Y’all may remember that back in May I had an Evil Cabbie Experience. At the time I wrote:
He went out of his way to belittle me, and there was a definite air of leering intimidation about it as well, as he was a big dude and I…am not. There was no doubt that gender played a role here. As one of my (middle-aged male) colleagues said the next day: “If you’d been a 200 lb. man, this would not have happened.”
In years past, I might have scowled, handed him the money and left. But I knew that he was counting on just that response: I would be humiliated, but I would just seethe and give up and it would be a WIN for him. Fuck that. It was time to–you guessed it–BE A BITCH.
So I dialed 311 to report this asshole (Non New Yorkers: we can report cab drivers’ ”rude or abusive behavior” to the city and request a hearing.)…[the cabbie shouted and cursed at me the whole time] I got my confirmation from the city today that the complaint was filed and I would be notified of a hearing date. You can be damn sure this bitch is going to show up and have her say.
Last Tuesday, I had the hearing.
I first talked with customer advocate from the Taxi & Limousine Commission, who would represent me. He had that unfazed, rat-a-tat attitude typical of New York civil servants, and he’d clearly heard this story a thousand times before. When he said, “Did you feel physically intimidated?” I told him that I didn’t, but that the driver clearly wanted to intimidate me, and that if I had been a man, this never would have happened. Without missing a beat he agreed, “Yeah, that’s what it sounds like. Hear it all the time.” I bet.
After I talked with him, the hearing began. I was sworn in by the hearing judge (a woman) and put on speaker phone. The cabbie, who was present in the hearing room, was also sworn in. I told my side of the story–I’d also submitted a one-page written testimony back in May–and then the cabbie was allowed to tell his side of the story. According to him, he’d been totally pleasant to me the whole time and “I don’t know, maybe she had a bad day, but she was just in a bad mood.” Ah yes. I was just being a shrill harpy. Hey, maybe I was having my period!
It made no sense at all–if he’d been so polite and accomodating the whole time, why would I have filed the complaint, let alone pursued it for five months? I said as much to the judge.
The whole thing lasted about five minutes and we were both dismissed and told that we’d receive the judge’s ruling in the mail.
Today I got it:
Complainant testified credibly that the respondent was hostile to the complainant. I find that the respondent was discourteous to the complainant and find respondent guilty of 2-42a [discourtesy to a passenger]. I do not find respondent’s action rise to a 2-61(a) violation [actions against the public interest].
Evil Cabbie was fined $150 and given two points on his license. This bitch was delighted.
That’s fantastic, Becky! Hooray for victories!!
w00t! I’ve been waiting for the update on this one. Good job!
Boom, roasted.
Awesome job.
Made me want to stand up at my desk and cheer! Great work!
WIN! great job!!
Outstanding. It’s too bad that they can’t be forced to put a sign to that effect on the outside of the cab: Warning, abusive driver.
I’m so glad to get a little good news after a horrible election day.
Awesome follow through! Congrats
Congratulations. And a big Thank You, as well!
Congrats!
I have a question though, as a non-new yorker, what is this two points thing the was put on his license? I’m guessing a certain number of points means something bad or your license gets taken or something right?
YAY! stick it to the man!
Awesome! This inspires me to stand up for myself today! I’m almost hoping someone is rude to me. LOL.
llevinso: Yeah, it can be bad. Depending on the number of points, your insurance can shoot up and eventually, your license can definitely be suspended.
Way to go! Bitches get things done!
Oh okay, thanks ratinski
I figured it meant something along those lines.
Yeah! Thanks Becky for giving us strength!
Way to stick to your guns Becky! Vindication is sweet!
Way to go!
I’m going to New York next weekend. I’m from a city in the South which can be seen from space, but stories like these have me a bit freaked out. Do you encounter a lot of overt rudeness in your daily interactions? I’m much more tuned to combatting cutting looks and passive-aggression.
You go, girl!
Way to see it through.
@bella: I’ve lived in NYC for 13 years and this was the first time a cab driver’s rudeness rose to the level of being actionable. That was a pretty egregious situation (which is why I took action).
I tell people all the time that New York’s reputation as a mean-spirited place is completely undeserved. It’s crowded and that’s stressful, so people actually show respect by not getting in each other’s way. The only time you’re likely to provoke hostility is if you violate that unspoken rule and inconvenience people around you, by doing things like walking/standing so that you cut off the flow of traffic, taking up too much space in a crowded subway car, taking all day paying for something when there’s a line behind you, etc. People can also seem brusque even when they’re totally sympathetic–we all just want to get shit done and get on with our day, so we rush through interactions with minimum chatting. I think to people unused to that attitude it can seem rude, even though it’s not meant to be (very different from the South, where chatting people up usually gets you better service).
In general, though, New Yorkers are very generous about helping out-of-towners with directions or recommendations, and I’ve never once seen someone get into serious trouble without a cluster of New Yorkers whipping out their cell phones and rushing to help. So have fun–no need to worry!
Great outcome!! @bella: I visited NY several times and was astounded by the outgoing, helpful, friendly people. Maybe the residents are so used to living closely, they are real, just great. Human. Now, I lived in L.A. for 20 years. No one is used to dealing with anything but cars. They cannot figure out what to do with a real live person. It’s funny how cities get reputations.
I love it. That is so inspiring, I am definitely doing that next time I get a dickish driver.
This is excellent. Congrats!
Good for you and I am sure that every woman that has been harassed by a cab driver is cheering.
Justice!
Also, I’m a first time reader of this blog and wanted to give you heads up that if one views this page without javascript enabled, the top of the page is absolutely full of spam links for drugs. As in you have to scroll a lot to get to the actual blog text.
You are AWESOME and a model of responsible civic behavior.