I was upstreamed and downstream at the same time. Outside Penn Station at 8Ave I stood at the curb to hail a cab when a young woman walked up stream from me and got the next cab. Moments later I hailed a cab that pulled up to me when a elderly couple came from downstream insisting that they were there first thus entitled to the cab. The driver told them it was me he saw hailing and pulled over for. Fortunately another cab behind him stopped and picked up the couple.
3
I was a nanny of a boy that I picked up from downtown from his after school program and took him home to UES . This was rush hour and I saw many cabs just passed us , and the boy kept asking me why we couldn't get picked up ? At that time I thought was about tips , I didn't look like a big tipper ! Or I could be wrong ?
3
Sorry, but If you don't upstream it is likely that someone else will. This is a nice fairy tale.
3
The credit goes to the cab driver. He's the one who no doubt told the younger passenger that he (driver) was headed for the older couple.
25
best comment! everyone else (including the author of this vignette) ignored the obvious cab driver's dilemma of showing bad faith by accepting the upstream interloper or ousting him -- the ethical choice.
but having driven a yellow nyc cab many decades ago, i can tell you that this is real drama of the story!
but having driven a yellow nyc cab many decades ago, i can tell you that this is real drama of the story!
7
Still annoyed after being "upstreamed" by Anderson Cooper a couple of years ago- eye roll now occurring.
8
Once, my boyfriend and I were trying to hail a cab on the UWS. A few minutes pass, with occupied cabs whizzing past us. We finally make contact with one cab down the block and he signals that he saw us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a tall well dressed man walk upstream, and signal for a cab. Yuck. How rude. New Yorkers stealing cabs again, I thought. Did he not see us?
To our pleasant surprise, the man totally ignored our cab when our cab tried to pull over for him. He walked further upstream to get another cab. He had seen us and he was not going to take our cab from us after all :) In our conversation with our driver, we all murmured our agreement that the man was one classy and considerate fellow. A good New Yorker indeed.
[P.s. In my hometown, Hong Kong, things like this are avoided by taxi-stands around Central. We love to queue. Everyone lines up and if anyone dares to skip the line, the cab driver refuses to rider by locking his doors AND the whole line will start yelling all sorts of things at the line-skipper. I don't know why our NYC cabby decided to stop for the other man but, I think this whole upstream, downstream problem could probably be solved by the cabbies alone!]
To our pleasant surprise, the man totally ignored our cab when our cab tried to pull over for him. He walked further upstream to get another cab. He had seen us and he was not going to take our cab from us after all :) In our conversation with our driver, we all murmured our agreement that the man was one classy and considerate fellow. A good New Yorker indeed.
[P.s. In my hometown, Hong Kong, things like this are avoided by taxi-stands around Central. We love to queue. Everyone lines up and if anyone dares to skip the line, the cab driver refuses to rider by locking his doors AND the whole line will start yelling all sorts of things at the line-skipper. I don't know why our NYC cabby decided to stop for the other man but, I think this whole upstream, downstream problem could probably be solved by the cabbies alone!]
15
Been in California 43 years but this is how I remember New York.
Every time I visit I feel the love.
No place like NYC!
Every time I visit I feel the love.
No place like NYC!
22
i first heard about Up streaming on Curb your enthusiasm had have been using the term ever since. very fitting.
5
Being "upstreamed" is one of the most frustrating things! Often, people are too oblivious to realize that someone has been trying to catch a cab just a little bit further "downstream". Sometimes this can result in a rancorous exchange.
I am willing to bet that the cab driver told the young man that he was already taken by the waiting couple. I'm glad it was resolved amicably.
I am willing to bet that the cab driver told the young man that he was already taken by the waiting couple. I'm glad it was resolved amicably.
9
Wonderful story! There is hope for the future...
9
At least it wasn't a racial issue. I remember the late journalist Max Robinson, complaining about leaving his anchor desk at ABC News, only, to find he could not get picked up by a cab, ( he was traveling north from midtown). He had the highest news position in the country, and he could not get a cab home.
9
An early case of profiling! Cabbies of all races are alone, vulnerable and play the odds/instincts. Unfortunately there is a lot of fear in the streets.
2
All concerned are clearly good New Yorkers. Non-residents don't know the etiquette.
15
Always nice to hear stories like this! Humanity still exists!
7
I'm an "older man." In Spain, Germany, and France young men have gotten up from their seats on the metro, railroad and bus to offer me their seats. This has never happened on the NYC subway.
13
I'm sorry you haven't been offered this courtesy, but want to say that it does happen. My 80-year-old parents regularly ride the subway and people ALWAYS offer them their seats.
14
A woman gave her seat to my autistic teen on the #6 downtown subway, it was beautiful. I have heard an elderly woman complain when she was given a seat on the bus along Lexington Ave. - not thinking she was old.
4
I think that the reason for this might be another by-product of toxic masculinity here in the USA. I go out of my way at times to offer seats on NYC subways, and I would be hesitant to offer one to an older male (unless he was obviously disabled), because I fear he will feel more insulted/humiliated than relieved.
When being a "Man" in this country no longer requires being the "strong, silent type", then these kinds of acts-of-kindness will be more evenly-distributed, too.
When being a "Man" in this country no longer requires being the "strong, silent type", then these kinds of acts-of-kindness will be more evenly-distributed, too.
4
The young man also had options we old coots do not possess. Two months go in Boston I was waiting, with many other,s for a cab outside a hotel after an event. I was amazed at how many people were being picked-up by friends---until someone near me mentioned uber. At least two-thirds of the departures were being picked-up by uber, not by friends.
Yellow cabs will soon only be utilized by folks like myself--seniors with flip phones.
Yellow cabs will soon only be utilized by folks like myself--seniors with flip phones.
18
COOPERATION, instead of competition.
Maybe there is hope for the human race to evolve after all?
Maybe there is hope for the human race to evolve after all?
11