Date: 6 November 2010
Day of Chronicles: 11
Hours: 5:20-9:20pm
Rides Given: 3
...is, I conjecture, what the marathon runners are all getting right now. Which is why, perhaps, there was not exactly a critical mass of desperate taxi seekers out on the street just now. Yes, at about 7:00 tonight I started to regret not milking Friday for all it was worth.
On a brighter note: I now know I am capable of carrying one couple plus significant luggage from Penn Station to the Bentley Hotel, at 62nd & York. Fuck yeah! If pedicabbing isn't a "Yes, we can!" job, I don't know what is. Not only did the husband of the couple give me a 90% tip, he also said, before handing me the money, "You're an amazing lady." The odd compliment doesn't make the job harder, anyway.
I know now I am also capable of transporting a couple from Penn Station to the Beacon Theater (at 75th & Broadway). Which does, I must say, feel like vindication to me, since a few weeks ago a pair of European tourists hailing a cab at 58th & 5th roundly rebuffed my assurance that I could take them to precisely that destination. Take that, ladies!
I have noticed that, for better or worse, my automatic response to almost any taxi seeker who answers my query, "Where are you going?" is, "I'll take you there!" Maybe I need to moderate that, or at least attach larger prices to my unconditional affirmatives. Or maybe it's all good, it's all experience, and every ride given builds competence.
I've been trying various lines on the Penn Station lines. Today, after a particularly lame stab at the 7th Avenue line, I headed over to 8th Avenue, and asked, "Why take a taxi, when you could take a chariot!" I then made eye contact with the guy who cracked a smile, asked him where he was going, said, "I'll take you there!" without thinking about it...and ended up at the Bentley, immeasurably stronger.
No comments:
Post a Comment