TAXI TALES FROM THE BIG CITY
As I said in Part 3 of Odd Strange Jobs Working Life, I quit all office jobs in NY and stayed behind the wheel of a taxi for about 7 years. Taxi driving in NY is not for the faint of heart or smart people. I'm not sure which I'd classify myself as, probably a bit ofboth.
The things I will tell you about it here happened not necessarily in the order that I tell you. They are in the order than I remember them.
Me being from the south with my accent was a sight for these people up there, throw in the fact that I am a woman and it bumfuzzled the crap out of them. There were times when I took great delight in letting them think I was kinda dumb. I had to go into Manhattan to get the permit to drive and the proper drivers license forit. So, look around for parking saw a parking lot and asked how much to park there for maybe 2 hours. The man told me $30.00, and I bout crapped. I told him I wantedto RENT the spot, NOT BUY IT! When I got inside the building, there was a security guard there, and he asked me where I needed to go. He said, "Go stand on that line over there" Now, at this time, I knew full well what he meant, but decided to yank his chain a bit. I walked over to the line, and stooped over as if I were looking for something. Security came over and asked me what I dropped, Right innocent, I said 'Nothing, sir, just looking for that lineyou told me to stand on, I just don't see it". He got kind of annoyed and told me to stand behind the people in line. So all wide eyed and innocent, I apologized and stood behind the people.
When I finished that part, I left, got into the car and then drove back to Queens to do a different part of that, when that was done, I had to borrow the money for insurance which was a rather largeamount of over $4,200 for one year, and I didn't have that much money on me at the time. After that, I had to go back to Brooklyn just to get drivers license. Did that and the very nice lady there told meit would cost me $50.00. I told her I had never ever in my life paid that much money for a license before.. Too bad, she said, you want the license or not? I got it and walked out griping about it. Got back to the taxi stand and showed all the papers; I was ready to go!
At first they gave me the short local trips, and that was ok, I was making some money and having fun. Then they started giving me better trips, and half the time I didn't know where I was going. The dispatcher would tell me "the passenger knows". The passenger would tell me "You're the driver, you're supposed to know." When I opened my mouth and they heard my voice, they'd ask me "You're not from up here are you" Aha! MY TURN! "I AM from up here, I live in Howard Beach."They would start laughing and everything was ok.
The first time I went to JFK, I almost got into a fight with a Limo driver. He thought he was going togo when I had the right of way. No so, Mister, I don't give a rat's ass if you do have that hat and suit on. He called me a stupid bitch and that was all it took. I came out of my car and told him I was indeed a bitch, but I was not stupid, and I certainly wasn't a dirty old egg sucking dog like he was. He sat there looking somewhat confused, I gotback in my car and sailed through to pick up my passenger.
I drove about any time I wanted to, day or night. One night, they sent me to pick up a passenger and told me as usual if it didn't feel right, leave without the passenger. Ok, I picked up the passenger, this one was a Black man that wanted to go to 129th St. in Manhattan, and he wants to go over the Triborough Bridge. Ok, I can do that.At night, we had to collect the fare up front, and he had no problem with that, handed me the $24.00 right there.
Now, to get to Triborough Bridge, I had to go past LaGuardia Airport, and thebase radio wouldn't work at that point, and that's where the conversation started.He asked me if I wasn't afraid to drive at night. I said no, not really. Next, he said you're not? But you're a woman. I say Yeah, been one for 43 years. He said But you're a White woman. I held my hand up, looked at it and said Yep, I am. The next thing that came out of his mouth made the hair on my neck stand up. He said, I bet you have a gun or knife in here, don't you?
Uh oh. WTF is going on here? I looked at him in the rear view and asked him "Do you REALLY want to find out? He said Naw. He kept on talking, But you're a White woman and you're not afraid? Do you know where you are taking me? I said Yep, you're going into Harlem. He asked me WHY I wasn't afraid. Here, folks is where the best and biggest lie I've EVER told comes out of my mouth.
"Well", says I, "if they find out back at the stand, I'll lose my job." He promised he wouldn't tell so I said "I cut the throat of some son of a bitch down in NC and watched him bleed to death, and you know, those assholes locked ME up for that."
He didn't say another word, but when we got to his block, he jumped out of the car, threw me a $10.00 tip and RAN FROM ME! I'm sitting in Harlem at 3 a.m., and I have someone running from ME!
Then there were the two kids about 14 years old or so that thought they were going to rob me with a snake. I heard them whispering in the back seat about showing me the snake to rob me. Pissed me off big time, so I pulled over to the side of the street and told them to give me that snake. They got all bug eyed, but handed me the snake. I pulled the head off and threw both pieces in the canal; that made them cry.
I had my windshield busted with a baseball bat while I was waiting for a passenger outside a little store, and I don't know why to this day. They just walked up and what it with the bat, then ran off.
One day I was parked on the side of the street after I let a couple of passengers out, and as I was trying to get back out into traffic, someone blew the horn at me and when I looked, they waved me out to the street. He then zoomed up beside me and picked up a freaking gun andpointed it at me. I was in no mood to be messed with, it had been a rough day. I told him "My car is running like shit, I haven't made any money, the dispatcher is being an asshole today, so in the words of Clint Eastwood, make my effing day, asshole!". He looked and me, called me a crazy bitch and sped off. I don't understand why he left.
Went into Manhattan,Lower East Side one night, took a man in so he could give a baby to someone.Another manwalks by my car and growled at me! I growled right back, he laughed and walked off. I still don't know what that one was all about. But you learn to take things like that in stride.
Oh yeah, another good one, then I will stop this one for now. I was in Manhattan one night, headed back to Queens, and sitting at a stop light. A man came running out of a bar on the corner with a couple of other guys chasing him. The other men went back inside, but the firs man paced around outside for about 30 seconds. He them picked up a heavy steel garbage can cage and tossed it through the window of the bar. I made a right turn and got the hell out of there.
Many more running around my brain, let me know if you all want to read them.
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Good gosh! Dangerous, but fascinating!!! What fun, too!
Glad you lived through it!
OMG I can't believe you were a cabbie here in NYC. That is one dangerous job (she says to the person who lived it)I give you a lot of credit doing that! You don't say what year this was. Driving to Harlem in the 70's was a dangerous proposition.
Still, I am sure you met your fair share of interesting people. That must be the fun part of the job.
Still, very daring!