I rarely have that problem. If they can’t make change, they’ll go into a store to get change (with the meter off).
Then again, they know me and value my business. Whenever I call for a cab I just say “Hi, this is tdn”, and a cab is there in less than 5 minutes. It pays to be a good tipper.
I’ve told a Bilbao cabbie “I’m the one who’s from out of town, you know. Been going from the office to that hotel for months and there’s like three routes you guys take, but I have no idea what the streets are called, nor is there any reason why I ought’a.”
They’re trying to make Madrid ones look good or something? Those only insist in questioning me about my financial status, why am I going from the train station to the airport with a suitcase (to take a boat? what do you think, genius?), and telling me that I should set up shop as “self employed” cos that way nobody will be my boss (I’m self employed, not that it’s any of their business, and when you’re self employed you get a ton of bosses).
Back when I lived in Barcelona, pre-GPS days (nowadays every cabbie in Spain seems to have a tomtom, affectionately nicknamed tontón or “silly one”), I’d tell the cabbie to head to Bonanova Avenue, like they were going to a well-known hospital there, and I’d give him directions later. They’d say “give me the address, miss” I’d give them the address. They’d get this “oh shit” look. “How about you head there and I’ll give you directions? It’s a side street near the hospital.” “Uh, sure, sorry.” But then, I was going to a street all of one block long.
One of the last times Mom went there, she got into the cab, told him the intersection she wanted to go to (very close to Sagrada Familia, and both streets are pretty big) and he went “is that in Poble Sec?” (pretty much the other end of town). She said “no, and since you haven’t set it to occupied yet, don’t do it, as I won’t pay you,” got off and got another cabbie.
Nope, sorry, Sofia cabbies totally beat Madrid in the Most Obnoxious category, apparently. I’ve been asked what my religious affiliation is (apparently, the idea of meeting a Protestant is an exciting one; too bad I’m not a Protestant), and been told that the reason my students are poorly behaved is “because of democracy. Back when we had communism, the students had respect for teachers! Blah blah blah everything was so much better when we were communists!” And then I rolled my eyes so hard they practically fell out of my head.
Oh god, this is reminding me that I once had a cab driver - in Varna, not Sofia - practically kidnap me. He decided he was going to marry me and kept telling me about what our life would be like after we got married. He really really wanted to take me out to eat, and when I finally talked him into taking me to my destination (after he’d been driving around in circles for twenty minutes), he asked if he could kiss me. shudder
On the subject on London cabbies : last year, I spent a few days in a B&B located in a little backalley I spent ages finding, and I was on foot with a map+directions. I’m talking “three houses and a dead end” kind of street. A few days later, not feeling like taking the bus back there, I hailed a cab, handed the driver the scrap of paper with the address on it, and told him which part of town the little street was in, and the closest major intersection.
Dude looked at me like I had just spat on his mother or something. Then he just said “Yeah, mate, I know” 
As a hint for London tourists, it’s only the cabbies you flag down on the street who have to take ‘the knowledge.’ Or at least it always used to be. Minicab drivers that you call and come to pick you up don’t have anywhere near the level of understanding of London’s street system.
And you don’t get the fun conversation.
I heard that in order to get a cab license London cabbies are subjected to a testing and training regime that would put the ancient Celtic ordeals for inclusion into the Druidic mysteries to shame. 
It’s called ‘The Knowledge’ and involves:
This takes 2-3 years.
N.B. It only applies to black cab drivers, not to minicab drivers.
Believe me, these guys really know their stuff.
I’ve had one chap supply a tourist friend of mine with a running commentary of major London landmarks and history.
Another time, I had an emergency. A relative had been rushed to hospital and the elderly person accompanying them got upset and couldn’t remember the address after they got home:
“It’s a large building sort of near Kings Cross station and there’s a one-way street leading into a driveway and the hospital entrance.” 
The taxi driver I asked drove me straight there. 
