There's a good-looking black guy on the corner of Broadway and Burnside
July 16th, 2008
The obese old woman at Fred Meyer has a bad hip and a wheelchair...8 comments
July 9th, 2008
“...I need to take a shower first and wash all of this blood off.”6 comments
July 2nd, 2008
“So I’ve got these two women in the back of my cab who just refuse to get out...”8 comments
June 25th, 2008
“My friend’s getting divorced, and he’s really drunk,” says the bartender...8 comments
June 18th, 2008
There’s nothing like a good Friday night, and I’m referring to the money.3 comments
June 11th, 2008
The old man in the karaoke bar’s parking lot insists that he doesn’t need any help...0 comments
June 4th, 2008
“What’re you up to?” asks my dispatcher.6 comments
May 28th, 2008
The middle-aged guy is working on an oil ship...3 comments
May 21st, 2008
“How you doing tonight, man?”3 comments
May 14th, 2008
As I pull into the back parking lot of Spot 79 on Southeast Foster Road...13 comments
[March 23rd, 2005] There's a good-looking black guy on the corner of Broadway and Burnside with his arm in the air. He's wearing a cool vintage suit and his hair in dreadlocks. I'm on my way to an order, so I pass him by.
On my way to another order, I pass him again. I take this one across the Morrison and come back downtown, and he's still standing there, so I stop.
I look him over, of course, but then I do that with everyone that gets in my cab after midnight. A lot of the ones that get in before midnight, too. Nope, first impressions were correct-now bolstered by the nice shoes, good watch and friendly face leaning in the window.
I ask him where he'd like to go; he names a hotel out by the airport. I say I'm sorry he had to wait so long for a cab, and he says, "I was wondering about that. Why would no one stop?" He's got a pretty strong accent.
"Honestly? Well, I hate to say it, but some drivers here in the States don't always pick up black passengers."
He is stunned. "Back home in New Zealand, you don't even think about that sort of thing."
"Yeah, well, that's one reason I've thought about moving there-well, that and the idiot we put in office."
He laughs, and we chat all the way to the airport. The fare's $25; he gives me $40 and tells me to keep it. "Why did you pick me up then?"
I just shrug. I wish I lived somewhere where I could not think about that sort of thing.
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feet first
Oh, incidentally, "feet first" is an extremely common colloquial phrase that means "unconscious" or "dead." As in the doormen put the guy's inert body into my back seat, feet first.
—nightcabbie
racism
I indeed passed that guy because I was on an order. But if you drive at night yourself you know perfectly well that in the approximiately half an hour he stood at that major cruising spot that there were many many available cabs passing him by.
And maybe look up the definition of "some." Some drivers are in fact racist, and to pretend otherwise is foolish. You obviously belong in the "some other" category, great.
As for "heroism," god, I'm laughing at the very thought. I don't think so.
—nightcabbie
There's a good-looking black guy on the corner of Broadway and Burnside
yeah, if only night cabbie was half as insightful as she seems to think she is, and also half as pretentious as it seems she is, the column might be half-worth reading.
—sara
"Honestly? Well, I hate to say it, but some drivers here in the States don't always pick up black passengers."
So far, not so good. Aside from a chuckle about a dirty diaper, and the agreement that I would have seen the child changed before entry as well (and I AM a mom in your defense), I have not been overly impressed with your stories, bored mostly, and sometimes, just irritated... I must ask first.. Why is it rude for someone to get into your cab feet first? What do you prefer? A head first dive? But all of that being silly and incignifcant.. HOW DARE YOU SPEAK FOR THE REST OF US! You passed the gentleman because. . you were on other fares! I am not amused with your heroism self portrait at all.. Many if not most of the drivers (within all companies) that I know are from varied nationalities, a good percentage of them black. Do not speak for me or for my friends, if race entered your mind as a reason for him being left so long, then shame on you.
- Incensed Night Cabbie.. Also Female by the way.
—Cabbie