wants a cab at 10:30 in the morning. "Yes, 10:30 tomorrow morning", I say firmly. "Well," he says, "I suppose you could do that." I assured him that I often do that. With excellent results. "What if it's late?" he says. "Excuse me?", I say. "Yeah, like if maybe it gets a flat tire or something," he says. I am stunned into silence. "Or it could break down, what about that?" he says. I mumble weakly that it has never done that before. "You going to the airport?" he asks. I reply in the affirmative. "You allow a full two hours before your flight?" he wants to know. As I attempt to process the fact that no dispatcher has ever before inquired as to my travel planning skills he goes on... "I first started working here maybe three years ago. Guy on Mercer Island takes a cab to the airport once a week at the same time. For six months he takes a cab once a week. One day it doesn't show up." I say nothing. He interprets this as horror on my part. "Exactly!", he says. "Course, there are a couple advantages to booking early. One, if a guy on Beacon Hill orders a cab a minute or two before you tomorrow morning, and there is only one cab in that area, he gets it." "That's why I...." but he interrupts me. "Two, they'll maybe send a cab to that area." "Yes, yes," I say..."they always..." "But if you call 20, maybe 25 minutes before you need the cab tomorrow, then if there is a cab in your area they'll come get you." "Gee," I say, "I've always had such good luck before. Has anything changed since last week?" (When my partner David took a cab to the airport to go to Denver.) "No, I mean you could do it. It will work maybe 9 times out of 10. I'll go ahead and set it up this way, and if there is no cab there at 10:30 in the morning you call. But don't call before 10:30 when the cab ain't there." I retired, defeated. I said to David, "It's maybe 16 dollars to park for a day at the airport. If the cab doesn't come, that's maybe $80 for 5 nights. That's like two cab rides, maybe one to the airport and maybe one back home. If they don't show up we'll do that.