Cabbie to the Rescue!

Those sound like some sloppy, sorry bank robbers.

Now that was an interesting story. Sometimes it pays to be crabby. In this case it worked. A crime was stopped. I wonder if the cab driver was acknowledged as a hero. That would have brightened his day for sure.

I had a cab driver once tell me what a ladies' man he is. His neighbors wife, girls at the bar, girls he picks up . . . they all want to tie him down because of the good sex he makes; but he likes variety too much. He called himself Michael Douglas from Basic Instinct at least five times. I'm pretty sure if that guy barged into my robbery, I would flee the scene.

@JenMac Sitting in a cab all day, I guess the guy has a lot of time to fantasize. Why am I guessing most of that good sex is probably in his head?

@DBlack ha ha ..probably but then you never know in a city like NYC anything can happen...

@ajadedidealist Now that cabbies are no longer on the phone because of the ban, they have all the time in the world to pay attention to the antics of their passengers be they bank robbers /not.

Good call, @uptowngirl! Although I have to be careful not to have embarassing/personal convos in cabs now - they're paying attention to me!

I feel like my friends are constantly blabbing in cabs about personal info! I always get really embarrassed. I know that we'll never see the guy again; but, there's still something about having no regard for a stranger eavesdropping to weird sex stuff that always blows my mind.

Most of the time I am in a cab by myself. When I am, I focus more on where I have to go. So I do not talk. If a cab driver does start a conversation with me, I will talk a little, but not too much.

@JenMac That cabbie was definitely putting the moves on you. Classic creep move: start talking about what an amazing lover you are.

@NeverSleeps Hahaha, yeah, the only motivation for boasting like that to a woman would have to be for the purposes of putting the moves on you...

He needs to find a new tactic then . . . he was saying some disturbing stuff. Although, I did want to keep listening. It was like watching a car crash.

Yeah... the whole "I'm great in bed, I've slept with so many women" thing is the worst sort of come-on, but I think one of the most common. Why are there so many creeps amongst men?

It's pretty clear that cab driver is a talker, not a doer, ladies.

Can you actually tell a cab driver, Please stop talking to me, you're creeping me out?

@DBlack That's the conclusion I usually draw from such come-on methods.

@Uraniumfish Yes.

Gross. Why would a complete stranger actually think that anyone would be interested in his personal dealings with women? I actually had a cab driver give me his number and beg me to call him after he got off work at 6am. Why would that ever happen?

@BroadwayBK: He must have liked you. Thought you were gorgeous and wanted to use you as his next target. It was more of an ego thing on his part. Who knows. He could have been a rapist. You were good to ignore him and leave the cab without saying a word.

I have heard of a case where this girl got into a cab and the cab driver was a very handsome Indian or Pakistan guy. They got to talking. She was single and wanted a date. She shot off her mouth and so he asked her out. He gave her his number. Do you know two days later, her body was discovered in the Hudson River near a boat. According to the report, she was raped and strangled.

This is why it is best not to talk to cab drivers. Even if they do look innocent. You never know what they are thinking.

@hhusted in a huge city like NYC the incident like you mentioned can happen anywhere .. it doesnt have to be a cab driver and not all of them are demons! In 2001 when I was a visitor in NYC I got into a cab with my aunt at Battery Park City. My aunt was attired in Indian clothes and the cabbie got talking with her. Turns out he hailed from my grandfather's village which is now in Pakistan but which prior to 1947 was a part of India. The cabbie got so excited reminiscing that when we reached our destination on the UES he refused to take the $18 fare. After much cajoling on our part he accepted a token of $10. This happened to me once again in 2003 when I again visiting NYC,when an Indian cabbie again refused to accept the fare for me. I felt so guilty because it is after all their livelihood that I insisted on paying his full fare. Nowadays when I get in a cab driven by a S.Asian they just enjoy chatting about the home country but none of them offer to waive my fare thanks to the economy:).

@hhusted one more thing none of these cabbies offer to date me or anything.. in fact in another post I mentioned that I recently got into a cab without any money and had to promptly get out. I have to mention at that in that case the cab driver was a youngish, good looking white guy who seemed extremely chatty but I had to cut him off as I needed to get out asap. I could have made him wait until I ran home to get my wallet but my fare was a small one and really didnt want him to lose out on custom because of me

@hhusted I don't think that all cab drivers are rapists/murders. And anyone could be a horrible creep - that Craig's List killer guy was a med student. I don't think you can pick them out by their profession.

Anyway, I often chat with cab drivers, and most of them seem to be just decent working class humans. Anyone ever had a female cab driver? I've met exactly one.

@NeverSleeps never met a single female cabbie, now that I think of it. Hmm.

