Taxicab Confessions...

jaha127

So unlike the HBO Taxicab Confessions where the passengers confess to the cabdriver… my cab driver decided to confess to me…

The other night I called International to take a cab from hereto my friend’s house to the other side of the bridge in Manhattan. Usually, International is on point with the whole 5 minutes thing… this time they took forever, and of course it began to drizzle and I wasn’t in the most rain proof or standing outside at 11pm for 20 mins outfit…

But okay, so the cab finally comes right… I didn’t have any cash so I asked the guy to pull over to the closets bodega so I can take some cash out. He agrees because he is starving… and proceeds to buy some snacks and gets me some chips (thanks!!).

Cool so know we are on our way… and he starts smoking….
And I’m like… “You shouldn’t do that, it’s not good for you (I mean especially with a passenger in a car)”

So he responds “I know but I am sooo stressed out, I just got out of jail yesterday for domestic violence”… I’m like omg; out of all the cabs they could’ve sent I get stuck with the cab driver who just got out of jail for beating his wife… see my parents warned be about getting into random cars…

I remain calm, and he continues to describe the whole situation to me… his wife who he was with for 15 years claims he bit her when she actually bit herself… and that he was just trying to see the kids… and she doesn’t let him see the kids, and how she left him for a woman… and it goes on and on with the drama…

I’m just sitting there like what am I supposed to say… so I came up with some bull “ummm… well you gotta stay positive get a good lawyer… and hopefully things will work out…”

Then it gets worse… (mind you we only made it to the BK bridge by now… damn Atlantic ave. traffic. ). He tells me how his life is all bad luck… how his cab that he was driving broke down on the Belt, and he had to spend all the money he was saving to buy another car to get this one towed and fixed. So know he can’t start his own taxi cab business….

So basically, by the time I get to Manhattan… I’m feeling really bad for this guy… so I give him an extremely large tip… so I am like at least you can you know start getting your life together…

Like two days later my friend is catching a cab back from my apartment to his house in BK… and he gets the same cab driver… who feeds him the same sob story, and my friend gives him a large tip because he felt bad for him…

So what did I learn… sometimes cab drivers need someone to listen to them… or was it… feed passengers a sob story get a good tip??

escap

I'd say a little bit of both. I've had tons of cab drivers tell me all kinds of personal things, but there's no doubt that they've got a bit of opportunism in them as well.

brooklynswordstyle

Or, it could be that in the two days since your large tip he still has some serious problems what with the criminal case, tow and auto charges, etc.

Or he could be scamming. But that seems like a lot of trouble for a tip. Unless you were tipping like $20 or something.

teddyballgame

Maybe because you gave him a big tip he decided to try it every time.

jaha127

well, I gave him like $12 on a $14 cab ride...
I wonder if I'll ever get him again, see how life's treating him now...

apollonia666

I dunno... I think mentioning domestic violence charges probably isn't the wisest tactic to try to get a lot of sympathy out of some people. I mean, I'm sure the rest of the sob story would have made a difference but that probably would have ooked me out of giving him any larger tip than I normally do.

quijibo

i would have given him at least a $2 tip
for the conversation alone

and plus, these days, i also tip more than i used to
to try and offset the high gas prices
--- 'cause these guys work 60 - 80 hour weeks

and it's a stressful enough job that they have

i mean
at my job, i don't risk dealing with the
rougher citizens of our society on a
daily basis

there's no plexiglass shield between my co-workers and i

bricktop

Subject: cab driver sob story and tipping

maybe RBG can get a ride with him, turn his life around in the course of one cab ride (type up his resume for him? Does the domestic violence jail time come at the top or the bottom?) and then tell us about the heroic work she did for him. And mebbe, since she is a RBG (rich black girl) she can tip the guy so much he can get himself some grilles. And then she can preach to us about how huge tips are the solution to racial/class issues in PH.

metulj

I actually landed the same yellow cab driver three times going back from Manhattan to the nabe. Three times. Seems random, BUT his livery is over on 4th, so I asked him what his deal was on the 3rd trip and he came from Somalia 10 years ago and his son just graduated from RPI with honors. Warm fuzzies. I told him I had ridden with him before and he remember me because of my wife. He meant well. Anyhow, he gave me his card and said that anytime I needed a ride back to Brooklyn around his shift change to send him a text message so he could cover his trip back with a fare.

Best place to catch a yellow cab in PH? I'm thinking corner of Flatbush and Sterling. Those guys worship a fare back to Manhattan.

flute

metulj wrote: Best place to catch a yellow cab in PH? I'm thinking corner of Flatbush and Sterling. Those guys worship a fare back to Manhattan.

oooh! great tip ... thanks!