Basic Trope: A character has trouble hailing a cab.
- Straight: Alice needs a cab, but no matter how much she waves and shouts, "Taxi!", no taxis stop.
- Exaggerated: Dozens of taxis pass by Alice, and the drivers who pay her any attention are extremely rude to boot.
- Downplayed: Alice doesn't get a cab at first, but the eighth one she spots picks her up.
- Justified:
- Alice has a bad reputation, so the drivers don't want to pick her up.
- Taxi's generally pick people up who make a request via phone. Picking up someone off to the side is the exception, not the rule.
- Taxis stopping on the side of the road is illegal. It's dangerous and disrupts traffic.
- Inverted:
- Taxis keep trying to pick Alice up even if she doesn't want a lift.
- Alice is a taxi driver who has trouble finding customers.
- Subverted: Alice shouts, "Taxi!", but the taxi drives right past her ... then, drives back because it only left to get gas.
- Double Subverted:
- Parodied: Alice uses over-the-top methods to hail the taxi, like semaphore, a giant sign, balloons, etc.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice doesn't get a cab for nearly an hour, then she gets one. But she's taken in the opposite direction of where she's going, and Bob, the driver, doesn't take kindly to it when Alice reminds him of this. He kicks her out and charges her for the trip, and then she's on her own, and has no more success getting a taxi than before. But she got late for her appointment during her first wait anyway.
- Averted:
- Alice does not require a cab.
- Alice catches a cab just fine.
- Enforced: Alice is from a ride share commercial. Can't have their competitors looking good.
- Lampshaded: "Oh man, I can never catch a taxi!"
- Invoked:
- Bob the cabby deliberately doesn't pick up Alice.
- Charlie slanders Alice so that the drivers won't pick her up.
- Exploited: After Alice complains about being unable to get a taxi, someone in the vicinity manages to sell her a bus pass.
- Defied:
- "I'm gonna go pick up that lady right now. Can't have her thinking I'm a mean cab driver."
- "That lady looks like she's in a hurry, better pick her up."
- Discussed: "How do I catch a cab? I've been having trouble lately."
- Conversed: "Why do the cabs in that movie never stop?"
- Implied: Alice sets out with the intent of catching a taxi. Next time we see her, she's settled for taking the bus.
- Deconstructed: The cab drivers don't make any money as the result of not stopping.
- Reconstructed: However, after they implement a call-ahead system, the taxi service is more efficient than ever.
- Played for Laughs: Alice is a rural woman trying to adapt to life in the city, and this is one of her many mishaps.
- Played for Drama: Alice is black, and the taxi drivers are racist.
- Played for Horror: Alice is a ghost and is invisible to living people, but doesn't realize it, and that's why she can't hail a cab.
Back to Failing a Taxi.
