I'm white and I live in Queens, Astoria no less, and I have a problem every Friday and Saturday night getting a cab home. The new trick that cabbies pull is they ride around with their Off Duty light on which allows them to pick and choose where they want to travel. When they hear "Astoria" or "Queens" they immediately refuse and speed away.

....but maybe it's my skin color.

It has always surprised me how much resistance to Brooklyn there is from NYC in general! The subway lines suck more than anywhere else, they are completely unreliable on the weekends, and there is not even infrastructure when it comes food supplies. SO BKLYN on its own is an area with a stigma, like the people that live there don't belong to the city, or politicians think they don't deserve the attention. Then the race issue... like Brklyn has to apologize for being black...sick NYC race issues.

There's a nice area in Bushwick?

since this story is going to drag on a bit longer (hi-YAH!), can we get some different photos to accompany it? these are bad and yuck.

i say knee. But it might be a head...

What kind of body-part is the one on the left? The one on the right is obviously his head, but I shudder to think at what the one on the left is? An extremely hairy shoulder?

"All the animals come out at night...Some day a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.

I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, to Harlem... Some don't even take spooks. Makes no difference to me"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsQypGlE7c8&feature=related

Sorry Mr. Horton, The Race Card is Maxed Out.

Ok...weird. That was supposed to say...

Love! (I made the heart, guess it thought it was a tag) that episode was amazing.

A lot of cabbies are definitely racist douchebags. One of my absolutely favorite NYC moments was when I was walking down 3rd Ave and saw a middle-aged black guy in a suit, carrying a briefcase, trying to hail a cab. At least a dozen empty cabs went by him without even slowing down. I couldn't believe it. It wasn't exactly like the guy looked like a thug. So I walked up behind him, stepped into the street, and hailed a cab myself. (I'm a little white girl.) He turned around looking angry, and I pulled open the cab door and said, "Your cab, sir." He got in and I laughed the rest of the way home. I bet that cabbie was pissed.

In this case, though, it was probably the Brooklyn thing. Cabbies really hate going to Brooklyn.

Just about anyone who's ever worked for tips in America knows that black people are much less likely to tip. Not across the board, maybe not even most of the time, but on the whole, much less likely. So while it may be racism, at least it's racism with a somewhat rational basis.

True, but some whites don't tip well too.

Ever meet Mr. Pink?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38&feature=related

So fucking what? Like kevd says, picking up fares is their JOB. They're not supposed to pick and choose who to grab based on appearances. And it's hardly as if black people are the only ones renowned for crappy tips - what about Europeans? If they don't like it, perhaps they should try another line of work.

"what about Europeans"...I love it when people act like Europe is one single country with a monolithic culture and people.

Tipping is pretty common in many European countries. It's less common in others. In some countries it's included in the bill (at restaurants, I doubt this is ever the case for taxis). Either way, to act like all Europeans have a similar approach to tipping is really the one of the dumbest generalizations I can think of. It's like saying "Americans are famous for wearing cowboy boots".

I didn't think I had to write /sarcasm at the end of my post, but apparently I do. I mean, I definitely wasn't obviously comparing one stupid not-really-true generalization to another stupid not-really-true generalization.

Yeah sorry, I wasn't necessarily meaning you were stupid for believing the "Europeans don't tip" mantra (although I admit that's what I thought you were saying), I was just meaning that the stereotype itself is dumb. I sometimes wonder if the people who believe it have ever actually been to Europe.

You're missing the point. The point is she was pointing out MULTIPLE stereotypes when it comes to tipping. Some say even Asians tip cheaply. What about the jews?

The fact that you come out here trying to 'defend Europe' like you owe it some sort of retibute from being 'partly from there' tells me you have no have grasp of humanity except when it's applied to you.

Wha??

I had already apologized (see the comment above) for wrongly thinking that nicemarmot was actually promoting the stereotype that "European's dont tip."

The rest of what you say is presumptious nonsense.

Firstly, I wasn't "defending Europe." I was simply pointing out that the stereotype is particularly bizarre, since attitudes towards tipping vary throughout Europe.

As for me being "partly from Europe" (whatever that means)...how would you know? And can you please let my parents know, because this is certainly news to me and my whole family.

And if by "retibute" you mean "retribute", that makes no sense, gramatically or logically.

Lastly, your conclusion that I "have no have grasp of humanity except when it's applied to [myself]" is particularly strange. From the fact that I pointed out that one particular stereotype is silly, you've concluded that I have "no grasp of humanity"? Please explain the logic behind that a little further...

It might be a generalization, but take a survey of 10 or so folks who have worked for tips and see if you still think it's "not-really-true."