We have a friend who doesn't mind picking arguments with the help. Cab drivers are the help, right? So yeah, there we were, stopping off in the West Village to meet some friends at a bar, and said friend went to pay the cab fare with his credit card. Except the driver, worried about losing a few pennies to the transaction's surcharge, sneakily disabled the credit card option immediately after it popped up on the screen. And once that little touch-screen button disappears, there's no going back, or so these cabbies tell us. He insisted that we had to tell him ahead of time that we were using a credit card, which is absolutely not true and, if we're going to get technical, likely illegal. Grudge-holding as our friend is, he refused to let the matter go, threatening not to pay the fare unless the driver let him use his credit card. The driver threatened to call 911 and involve the police; our friend said "make my day"; the driver pushed some buttons on his phone and, perhaps, only pretended to dial 911. While we sat there waiting for a perhaps imaginary cop to show up to mediate this matter, we finally came to our senses: If we just paid with cash and got out of the cab, we'd be drinking alcohol much sooner.
So that's what we did, and we were cocktailing in no time.
What's the point of this whole story? Apparently our friend is in the minority, because 87 percent of you are still paying your cab fares with cash, even though four-fifths of New York's cabs are credit card-equipped. Don't you people know how to make use of your corporate cards?
Another night, another party and another chance to remind ourselves that we're not nearly as fashionable and glamorous as we like to think we are. Yes, Fashion Week is upon us, which means shapeless pillowcase dresses are the new black and naturally slender is once again the new morbidly obese.
And yesterday, we spent the better part of our evening ogling the reality stars of yesteryear at the Bravo/Entertainment Weekly party for Tim Gunn at the Soho Grand and marveling at the fact that somebody had the lack of foresight to serve miniature Reuben sandwiches at a snotty skinny-person party.
As always the event was, well, eventful.
Can you survive two days without being able to stick up your hand and scream "TAXI!" in the dirty and overcrowded recesses of midtown? Most likely! Fortunately, however, you won't really have to since the "strike" only seems to have moderately diminished (rather than eliminated) the presence of yellow cabs circling around Manhattan.
That said, even in its early stages, Day 1 of the strike was not without its fair share of casualties, such as sort-of annoying Boston consultant Joshua Olken, who found himself stranded at Kennedy airport waiting in a slightly longer taxi line than usual this morning.
• Pretentious Williamsburg artists now throwing dinner parties for their laptops. They're BYOE (as in Bring Your Own Ethernet cable, obvs.)
• Mayor Bloomberg continues to deny that he's campaigning, despite the fact that there's no other plausible explanation for his continued presence in those annoying Midwestern states.
• A disgruntled cabbie equates the city-mandated GPS tracking systems to "an ankle bracelet they put on criminals." Or on fiery redheads with early-onset liver failure.
• We have no problem with Disney renting out NYC subway trains to stave off another fare hike. Unless that means our morning commute will be infiltrated by repeated renditions of the song "It's A Small World After All."
• Turns out Governor Eliot Spitzer just loves full-scale state mandated investigations. Except when they're targeting his own administration.
• We'll agree pay more for a subway the day we don't have to stand with our face pressed against a non-deodorant wearing stranger and our Marc Jacobs bag caught in the closing doors.
• Taxis rumored to go on strike, presumably because they're afraid city will catch crack down on their time-honored policy of ripping off tourists and not picking up black people.
• New Yorker's have ridiculously high Mercury levels, thanks to their ridiculously frequent visits to ridiculously priced restaurants like Sushi Samba. Ridiculous!
• The Sheryll Princess dinner cruise. It's just like Rosie's cruise, except without the unfunny lesbian humor and all the gay people.
• PETA is pissed at Anna Wintour for traumatizing innocent peacocks, not inviting PETA to her fancy costume gala.
• Judge disappoints pervy jurors, NYDN by refusing to allow details of Peter Braunstein’s “raunchy sex life” into evidence.
• Only eight legitimate protestors show up to the "Free Paris" rally; everyone else just shows up to laugh, awkwardly watch.
• According to Mayor Bloomberg's new green plan, dogs are free to roam leash-less in city parks from 9pm to 9am. Which is great news for dog-owners, and horrible news for park-dwelling bums.
• All of New York’s 13,000 cabs to be outfitted with touch-screen computers. Drivers reportedly pissed at the additional expense, afraid Big brother will catch them not picking up black people.
• NYC taxis to be outfitted with Global Positioning System technology; drivers declare it the ""worst thing to happen since Taxicab Confessions."
• The "Subway Hero" was honored at City Hall yesterday; Guy who fell on the tracks wishes this would all "just go away."
• Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano fined $5.4 million for racketeering charges and "not living up to his name."
• New drug to target canine obesity; dog to replace Anna Nicole Smith as new TrimSpa spokesmodel.
• Yankees to unload Randy "I Used to Be Good" Johnson on the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for four mediocre players and a pair of snakeskin boots.
• Woman searches for love on the internet; finds only unfulfilling friendship with unphotogenic guy named "Rose."
• Mario Buatta impresses socialites with his awesome pet cockroach. [Unbeige]
• Beware Brooklyn — this weekend, the Manhattanites are coming. (If they can figure out how to get here.) [BBG]
• NYU kids may be smart on paper, but actually sound really dumb when they talk. [NYOH]
• Wow. This guy must have really been hiding a "truth" to accept the dare of "parachute off the Empire State Building in a fat suit." [NYDN]
• Taxis get in fewer accidents than most other vehicles. However, when cabbies crash, your chances of losing a limb are greatly increased. Moral of the story: buckle up for safety. [NYT]
• Mets players get tickets at Yankee stadium … and not for the game, either. [NYP]
• Sal's takes pizza toppings to the next level. [Gothamist]
• Cabbies are now causing serious harm to celebrities. [NYP]
• Ooh, we hope Tom Cruise decides to jump in a taxi at some point. Yes, he's here, road tripping through town as we speak. [Best Week Ever]
• To add to the people who have blogs but don't need them — Barbara Corcoron. [Gawker]
500 cab drivers who got screwed in 1999 by the city, after being accused of racism by Danny Glover, will receive a total of $7 million in retribution.
Glover complained of racial bias, claiming that five taxis refused to stop for him, because he is black. Those drivers, and about 495 more allegedly racist cabbies, had their licenses suspended or revoked. Problem was, they were never granted hearings.
Our guess is that they probably didn't really need a hearing. Especially if there was some New York Post cover that just showed a photo of the cab drivers with the word "GUILTY" underneath.
New York City to Pay Settlement to Taxi Drivers Accused of Bias [Thomas J. Lueck, New York Times]
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