You ever had a crappy taxi ride in Shanghai that left you feeling frustrated and powerless? I recently found a way to fight back against the city's cranky, incompetent cabbies...

Last Tuesday (March 9th) was probably the coldest day of the year, so the last thing I wanted when I boarded my taxi was to feel even colder than I felt outside! Sadly, that is exactly what happened.

Over the course of the 57-minute ride I asked the driver at least 3 times to close the windows (Qing - guan chuang hu!) but all to no avail. The driver feared the windows would fog up.

Unfortunately, my grasp of Chinese isn't good enough to debate the guy and point out that there probably wasn't enough humidity in the air to fog the windows up (a suspicion that was confirmed by a multitude of passing cabbies with fogless windows whose smiling passengers were enjoying the heat with windows closed on all four doors - gaaaaahhhhh!!!!!).

By the 57th minute, when we'd stopped, I was frozen. I was wearing a single layer under my jacket, and no hat (I'm bald!). Needless to say, despite my near hypothermia, when we stopped, I was livid.

I threatened not to pay and pointed at the cab parked in front of us - THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY WINDOWS OPEN! He gave me a shrug and your typical "Bu xin" reply and demanded the cash. I tried arguing that he'd given me such extraordinarily bad service that I had the right to withhold payment, but eventually gave up out of sheer exasperation and cold (we were still outside).

Like so many foreigners, I thought I was helpless. But I was wrong! I called 926688 (Shanghai Call) and they helped me file a report against the guy (you need to keep your receipt to do this!). Now I'm getting some of my money back, the guy has to write up a report on his misdeeds and is subject to "service training" to correct his behavior. These are all pretty small gestures for what I think was very inconsiderate behavior, but it's something, and that's much, much better than nothing.

Next time a cabbie gives you the run-around, hold on to your receipt and call Shanghai Call. You'll get some money back, and you'll get the satisfaction of knowing that the guy/girl actually has to acknowledge his/her error to someone (takes about 5 days though). It's starting to pay to complain. I know this sounds incredibly whiney and petty, but HOORAY!