The first one stops even though his off duty light was lit, but when I say Brooklyn, he says, "No, sorry, no..." with a little smile on his face. The next one also has his off duty light on, he says "no, sorry..." with a contemptuous grimace.
The next one to stop is on duty, but not pleased that I want Brooklyn. I suspect this because he was very unresponsive even after my cheerful hello. I might as well have sneezed or cursed. I ask him to stop in front of Calumet (love my Calumet) where I needed to pick up a bunch of equiptment I had just rented, the reason I needed the Taxi in the first place, because I LOVE the subway and always take it when I can.
I make the mistake of getting out of the cab and going in the store, and when I get back outside the store with 200 lbs of stuff to load into the cab, it is gone. Should have called the rental guy, he said he would bring the stuff out for me.
So I put all the stuff on a hand truck Calument loaned me and wait on 6th Avenue. A cab stops for me, and when I say Brooklyn, he turns a little gray like maybe he is coming down with digestional problems. I sympathize, I know I don't fully understand why they are so reluctant, but I'm sure there's a very good reason it doesn't work out for them so well to make the trek to Brooklyn, especially right before they get off shift.
The driver sits in gloomy silence for a few seconds. I say "so you're not going to help me?" in resignation. He sucks it up, helps me load up, with pronounced graciousness. OK, well I did promise a big tip, which I regret doing, but I didn't want to wait there anymore. I got the feeling he didn't really expect it, anyway.
The trip was short. Made Brooklyn and Manhattan feel much closer together than they usually seem to me. Driver of 1D25, I'm glad you decided to help me. I sure needed the help.
4 comments:
Not for nothing, but I just get in without telling 'em where I'm going. A few have tried to decline after I am sitting in thier cab over the years, but when I say that we'll have to look for a cop to remove me if they won't go to Brooklyn, they always relent.
i've never had a problem getting a cab to brooklyn from manhattan. you get in, like the above poster said, and THEN you tell them your destination.
or you tell them to pop their trunk, load up, and then get in and say Brooklyn.
hell, i always tell them i'm going to brooklyn and i've never had more than one turn me away.
then again, i rarely take cars from manhattan to brooklyn....
I had a sweet, fast ride to brooklyn last night. An asian man knew exactly where my house was once I told him my address. A good feeling when someone really knows the way. Then he asked me if i was Russian, told me lots of Russian people live in Brooklyn. I told him I was from Washington DC and he thought that was funny for some reason.
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