Ali in NYC...
as well as these lovely ladies...
...And y'know, pretty much seeing Heather B. more often lately than I see most family members. (I'm SORRY, Grandma! I'll call more!)
Yes, I was seriously going through Blogging Goddess Withdrawal (look it up on WebMD), so just imagine my glee when my internet soul sister informed me that she would be making a quick trip to NYC...and then Heather told me she'd be coming to town too, and pulled together a group of Blogging Goddesses the likes of which NEARLY MADE MY HEAD EXPLODE.
I'm not kidding:
(l-r: me, Isabel, Deb, Sarah B., Whoorl, Heather B., Rebecca)
I had a fabulous time with them, and have concluded that, rather than dwelling on not going to BlogHer, I should focus my energies on planting my ass firmly here and just sort of mentally willing every blogger I adore to keep visiting NYC. It should work, right?
Of course, since the evening was so unbelievably lovely, something had to come along and muck it up, and that something was a New York City cab driver named Singh.
Singh picked me up after the get-together, and we began our drive to my home. (And although this has nothing to do with anything, recounting this tale reminds of the time I was in college, got into a cab with some friends...and noticed on the driver's ID placard that the driver's name was Mahboob. MAHBOOB, people. I mean, my God, it's funny now (to me, anyway), so just imagine the impact this name had on a group of extremely drunk college students. Unfortunately, this was back in the time before cameraphones, so there was no way to capture an image of THE BEST NAME EVER.)
Where was I? Oh yeah. Singh, that bastard.
So Singh and I were driving along, we hit a bit of traffic, and he veered off the highway. I couldn't really understand what he was saying, but I picked up a few words, specifically "bathroom" "subway" and "leave." I was slightly alarmed, but told myself had left because he was trying to take side roads to escape the highway congestion.
I asked in a nervous, yet jovial! booming! cheerful! voice where we were going, and I again caught him saying something about the subway.
We soon pulled up to an actual subway station, and I asked him what was going on...and pieced together that he had to go to the bathroom, so he was kicking me out of the cab, and telling me to take the subway. A subway that goes nowhere near my home. Did I mention that it was late at night? Because it was.
He asked me to pay, and (despite being the type of person who recently tipped after an awful haircut) I vehemently refused to give him the full fare. He told me that the subway would be quicker than the highway. I explained that I didn't really care about his thoughts on the most efficient means of transportation for me, I just wanted a cab ride directly to my house, and that he shouldn't have picked me up if he couldn't provide this service. He told me, "bathroom! bathroom!" again, and pleaded with me to leave the cab. I did...but not before writing down his name and cab ID. Singh sped off, presumably to go to the damn bathroom, and I waited on the street corner for almost ten minutes until an available cab came along.
Now...here's my ethical dilemma:
I was obviously PISSED about this turn of events, and would like nothing more than to report ol' Singh for some vague violation of the NYC Taxicab Rider Bill of Rights (yes, such a thing exists), and generally being an ass for leaving me against my will on a random street corner late at night. But...cab drivers in NYC aren't generally known for their wealth, and the guy probably had to go to the bathroom quite badly. So...do I report him and risk him getting fined? Or do I just let the offense go and hope some good karma will come my way in return?
What would you do? I'm genuinely curious.
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39 comments:
*sigh* I guess I think you should let it go. You're too nice to have to carry the guilt of having gotten a guy fired that is probably poor.
Go for the good karma. :)
I'm all for good Karma but DUDE! you were left on the side of the road, at night, pregnant and your a woman! Talk about dangerous! and he had the nerve to ask you for $$$??
I don't care if he had an extreme poop situation - you never leave a man behind!
I think you could guess what I would do.
Please let me know what you decide, because I SUCK at this.
Once, after 14 weeks of my Sunday paper (you know, the one with the TARGET ad) being thrown in my Dahlias , I decided to take photos. And, I fully planned on sending these to The Oregonian to let them know what kind of paper carriers they were hiring. Until, my boyfriend informed me that our delivery guy probably made minimum wage, etc...
I could go ON and ON about this. Let me know if you want to hear :)
Meh. Not sure...not to be all "you're a girl! a pregnant one!", but you are a visibly pregnant woman. And he left you in the middle of somewhere you were not supposed to be late at night. Not cool. Couldn't he have gone to the bathroom somewhere with you in the cab and then continued to drive you? Am confused on NYC cab etiquette.
If he was going to make you get out of the cab, he should have done it somewhere on or near your original route and not just assumed you would be willing to take the subway, and then gone there. I don't know what the protocol is for firing cabbies, but if this is the only complaint against him, he should be safe. If there are a bunch of other complaints against him, he deserves to be fired.
