7/18/14

(sigh)  It's July 18th and I just found out that Abraham has appealed the verdict from June 24th concerning the incident of harassment from May 3rd.  Sooooooooooo...yea.

We'll just keep fighting.  We got this!  #yellowcab

6/24/14

Annnnnnnnnnnd...WE WON!  

Portland suspends taxicab company's license

05/15/14

This is more information concerning the case against Yellow Cab and Abraham Lembarra:

City seeks suspension, fine for taxi driver accused of verbally abusing women.

And yes, this has been ongoing for 10 days now...if you're keeping track.

There's also this post on iHollaback.org, which is an amazing forum to stop street harassment!

Amber's story

05/08/14

As a follow up to the experience I, and as we have found out many others, have gone through this amazing man and his friend did some research and have since posted this:

Meet Yellow Cab, the company (and its owner) behind the harassment claims

Again, I cannot express how much I appreciate all of the support, re-posting, linking, research, and positive comments that we all have received...I love you.

05/03/14

I worked brunch today.  It’s been a rough week, but the time has come to have a talk with my best friend.  One on one.  So grab yourself a drink and let’s sit outside so I can explain to you how it made me feel…for realz.  And yea, there were tears and real words and apologies and tough love talk and finally, in the end, a hug.  

But this isn’t a story of that, because well, you know I share a lot, but sometimes you just have to keep that inside…this is a story of what happened to both of us after we hugged.  After we had worked things out.  After we had shared a moment in life that made us both understand that we still love each other.  

This is a story of that time when a cab driver pulled up to the curb right in front of where we were standing outside of the restaurant.  That part isn’t odd, because it’s a restaurant and a ton of people get dropped off at the front door.  The “odd” part was…careful, there are a lot of swear words and inappropriate connotations that will now happen, so if you have issues with that STOP READING THIS!  Right MEOW!!  …the driver of said taxi cab (Yellow Cab:  http://www.maineyellowcab.com/home.html) rolled down the passenger side window and yelled out to us, “Hey ladies!”.  We both looked over assuming he was going to ask us a question…maybe he’s lost?  Maybe he needs to know if said restaurant is still serving food?  Maybe.  But nope.  Here is what he said:  “Ladies!  So, this guy (points to the passenger), it’s his birthday today and I told him I would find him some nice girls for his birthday!”  My best friend, being who she is responds immediately with, “Well, too bad for him.  We’re not nice.”  Meanwhile, Amber has immediately been thrust into the ear ringing, adrenaline pumping, red rage and stands there staring…dumbfounded.  He laughs and says, “All the better!  Come on!  It’s his birthday!!”  Of course the passenger and his two friends in the back laugh and clap…so, I say, “Drive on.  Now.”  He doesn’t and proceeds to say, “WHAT?!  What’s wrong with you?  Just get in.  Have some fun!”  
And that is when I slowly walk to the cab trying desperately to set it on fire with my mind.  My first thought is, well, I do have this lit cigarette in my hand and I could very easily just toss it into the cab…hopefully right onto someone’s lap…so it would burn…through…his pants…his crotch…because obviously this guy should not be allowed to own his man parts.  Instead I lean over into the window, real close to “birthday boy” and say in the tone my mum uses the statement “I’m very disappointed in you”, “Drive on now before it gets ugly.  You’re on dangerous ground right now.”  The driver laughs and says to me, “Ooooooo!  Do that again!  Your angry face is f*cking hot!”  WHAT??!!  
“Drive NOW.”  
“Oh, baby!  Yea!  Do it again!!!”  
“Right.”  I pull out my phone and record the phone number to Yellow Cab (207-518-3563) and calmly ask him his name.
“Why you need my name?  You gonna call me?  Just get in!”
“Name.  Now.”
“John.  HAHAHAHAHA!  It’s John you miserable c*nt”  Good luck with being awful to everyone in your life.  I’m sure it’ll get you far in life, b*tch.”

…So.  Yea.  You guys know me well enough that with those words spewing out of his mouth I wanted to rip the roof off the cab, grab him by the throat and hurl him into oncoming traffic…unfortunately, I have not perfected my superpowers (yet).  He drove.  This is also why I am not allowed to own any form of firearm, because I would have taken care of this leech on society.  Instead I said, “F*ck you, you misogynistic pig.”

That’s when I dialed the number for the cab company in order to file a complaint, because that’s what adults do!  In my younger days I prolly would have chased after the cab punched it and/or kicked it resulting in only hurting myself in the process…so, I make a phone call.  

“Yellow Cab.”
“Hi, I would like to file a formal complaint against one of your drivers please.”  …see??  All nice and professional!
“Sure!  Hold on a minute, let me get a pen.  Can you tell me his name?”
“Yes, John.”
“Oh!  John!  Yes, I know him!  Can you give me the fleet number and license plate number?”
“No, unfortunately I can’t, but he’s heading towards St. John street on Congress with 3 male passengers.”
“Hmmmm…well if you don’t have a taxi number or plate number there isn’t much I can do.”
“Uhm.  Ok.  I would still like to file the complaint.”
“OH!  SURE!  Tell me what happened! …and why you’re so angry!”

