micheleandtom.com

There is nothing that a Buenos Aires cabbie hates worse than a passenger slamming their door while entering or exiting the vehicle. (I’m serious, they get super pissed.) Tom feels horrible when he inadvertently closes his door with hulk-like strength. And then, he gets to feel doubly bad when he can’t sufficiently apologize in Spanish!!

We’ve noticed that cab drivers seem to associate door slamming with Americans. We’ll often be on the receiving end of “Don’t slam the door,” from the taxista, followed by the question, “Are you from America?”

These types of conversations have led us to the realization that, OMG, we are gouache American passengers. Tom and I try not to be gouache American anything, so we are diligently working on implementing a kinder, gentler door close. (Perhaps this is a good reason to skip workouts!?!) I try to explain to our yellow-car conductors that we have kids and owned a minivan back in the States with very heavy doors…blah blah blah. Unfortunately, this explanation seems to lead them to believe that I’m really a wordy gouache American, so I’ve quit!

Anyway, all of this leads me to wonder, does every nationality have its own door closing technique? Can cab drivers roughly tell where your from by how you handle taxi etiquette?