NYC cab ride teaches life lessons

The embarrassment of having my incompetence on display seemed only to increase my aggravation as my friend Julie and I waited on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 32nd Street and watched a woman slither into the cab that we had just hailed.

“She stole our cab! How dare she jump in ahead of us! That’s so rude! It’s not fair!” I said to Julie.

“She’s also laughing at us,” Julie added as we watched the cab speed away.

This new learning experience didn’t seem to affect Julie the way it did me.

“That’s interesting,” Julie said as she watched three more cabs pass us by. Julie’s lack of reaction only seemed to fuel my fire.

“I’m furious,” I reiterated, trying to convince her of the severity of the situation: standing in the pouring rain, luggage in tow, only to be passed by again and again.

“Don’t be angry,” Julie said. “Let’s look at this experience as a way to quit resisting what is, and a chance to watch other people so we can learn what to do.”

“I don’t want to learn, I just want a cab to pick us up and get us out of this nasty rain!” I shouted over the traffic.

“Should I walk back to the hotel to ask the concierge to help us? I can pay him $5 to get a cab,” Julie said, in an almost melodic voice.

“Absolutely not!” I screamed. “Five dollars buys a large strawberry with chocolate dip Dairy Queen Blizzard! I’m going to hail a cab if it’s the last thing I ever do in New York City!”

In my fury, I boldly stepped off of the curb and stuck my hand out like I was hailing Hitler and, voila, a cab came almost immediately to pick us up.

Now that’s more like it, I thought. (Julie appeared quite impressed with my new cab-hailing savvy.)

“LaGuardia Airport,” I said to the cab driver as I winked smugly at Julie.

The cab driver’s eyes were dead and his expression gave no indication of what he thought about taking us to the airport.

“Did I just ruin your day? I mean, when you go to the cab driver’s convention do they tell jokes about someone from the Midwest hailing a cab and then when you find out they are going to LaGuardia, does everyone moan and laugh at the punch line when you say you wish you had hung yourself instead?” I asked.

“No, I’m glad you are going to the airport. … It’s more money for me,” he said without cracking a smile.

“Well, I couldn’t tell by the tone of your voice,” I said, straining to see his expression.

“That’s a good thing, to take someone to LaGuardia on a Sunday,” he affirmed.

“Then you should smile. This is your lucky day,” I continued.

Viewing this as a learning opportunity, I asked the cab driver a few questions:

“So, what are the rules of hailing a cab? When your light is on, does that mean you are on duty, empty, full, or is that just for decoration? I keep trying to figure it out, but I still don’t really understand. What are the rules for hailing a cab in New York City?”

Without taking a breath, or a moment to ponder, the cab driver said, “You don’t need to figure out anything. There are over 12,000 cabs in New York and we are all looking for you. Just raise your hand.”

I pondered all of the life lessons in this experience:

• Life isn’t always fair: sometimes people will steal your cab and laugh at you while they’re doing it.

• Anger isn’t always a bad thing: Sometimes it can help you to get out of the rain.

• Some people never smile even when they are happy, but you can always learn something from everyone.

• You don’t always have to figure it out, but you do have to raise your hand and ask for what you want.

• If the answer is no, or you miss your chance, there are 12,000 other chances around the corner.

• Finally, you can always pay someone to help you with things you don’t know, but sometimes it’s better to save the $5 for a strawberry chocolate dip Blizzard.

Marlene Chism, president of ICARE Presentations in Springfield, works with companies that want to build strong business relationships and with individuals who want to be better communicators.

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