No it wouldn't. You may get your taxi but you would be confirming stereotypes by the way you asked.
If someone tells me how to get a taxi, that's good enough for me.
Again, living up to a stereotype.
I don't understand this. Would that mean that you have tried asking the business partner and the lobby attendant already and been refused?
That's the kind of attitude that might come between you and your European taxi. So often in these situations, it's the way you handle them that makes the difference.

Departing via a reliable cab company is a security issue, especially at night and especially in some foreign countries.

If the place you are visiting doesn't see it that way, then the attitude of such people might be the tip of the iceberg.

Thankfully, in my own workplace, taxi security is not an issue and we tend to have business meetings in business hours rather than at night.

Mr. H, I see where you are coming from but I am happy to report that my simple courtesy requests are never refused and never frowned upon. Maybe the way I ask and the tone of my voice help. In any case, my request is already much more polite than the OP's.

So to answer your question, the ranking of who to ask was just meant as a method. You should have the best chances and least problems starting with asking the business partner. If you don't want to do that, ask the front desk person.

My question: what else is a lobby attendant there for than to provide customer service? Why would they be too good to call you a cab? Why would they even feel the right to be miffed by such a request?

As far as stereotypes are concerned, there is often a lot of truth to them and they exist in the first place because there are real differences between cultures and social groups and there are salient, repetitive patterns in behavior and preference between these groups; as witnessed in this discussion itself. If you know the stereotypes (meaning the most likely behavior of a certain group) and act on them, your chances at achieving the desired goal are higher.

So, if you ask a straight-laced German dude what's the best way to get a taxi around here even if your actual goal is to get him to call you one, then the goal has not been met. He will tell you exactly what you wanted and think he did all that was required. You can instead tell him straight up you need a taxi and if he can help. That'll get you a taxi.

In the US, as experienced by the OP, the code is different. Calling a cab seems to be considered menial labor for anyone but a bell man. So you need to package the question differently and the above question about the best way to get a taxi will trigger his service response rather than an outright request for service.

None of the methods or cultures is superior. I happen to prefer the straight one but to each his own.

Till

That's really the crux of the issue, isn't it? Is it or is it not a reasonably-expected duty of an office building's lobby security station to call a cab for a tenant or visitor to the building?

Some have suggested phrasing the question indirectly, such as "What's the best way to get a taxi from here to the airport?" Let me clarify and restate what I said in the OP: I was polite but direct in my question, and if it is indeed part of the person's duties, I don't see any need to dress up or disguise the fact that I'm making a request. For example, when I go to the registration desk of a hotel, I don't ask them if they know of the best way for me to check into the hotel. When I go to the bell desk, I don't ask if they know of the best way for me to check a bag. In a restaurant, I don't ask the waitperson if they happen to know the best way to order my meal or otherwise beat around the bush.

I totally understand the issue of not talking down to servicepeople. My question was whether a polite but direct question about a taxi to an office building's security station is or is not within reason. And, opinion here seems to be equally divided.

I do in fact have a smartphone. A list of local taxi companies would be a start should I have no other option, but it is far from the ideal solution, especially if I'm in a suburban office park type of situation. One selection might result in a taxi in 3 minutes, and another might be 30 minutes. I, as a visitor to an unfamiliar city, have no way of knowing.

Well that's the thing, isn't it? I would suggest that anyone whose job is to staff something that would be considered a "front desk" would have customer service as part of their job function, if not it being the primary function.

As I've explained before, the issue isn't the need for someone to place a phone call for me that I could easily place myself. I have a smartphone with Internet browser on me at all times. The issue isn't having someone else place a phone call that I could easily place myself - the issue is that I'm in an unfamiliar place and do not know who to call.

As an interesting coincidence, just a few days ago I had the occasion for the first time to take a taxi from my office building to somewhere else in town because my car was in the shop. In my city, I know that "Yellow Cab" is a reasonable enough answer to the taxicab question, and could have easily called them myself. But, mostly because of this thread, I decided to try out the security station in the lobby. I asked "Can you call a cab for me?" politely but directly. Their response was "Sure" and they picked up the phone, dialed the full number without looking it up, and made the request. I don't know if they happened to know the number off the top of their head or if the number was pasted behind the counter, but they certainly didn't look it up anywhere and didn't use speed dial.

After they got off the phone, I got into a conversation with them about this issue. I asked if he considered calling a taxi part of his job duties. He said "Well, I'm here, and the phone's right here, so why not?" I then explained my bad experience at another building, and that I had gotten into a discussion on the topic (without mentioning FT). His response was, "Well, some people find themselves in the wrong career field."

So, after all of this, I guess I still don't know. There seems to be no consensus either way. If I had to make a best guess, I'd say that it probably depends on how often the question comes up at any particular location. In my building, which is in a "midtown" locale (that is, not downtown, but not suburban), it must come up often enough that the security guy knew what number to dial without looking it up. Perhaps in suburban locations, it's rare enough that people use taxis that the question is rarely asked, and because of this it's not in the psyche of the security folks that it's part of their job.

I believe that this entire thread is much ado about nothing.. When I broke my shoulder, 10 years ago and was unable to drive, I was quite dependent on taxis. I found that a courteous "would you please call a taxi?" was sufficient. It did not matter if I was exiting an office building or a department store or a restaurant. A couple of years later, following knee surgery, I found myself in a similar situation; unable to drive. Again, no problem asking someone to "please call a cab for me." Asking someone who works in a building to call a taxi is no big deal. I would do this without any hesitation. It really is about asking for a favor in a courteous manner.

Yep, beating around the bush is definitely not my style, either.

However, there is one difference in mentality between you and those who you ask that has not been considered or mentioned yet here: Efficiency.

The pure practice of wanting to do everything as efficiently as possible is, how can I say that, "higher echelon" thinking. It is the practice of a person in a higher status with more important things to do, where it actually matters whether they wait 3 or 30 minutes for the taxi.

I see two kinds of possible issues with this mentality difference. Either the person you are asking isn't even aware that this efficiency is important for you because it is not part of their own thinking and their own practice, or it might get interpreted as making them feel inferior, as in "Who does he think he is that he is so important that we call him a taxi?".

On the other end, it might have never occurred to the asker that this question might be met with anything but approval because in the asker's mindset time is money, efficiency counts and the spendy cab thus becomes a worthwhile mode of transportation, the efficiency of which gets reduced if you have to wait half an hour (might as well have taken the bus almost).

What I said.

Till

There are a couple of issues in the simple question: 'Can you call a cab for me?'

First, as others have raised, for security personnel, even if sitting behind a desk may not be there to call taxis, but rather to observe what is happening around them and ensure that nothing untoward happens. They may also be there to help you contact your business partner upstairs, but that doesn't mean they should call you a taxi, arrange for a shoe shine, or any other services you require. They may not even have a telephone which has an outside line. I know that the security staff at my building's front desks are there for security. They might be able to give you advice, but it would not be expected to make calls for people, even to taxi companies. That said, my building is in the center of a large cities, and assuming the weather isn't a disaster, it wouldn't be hard to flag a taxi on the street. For calling a taxi, etc. you would be expected to ask the admin staff of the person you are visiting.


Second, if you really are in a suburban American location, the front desk receptionist may really not have any idea how to deal with this thing called a taxi. They drive to work. Everyone they know drives to work. The guy who broke his leg - his wife drives him to work. The consultants and salesmen, they rent cars. You would be surprised how foreign the concept of a taxi can be in some parts of the US. So, their shock may not have been that you asked them for something, but rather that you asked them for something so foreign to their experience.