I’m from Milwaukee, and I caught sight of a t-shirt yesterday: “I’M FROM WISCONSIN AND THAT’S NOT FUNNY.” Actually laughed out loud.
I think Chicago’s just jealous of our beer and motorcycles.
lost4life, I’m here in New Orleans and used to work for City Hall. After working with different types of people, I learned not to trust two kinds when dealing with them and they are tow truck drivers and cab drivers. One thing that cab drivers in New Orleans like to do, which is against the law here, is to only take you to the airport. After I attended a Mardi Gras ball here one night, we and several others were refused service because we were locals and wanted to go to local addresses rather than all the way out to the airport. Well, being city employees who knew the taxi rules, we didn’t let on, but reported the offending drivers to the right agency in City Hall once we got back to work on Monday.
So, when a cab driver here says they don’t know where you want them to go, they may just be trying to wait for a more lucrative fare going to the airport.
As an expatriate cheesehead, I will say - I’m only jealous of the New Glarus brews. Everything else, eh. (I will admit that Leinie’s and Capital are good, but I wouldn’t drive over the border just to buy it, unlike with the New Glarus.)
Tsk, no love for Sprecher or Lakefront, either?
They’re good too, though I’ve lost some fondness for Sprecher with time. Not drive-across-the-border-for-beer good though. 
Infidel!
I guess I’ve been lucky, since the only places I take cabs are here in San Francisco, which I know perfectly, and Manhattan, where it’s a pretty sensible grid.
Delivery guys, on the other hand… Why am I typing out an address and a two cross streets if you won’t even bothering to Google it before you go?
Yeah, that tends to give me the stankeye too. My parents have taxi vouchers from the City, cabbies really hate that. I think it’s because in both cases, they have to wait to collect their tips.
I had a meeting at the Empire State Building some months ago and got into my hotel late the night before. I don’t book my own trips and the company uses preferred hotels so it can be quite a distance from the hotel to my destination. So I got in the cab and said the building, and the driver says, do you want to go up this street or go around? I wasn’t in the mood for such games and kind of growled to just take whatever way made sense.
A block from the hotel, he pulls up to the building’s observation deck, which is on the opposite side from the office building entrance. Oh.
I was very proud of myself for successfully navigating my Rome cab driver to our destination after having to use his map book to find it. Probably would have helped if we’d had a language in common.
Nope, Chicago is jealous of your Culver’s and cheese curds.
There are plenty of Culver’s locations in the area these days. I used to live in the same suburb as one that was next door to a health club.
Fresh cheese curds… sigh. I sometimes call the border the “cheese curtain” since I can’t find any fresh enough down here.
I have to agree with you that New Glarus is the only brewery worth driving across the border for (that I’ve encountered so far, at any rate, I will leave myself open the possibility that there may be a brewery somewhere I’m unfamiliar with that has a smashing product.) That said, Lakefront is an awesomely fun brewery. They have the best brewery tour I’ve ever been on and are more than generous with their drinks and souvenir glasses for the cost of admission. (Heh. I just noticed that, in fact, I am currently drinking my homebrew from a Lakefront Brewery glass.) Their biggest product here in Chicago is their New Grist sorghum beer. I haven’t tried it yet. Otherwise, they have very solid brews, but nothing that blows me away like some of New Glarus’s offerings or our local brews at Goose Island, Flossmoor Station, or nearby Three Floyd’s. However, for a day trip to Milwaukee, lunch at Speed Queen Barbecue (outside shoulder with hot mustard sauce) followed by a tour of Lakefront is my idea of a perfect day.
Why is it like that, anyway? You’re in Illinois, no cheese curds, you cross the line to Wisconsin and BAM CHEESE CURDS EVERYWHERE. Is there some kind of evil tariff preventing the importation of cheese curds into Illinois? Maybe we need to dump a bunch of cheese curds into Lake Michigan to end this villainy.