TAXI!

I was most dismayed to learn from the New York Times that many taxi drivers have been using a depressingly simple method to cheat their fares of millions of dollars. Apparently they have left a long and wide computer trail, and the Taxi and Limousine Commission is on the case. Let's hope they fry the appropriate oysters.

As a college student, I briefly drove a "gypsy" cab in Queens. The cars were retired NYC yellow cabs that were in predictably terrible shape - the first question I was asked upon arriving at the garage was "Brakes or lights?"

I worked the night shift in the dead of winter and, as the lowest rung on the seniority ladder, got few radio calls and had to rely on street hails. Gypsies could not work the airport without incurring the often physical wrath of the regular cabbies - except for one flight that arrived at about 4 AM from Miami and was rarely serviced by the yellow cabs.

My career didn't last long, but it gave me an appreciation of just how hard a job taxi-driving can be. Because of that I have always been an inordinately generous tipper.

Not any more.

If you have had any interesting taxi experiences, comment below.