As a side note, this should have been the first hint that something was off…well that and the fact that the “dispatcher” sounded oddly like the cab driver.  

So, I proceed to tell him the story.

“Oh, that’s a very good story!  No wonder you’re so upset!  Because you’re a miserable bitch and you want to make everyone around you just as miserable so you can make yourself feel better.  You skinny whore.  No wonder you don’t have a boyfriend!  You know I would date you, but I don’t like skinny ass c*nts!  You know what you should do??  You should drive to the grocery store right now.  No seriously, right now and buy a zucchini because that’s the only way you’re ever gonna get any!”

“Okay.  Wow.  I need your name now, I guess.”

“F*ck off c*nt.  Go to the store.  Get a zucchini and make sure it’s the smallest one you can find, because your p*ssy is small.”

NOTE:  I almost started laughing because a. The situation was too ridiculous to be happening and b. Uhmmmmm…wait…isn’t that a good thing?!  ANYWAY…

“Alright.  I just want you to know that I will make sure everyone I know is privy to this situation and not to use Yellow Cab ever.”

“Ok whore.  Wait.  You have a television show??  What are you a rich white b*tch with connections?!  How are you going to do that??  Yellow Cab is EVERYWHERE!  We’re viral c*nt!  You can’t do anything about this!!  Go f*ck yourself with that zucchini!!”

“And now I am going to call the police on you.  Thank you.”

“Yea.  Go call the cops b*tch!  You can’t do anything about this you angry, miserable b*tch!!”

[CLICK]
…dial cops.
The rest of the story is rather uneventful.  I ran inside to let my boss know what happened and that the cops were going to show up, but that I would ask them to pull around the corner to speak with them because, hey, it’s his restaurant.  I spoke with the police and they said they would try and find this guy and “give him a talkin’ to”…whatever that means.

So this is me filing my formal complaint against Yellow Cab.  You can share this with everyone.  Please.  No one needs this scumbag driving around.  And yes, I do remember what you look like, so you should proceed with caution because I will now make sure I have mace on me at all times.

03/17/14

Night terrors.  Lemme tell you; explain to you, what these are and why she is so very volatile afterwards.  A human has a “dream” and while many of you think dreams are nice and stuffs and it’s the nightmares you should stay away from, some of us have terrors.  It’s a nightmare times 1000!  It’s the thing that when you try to run, you actually do in your sleep and then the thing that is chasing you catches up and you fight it…in your sleep and in real life.  It’s the moment when you “wake up” and punch and kick and smack your hand against the wall and then say…”I’m awake, it’s ok”…but YOU’RE NOT!  Nope.  It’s that moment when you scream “WAKE ME UP!  Please.  Please, wake me up”.  But the person that you are snuggling with doesn’t understand, so your subconscious tells them out loud that it’s ok…it’s ok…it’s ok…but wait!  It’s not!  Because then all of a sudden you’re back in the terror even though you were sitting up and your eyes were open.  It’s remembering EVERYTHING.  Every detail of the terror.  And you keep it with you, always.  The action figures on the windshield, the writing on the windows, the driving down a cliff, the guy with the chainsaw, the small room without any escape, the shoving your fist through the wall to make an opening, the witnessing of acts that kill your soul.  It stays with you.  So, yes, when she wakes up from them the last thing you want to do is to push her away, because she’s still there.  In that moment.  And it will take at least a 1/2 hour to get her out of it…because if you let her fall back asleep…BOOM!  Again.  Over and over.  And these are the terrors.  Maybe it’s because we can’t deal with stuff emotionally, so our brain decides to deal with it on it’s own.  Maybe it’s because we can’t talk about things that are hurting us…because we’re so great on the outside…nobody wants to see the demons inside.  Ever.  Either way, yes, she will become vehement, volatile, violent, then…sad, uncaring, vulnerable…all of these things.  So, take care.  Just grab onto them and hold them, because it probably has nothing to do with you and you’re halping.  Promise.  Hold on.  

1/21/14

I am breaking up with you.  I feel as if you have another interest on your mind.  There are small hints, like when we all go out to dinner or drinks together you seem to look at her face more than mine.  Or those times when I’m in the middle of a story and she speaks up and tells you a funny joke or shows you a witty photograph or tells you that you and her should go someplace else.  All those mornings we’re having coffee together and she can’t stop talking to you.  Or those nights when she just appears in your bedroom and informs me that she has something to tell you that’s more important.  Of course there are the mornings that I wake up and see that you’re awake but have decided to snuggle with her instead.  Instead of rolling over and holding me you choose to hold and gawk at her.  Who the hell let her in here anyway?!  Those moments when we’re working and instead of conversing with me or helping me you choose to talk with her.  Endlessly.  Those nights when I’m having a cigarette to decompress from work and you appear beside me.  With her.  The stars are beautiful tonight…don’t you…think?  Uhmmmm.  Hello?  Oh.  Yea.  I see you’re preoccupied because she’s so gosh darn interesting.  Those times in the car when we could be singing our hearts out, but I feel the need to turn the radio down because you are having interactions with her.  So yea, small hints.  Like she’s always around and you can’t seem to get enough of her.  So this is good-bye.  I’m breaking up with you(r) (phone).