Aubree's three rules for taxi etiquette in Dubai

Okay, so I know I've been here less than a month, but I've taken a lot of cabs to get Griffin back and forth from school.  These are the most important aspects of using cabs here that I've learned (the hard way) so far:

1. If you have called a cab specifically, that cab will wait for you and not give anyone else a ride. Therefore, if you find another cab before the one you ordered arrives, you must call and cancel the booking.
   I waited on a cab for thirty minutes with a cranky four-year old and heavy bags of groceries, so I hopped in the first cab that came, not knowing it wasn't the one that was called. Before we got out of the parking lot, my phone rang, and an angry cab driver on the other end was berating me for getting in another cab. He was following my cab and pulled up beside us, glaring at me while he yelled through the phone at me. So I got out with Griffin and all his bags and got into his cab. He was angry at me the whole time, asking why I was in Dubai and how long I'd been there while he repeated taxi etiquette to me. The next day a much nicer cab driver confirmed this rule of etiquette.  1a. If you find a taxi driver you like, get his number.  You can call him specifically when you need a ride.

   I have the number of my favorite cab driver, Happy, in my phone, and I will now call on him anytime I need to go somewhere.  He told me just to give him fifteen minutes or so to get to where I need him.  He will make picking Griffin up from school so much easier now.

2. Know how to get to where you want to go, but be open if the driver suggests a more efficient route.
   This may be naive of me (I've only been here three weeks, after all), but taxi drivers seem pretty honest. I haven't had anyone yet add miles to my journey to drive up my fare. Driving here is challenging, and these drivers are contracted to work twelve hour days, seven days a week for five years. Therefore, if a driver claims to know a better way, I'll let him give it a shot.
3. Don't overtip
   When we first arrived in Dubai, Woody and I thought that we were expected to give everyone big tips. So we grossly over-tipped everyone we came in contact with that first week. Then a friend told us that this isn't a tipping culture. Even at restaurants, for instance, there's no place to include a tip on the credit card receipt. It's okay to tip if you appreciate what someone has done for you, but a small tip (a few dirhams) goes a long way, and if you tip too much, it's inappropriate.