Protocol: Hailing a Cab

by Modern Miss Manners

I used to think that anyone who attempted to hail the traditional yellow NYC cab with its off duty lights on – or no lights on at all – was an ignorant douche. Or a tourist who hadn’t done their homework.

I was (kinda) wrong. True cab-hailing champs know that everything is a negotiation:

A. Keep that arm up til you see bodies in the backseat (live bodies, preferably) that prove you wrong, and…

B. Don’t tell the driver where you’re going until you’re in the goddamn cab – and the doors are shut.

Follow these two simple rules – or you’ll never make it to Williamsburg in the rain on a Saturday night, you lazy good-for-nothing who refuses to take the L (full disclosure: that person is often me).