@Neversleeps so have I only the one single female cabbie

I wonder why that is? Is it a dangerous job for women, or are most women just not interested in jobs that involve driving?

Hey Uptowngirl and NeverSleeps, I never said all cab drivers are demons. I was only relating a story based on BroadwayBK's incident. I was simply making a point based on BroadwayBK's situation that anything can happen in this city. I do remember reading about the case with the cab driver. I wanted to relay that story only to prove a point. I know many cab drivers who are friendly and nice.

Please don't misunderstand my post. I just wanted to state that people need to be careful when getting in cabs, walking down a street, or getting into the subway. Be safe.

@BroadwayBk I think it is a rather dangerous job, you're carrying around cash, and when belligerent drunk people get in the cab, they are much more likely to give a woman grief...think of your average frat boy mentality now...

That's a good point - @uraniumfish. I suppose it requires trust on both sides - being a cabbie is as risky as getting into a cab!

@everyone I remember when they first introduced credit card machines in cabs, the cabbies were most upset mainly because they were concerned about drunk, belligerent customers who would perhaps pay with dud cards in the dead of the night and the cabbie would then be left holding the fare.

@Uptowngirl: That is actually what one cab driver told me when I asked about the system. He told me he had more trouble with it than when he did not have the machine at all. Then again, I remember another cab driver told me nothing bad happened to his machine.

I always pay cash no matter what. I feel safer that way.

@Uraniumfish I never actually thought about all the cash they must have. You are completely right, it's so obvious now. Ugh, please don't ever mention frat boys again!

@uptowngirl The first time I ever paid with a credit card it took me days to figure out how to do it. Granted I had had too much to drink, and I thought that you somehow swipe your card on the little tv screen rather than the completely separate card swiper. The cab driver was absolutely no help, as he didn't really know how to do it either. It was up to me, a drunk girl, to figure it out. At least my card wasn't a dud?

@BroadwayBK: That's why I prefer cash. I don't want to waste time trying to figure out how to pay a fare. I just want to get out of the cab and get on with my business.

Well once I figured it out I actually use it a lot. I still tip with cash, but sometimes I just want to hang on to my cash for its many other uses. There are a lot of places in my hood that only take cash, and it's such a pain to get that I end up using cards where ever I can get away with it.

@hhusted and BroadwayBK I tend to also use cash to pay cabbies. In fact I use cash more than I use my cards..but maybe I should change after seeing that my friends accumulate tons of frequent flier miles by swiping their amex cards everywhere.

@Uptowngirl: You have an incentive. You have a credit card that rewards you. I don't. That is why I use cash. I look at the meter, get the cash ready, and pay the fare when I arrive. Life is simple that way.

@hhusted If you reread my post you will notice that I said that even I use cash but am considering switching to a card just to accumulate air miles.

@Everybody Being a cabbie is a seriously dangerous job and it's also hard work. A lot of cabbies work long shifts to make their daily income. It's one job I never ever want to do, though at least it's an option for a man.

@uptowngirl That's a pretty good reason to use a card. I guess that's not possible with debit transactions (from the previous discussion regarding the use of debit vs credit) ? Hmm. I should look into that with my bank.

@Uraniumfish I know of a relative who accumulates so many air miles that she manages to fly business class long haul with her kids every year! I want in on that secret! I do follow several travel blogs like flyertalk.com , farecompare.com but still havent managed to figure out how to effectively use my air miles which are all over the place...I would love to be able to fly business class everywhere...actually even premium economy would do :)

@uptowngirl If I had a credit card that rewarded with frequent flyer miles, I would be swiping that thing everywhere it would take! I have a lot of family members who do that, and are always siting on top of a decent amount of miles. All this talk about it makes me want to sign up for a card right now.

I need a card that rewards me - I would be reaping so many rewards!

Amex is the only card I know that offers any membership benefits, but I don't take advantage of even half of the stuff.

There are advantages to having a card that provides frequent flyer miles. Every time you use the card you accumulate miles. But there are disadvantages to it to. The disadvantages are that you go further into debt. So think about it before trying for a credit card that gives frequent flyer miles. If it pays off in the long run so be it.

That's a good point, @hhusted. I live happily without a credit card - debit is just fine for me, and I'd really rather not spend more than I earn! I'm a spendthrift, so it's good that I watch myself lest I buy myself into debtors' prison...

@ajadedidealist there are some benefits to having a credit card so I do have a couple but I use them infrequently and do all my spending on my debit cards.

@Ajadedidealist: Debit cards are okay to use where accepted. But what if you had to rent a car and the car place refused to accept your debit card. This happened to me once. That is why I now have a credit card.

In some places you actually need a credit card for ID purposes. That is if the credit card has your picture on it. My credit card does not have a picture on it, but my girlfriend's credit card does.