Cabbie Con-man!

Let me tell you a little story about a cabbie (who looked like the guys pictured below) and who drove a cab that looked like the one to the right.

It was in the early evening and a cab pulled up to the loading zone of the hotel. I approached the cab, opened the door and said my customary "Welcome to R&B Hotels and welcome to New Y.....). Before I could even finish I could tell that this women was in an arguement with her taxi driver. Based on the standard "$50.35" on the meter, I could tell that this woman came directly from JFK.

As I listened in on the conversation I heard "but I don't have any cash" she said. "This is the only way I can pay you."

"No! You need cash!" The cabbie shouted. "Credit card machine broken, only cash!"

Now, before I can continue, I need to give you a little back story on the history of the Taxi and Limosine Commission (TLC) and the city of New York City and the cabbies caught in the middle. About 5-10 years ago, Mayor Bloomberg made it mandatory that all taxi cabs be equipped with credit card machines. The cab drivers Union was not happy about the law since all fares paid by credit card would be reported income and subject to taxation by the city and by the state. They put up a big fuss about it to the day, many of them still try to collect only cash for their fares. As a rule of thumb, I only pay cab drivers in cash. It's just one less problem I will have to deal with during the course of my cab ride to Brooklyn. (They don't like going to outer bouroughs either.)

Here is a FAQ from the NYC TLC website regarding this issue:
Is a driver allowed to refuse to let a passenger use his/her credit/debit card?
No. In vehicles equipped with technology systems drivers are required to accept American Express, MasterCard, VISA and Discover (and some will accept the JCB Card) for all fares. The driver must accept credit/debit cards for any fare amount.  If a driver claims the credit card system is broken and/or prevents a passenger from using their credit/debit card, please report the medallion number to the TLC by calling 311.

For a brief period of time, (during a suspension for questionable conduct) my co-worker and friend Willie Bass drove a cab to make his income. One day he was hanging out across the street waiting for an airport run, I went over to him and had a little chat. He told me about how cab drivers scam tourists for cash fares. When the cabbie and his passenger(s) arrive at their destination, the driver needs to press a button to prompt the screen in the back seat to display payment options. Now, once that screen is prompted, the driver then presses another button that tells his CPU that the passengers wish to pay cash. If the driver presses that second button, the passengers can swipe their credit card all they want, the CPU will still be waiting for a cash payment.

The cabbies then say, "Oh, my credit card machine is broken, you need to pay cash." Or they say, "The system is down, you need to pay cash." When a cab driver says this, I know they are full of shit. There is no way the garage would let a car leave for a shift if there was anything wrong with the credit card machine. In addition, the cabbie's "system" is interconnected. If the system is down in one cab, the system would then have to be down in all 13,000+ cabs across the city.

The cab driver then will start pressing buttons on the meter to further prove his point that he can't accept credit cards but if you look closely, there is one button he won't press and that is the button that prompts the screen in the back seat to allow the credit card option to display.

Anyway, I think you have enough background on the issue at hand. As I realized what was going on, I approached the cabbie at the passenger side door. "Yo man, what's the problem here?" I asked politely.

"Credit card not working, she need to pay cash. See?" He shows me as he starts pressing 3 out of the 4 buttons on his meter repeatedly.

"Yeah? Well why don't you press that button right there?" I say pointing to the 4th illusive button.

Realizing that I'm in the know on this issue, he looks at me with disbelief and then states "You get outta here, this is not your business."

"Well this woman in the back is a guest at my hotel so I guess it is my business." I fire back. "Look, she doesn't have any cash. Press that button and let her pay you. If you don't then she can't pay you. I'm trying to help you get paid."

At this point he has no interest in listening to logic. It seems he is more interested in sticking to his guns rather than accepting a payment that will get taxed.

"No! This is none of your business!!" He comes back. "The machine is broken! She needs to pay cash!! If you don't get out of here, I'm going to call the police!"

"Well I work here so I can't go anywhere." I state. "Go ahead and call the cops if you want."

To this he pulls out his cell phone and begins making calls. I give him a long glare before I turn to our guest in the back seat. "Look ma'am, I don't know what you want to do. If I were you, I would just leave and not pay him at all."

"I'm in a big rush." She says. "I just want to pay him and get up to my room. Where is the closest BofA ATM?"

"It's just half a block down there on the corner." I reply.

She heads down to the corner as I head inside and the cab driver continues to play around on his iPhone. I head to the back office behind the front desk and find the MOD Michelle working at her computer.

"Hey Michelle I just think you should know there is a cab driver outside who is calling the cops on me."

"WHAT???" She exclaims. "Why??"

"He told a guest she couldn't pay with credit card and I said he was full of shit to and he got mad and said he was going to call the cops." I explained. "The guest is getting cash at the ATM right now. I've got to go deliver some bags to a room, I'll be back down in a minute."

As I leave to go deliver bags, Michelle goes to the front of the hotel and approaches the cab driver sitting in the drivers seat on his phone.

"What the hell is going on man?" She asks. Michelle was born and raised in the Bronx. She's been dealing with asshole cab drivers since she was 5 years old, she knows how to handle them.

"Your doorman threatened to hit me and steal my phone and my money!" The cab driver shouted.

"My doorman makes way more than you do, he doesn't need your money. He's got the same phone as you so he doesn't need your phone either. Why won't you accept the credit card?"

"I'm calling the police!" The cabbie exclaims.

"You know what?" Michelle responds. "Don't bother. I'm gonna go find a cop and bring him here." With that she trudges off into Times Sq. looking for one of our boys in blue.

In the end, the guest came back and paid the cabbie in cash. A few minutes later, Michelle returned with a cop who spoke to the taxi driver and convinced him to leave and not to pursue any legal action and told me he was sorry I had to deal with the guy but that getting him to leave was far better than having anything more to do with him. I agreed, thanked him and shook his hand. Later on that evening I saw the guest return from her night out. She instantly recognized me.

"Thank you so much for sticking up for me earlier" she said as she handed me a tip. "Sorry I didn't tip you earlier but I was in such a big rush."

"No problem whatsoever" I replied. "I can't stand cabbies like that so I just couldn't let it go."

As she walked away I looked down at the tip in my hand.

"$3?" I said to myself. "For all that I get $3? Really?"

Oh well, that's the life of a Bellman!