I say this like such a badass, but in actuality, I probably would have paid the entire fare and not even thought to get his name and ID number.
I don't know, that was extremely rude. (And not to mention, dangerous.)
He better have had the runs.
This is a toughy!
Being that it's NYC there are obviously few public restroom options that he could have quickly run into while you waited.
However, leaving a pregnant woman late at night is not cool, not cool at all.
I really have no idea what I'd do in this situation. Keep us updated on what you do.
Believe me, I understand bathroom emergencies better than most, having the worst bowels on the planet, but dude, he left you far, far away, late at night, pregnant.
Not cool. AND he charged you full fare. I mean, dude, if he'd left you somewhere reasonable, fine. But he left you WAY AWAY and then charged you!
I completely agree with jonniker. The cabbie's behavior goes beyond the scope of reasonable. Even though he did drop you off at a subway, this does not mitigate his actions. You were alone and pregnant. Anything could have happened to you. I'm super glad that it didn't! At this point, I would just chalk it up as another of the joys of living in New York.
I agree it was an absolutely shitty (pun totally intended) thing to do, but he did give you a great story to tell, and you made it home safe, so I guess I would just let it go.
OK- I would def report him (speaking as a New Yorker)
He could have stopped at a starbucks and left you in the car to wait for a sec, or go to a gas station, and then continue with the trip. But he didnt. He left a pregnant woman alone in a train station. That is inexcusable.
totally report him
i agree with gemini girl - why couldn't he have stopped somewhere and used the bathroom and then taken you home if it was that much of an emergency? i guess my question is whether you will feel better or worse for reporting him. i think you should report him and would be completely right in doing so, but i can see how you might feel guilty (although you shouldn't) and end up just feeling worse about it.
I'd report his ass. But then, yesterday I called the city to report my trash collectors for being lazy and sloppy, (and LITTERING my street), so maybe that's just the mode I'm in lately.
But seriously, he left a pregnant woman on the side of the road late at night? Not good.
As a fellow cab-riding NY'er I say you should report him. Look - I feel bad that he had to go to the bathroom, but he could have easily gotten on his radio and gotten another cabbie to come for you. We all know that they have cell phones (which they are always on even though they're not SUPPOSED to be). Even if he couldn't have called someone he could have flagged another cab down for you. The fact that he was asking you to pay just adds insult to injury. Report him. We all have to own up to our actions and Singh is no exception.
I am happy that you got to hang out with such a fabulous group of all my favorite bloggers!
I think that in a few days this will be such a little speck of importance to you but if he does get fired (and maybe deported) it will really affect him. I say go with Karma and let it go.
Maybe you could call whatever number you call to complain and find out what would happen if you were to file a grievance. Perhaps just a warning is issued. I think the cabbie should be notified that he behaved improperly and that there were other options he should have explored before dropping a pregnant lady by the wrong train at night. It could be that once several complaints are filed further action is taken, and if this guy already has complaints against him it's his own fault.
It was so nice to meet you, too!
What a terrible situation! That was really not cool.
And yet, I'm such a bleeding heart liberal, but I always feel bad for these cabbies. There are almost no public bathrooms in NYC and what happens if they do have, er, the runs?
But I've been in a cab before that had an emergency, and he pulled up to another cab, I switched without complaint and the guy didn't try to charge me for a fare he shouldn't even have picked up. I don't see why he couldn't do that.
I say report him. Then maybe he won't do it to someone else. Just because he doesn't make a lot of money doesn't mean he shouldn't do a good job!
I say report him. You're a pregnant woman and he left you on a street corner at night! I say, if he needed to go to the bathroom, that he should have asked you to wait in the cab for a few minutes while he took care of business, and then resumed your ride home. While it would have somewhat sucked to have to wait for him, I'm sure it would have been less sucky than waiting on a new cab at night in a strange part of the city...
I'm impressed that you stood up for yourself and refused to pay.
Usually I'm all for good karma, but this was a potentially dangerous situation. He could have dropped you off at a Starbucks or asked you where you'd want to be dropped off. My guess is that a random subway station in the middle of the night wouldn't have been your first choice.
Report him.
I cannot believe! he left you on the side of the road. Seriously. There were a million other things he could have done, not the least of which would have been finding a well-lit bathroom and explaining that he had to run in real quick. I'm sure you being nicely you would have totally understood and would have waited.
But, yeah. What if it happens to someone else, and they don't make it home safely? I don't even want to think about it, but it could happen. What he did was so not OK.
i'm pretty sure i would have cried. because i am an NYC pussy ;)
Tough call.
The fact that you are pg and left alone in the middle of nowhere is uncalled for, period.
Maybe call to have him warned or penalized? something.
Good karma was you getting home safely.
