Revelations have prompted a debate about integrity, rehabilitation, and what it means to be a cadet.
Metropolitan Diary: ‘Two bucks apiece’ |
It was the mid-1970s and I had flown into La Guardia from Detroit to attend a conference in New York. |
I was on my guard against taxi drivers who might ask a question on the way to Manhattan about the route to see whether they could get away with taking me on a roundabout ride to my destination. |
On this occasion, I was headed to a hotel not far from Grand Central, so I was happy when I realized that I could take an airport bus that would drop me close to the terminal. |
As I walked toward the bus, a man asked if I needed a cab. I figured there was no way I could be duped since the hotel was so close to the terminal. |
The man took my bag and we walked around the corner to his cab. I told him my destination. He put my bag in the trunk, opened the rear door for me and walked away. I was a bit puzzled. |
A minute later, he returned and deposited another passenger in the back and another in the front. |
“That will be two bucks apiece,” he said. |
I asked whether he was going to run the meter. He said he wasn’t. The other two passengers and I looked at one another, hesitated a bit and then paid him. He walked away again. |
Another man appeared, got into the driver’s seat and drove off without a word. |
We rode in silence, and soon pulled up in front of my hotel. |
The driver and I got out. He handed me my bag. |
“It will be $3,” he said. |
“But I already paid the other guy,” I said. |
The driver looked me in the eye. |
New York Today is published weekdays around 6 a.m. You can also find it at nytoday.com. |
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