Naughty and Nice

I intended to make this a post about how nice people are. Unfortunately, I have a bad story to add now, too.

I'll start with the bad.

I had an awful cab ride back from the airport today. I had called a cab (which was late) but the cab driver decided to take another passenger home as well. Okay. So, he turns on the meter and we go off. A little out of my way and putting me on a longer path home. When he got to the other gentleman's house, I asked if he was going to reset the meter.

He said, "no."

I explained that I should not have to pay for him taking me out of my way.

He got angry and finally told me that he would be reducing the meter by $2, the amount of our little trip down the back roads.

I told him that I was upset with the policy, not him. It was a little more, and was still a longer route, but I said fine.

He kept talking about how this is his cab and he will do what he wants and how I don't know aanything and he knows where he is going...etc.

I told him I would like to stop discussing this. He threatened to drop me on the side of the road and make me pay the current meter rate. I told him if he did that I would be calling the police. He was under the impression that the police would agree with his decision to kick a six month pregnant woman out onto the side the road in the middle of nowhere.

Finally he stopped and took me to my destination. I was stewing a little and still considering a small tip, hoping that perhaps this was just all a misunderstanding, when he called his wife, yelled at her, and said, "I don't need this attitude--from you or from the passenger in this car."

Uh, okay. No tip it is then.

I would complain, but frankly I am scared that this man knows where I live.

On a happier note, a few more stories:

1. My mom and I were walking through the Amsterdam airport to catch a connecting flight. There was an adorable small child, barely old enough to walk, toddling through the airport. My mom and I assumed he belonged to the woman next him. A teenage boy had more sense though, he asked out loud, "Whose child is this?" When no one responded, he grabbed the kid and brought him to the nearest flight attendant. What a quick thinking and responsible young man!

2. I was at the Harlem platform, and asked a woman (probably somewhere around 21-30 years old) where the ticket machine was. She said, "Downstairs." Oh, no! I barely made it upstairs once with my heavy bags. The woman said, "Some day I will be pregnant and someone will help me." She ran downstairs and got me my ticket so I wouldn't have to pay the fine. We chatted a bit more--she is a Columbia law student. She sounded Jamaican. What a nice person.

3. When I got to my destination station in Westchester, a man in a business suit grabbed my heaviest bag and brought it up the stairs and over the tracks for me.

4. I had the chance to return a little of this kindness today in the Houston airport. A mother went up the escalator with one child and then she realized that her other little girl was stuck petrified. Mom tried to walk down the escalator but it was going too fast for her. A guy in a business suit looked vaguely annoyed by the delay. I stepped in front of the businessman and asked the little girl to take my hand. I said, "Okay, let's go see mom now!" She stepped on the escalator with me and we walked up to her mom.

Overall, a positive balance sheet.