Low pay is not an excuse to FAIL at your job. I'm all for good karma and generosity and giving people the benefit of the doubt, but COME ON. This was unacceptable. He should have radioed one of his cabby friends and had them pick you up as you were getting out of the first cab.
I'm horrible with follow through, so if I had not already reported him, I probably would never get it done now. BUT, if I were in your position, I would certainly not feel guilty for reporting him. Everyone else has already listed the reasons--low pay is no excuse for poor performance, a thousand other, safer options. There's really no excuse for him doing that--and no guaranty that it will turn out as well the next time.
Hell yeah, report his ass!
I agree, there are a lot of other options to leaving you at a subway station and asking you to pay the fare.
I used to be so nice that it hurt. I would think up the whole scenario - you know, he is poor, he probably has a wife and kids at home - but I realized that if nobody ever reports incompetent behavior it will never change. If he gets away with it once, it will be the green light to just go back out there and do something similar to someone else. And they might not be so lucky.
I am all for reporting him, I don't know the NY taxi system but would they really fire him? It sounds like there were cultural and possibly language issues involved here. Could you tell them that you just want them to explain to him that his behavior was not acceptable?
I'd report him simply because he could have found a bathroom and just asked you to wait. I guess that would have been a BIT better.
What he did was dangerous.
Yup, I'd report him, but I'd still feel totally guilty about it.
Such is life.
OK, first to shake off the bitter jealousy that you get to meet other bloggers (being in Australia, in the middle of now where doesn't freaking help either!) I am thinking that you should have reported him.
I understand that he would probably be poor, but man! He needs to learn that that is totally inappropriate. What if you got mugged? Or worse.
This just gives me the creeps. I have no idea about NYC but surely he could have pulled into a gas station, turned off the meter, did his business and then taken you to your home. I mean really, how long does it take to take a freaking dump????
What a fun night ... before the cab driver crapped on you (sorry).
Can I tell you how gorg you blogger-gals are ? What a great pic!
Anyway, about your dilemma, I would report him. He probably won't lose his job, just a reprimand, to make him think twice about abandoning a pregnant woman in the middle of the night. Sheesh!
I've seen you more than my own father. So there's that to make you feel better.
Go with Karma. Think if you needed him to stop so you're very pregnant bladder could be relieved, you'd want him to wait and not leave you stranded (albeit relieved.)
Report him.
Left a pregnant women stranded near a subway? Bad judgement. He could have radio'd in for another driver to take you if he had to bail.
He needs to get fined so that he can learn how to better handle the situation in the future....
I'm going to glare at the next cab driver I see.
I am not pregnant and I would NOT want to be left at the wrong station. He should have let you choose where you wanted to be taken. Also, how long did you ride before the bathroom situation? Did he not know he had to go before he picked you up? I say report him. This one report shouldn't get him fired. Low pay is no excuse for poor job performance.
The guy probably had the squits really badly and was caught short. In such situations your body rules your mind. Better to leave you at the subway than leave you at his eventual toilet destination- who knows where that might have been?
Personally I wouldn't report him.
What becky says makes a lot of sense. On the other hand, dude! he totally left you and that is not cool.
I don't know. Let us know how it goes. I can't make a decision like this to save my life-- I always feel bad for the other people. My crazy cranked-out coworker (yes, she is on meth, pot, and comes to work either stoned or drunk) is telling people I will go into a "Jew-fit" if I have to work fridays (which is not true, as I worked Fridays up until the manager decided he wanted to work my Friday time instead of me and took it from me and is also funny because the day she is really complaining about is Saturday, but she can't even remember she works every Saturday and is also off Fridays), and my manager is STILL talking about me to all the coworkers and has informed one of them he is going to talk to me tomorrow before I go on vacation. He thinks I am jealous of his job and working against him. I could care less about his crappy job! I just wish he'd stop watching porn, which he is STILL doing, (although hilarious side story being he made us all sign paperwork saying we would not watch porn at work today) and still telling us sex stories and alternately screaming at us constantly. So this is my chance, I guess, to get fired or go out on a limb and talk to him in front of the district manager. I wouldn't care if it weren't for the fact that i just need a small, 60k to pay off my student loans... :)
Hi! Last one to the party here! First, DEFINITELY report him. How do you know he wasn't lying? And he basically put you in danger. Not "basically." He did. Plus, you're pregnant! Shouldn't that count for something?
Second, I had a running joke with one of my BFFs for nearly two years about the name "Mahboob." It STILL never fails to make me giggle. I think it's the H.
I don't know you (but I'm a blog-reading addict - I could use an intervention myself), and I'm late with a response; but I definitely think you should (have) report(ed) him, good story, not withstanding.
Maybe I didn't read it thoroughly, but I hope you didn't pay him *anything. The nerve.
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