Alphabet Man

It's never happened to me that I can recall. I got into a cab in New York City and the driver forgot to turn the meter on.

He was on his cell phone. Everyone in North America is on their cellphone. All the time. It's because they're curing cancer. And they're helping the flight attendant land the plane.

From hotel maids to extra executives, everyone's got the Star Trek communicator in their ear and they're making it safer for you and me.

It may sound cliche to say this cabbie couldn't speak English but I'm saying it anyway. Possibly he's just not that good at having two conversations at once. While he was looking at me and crinkling his forehead at my stated destination and directions, he just kept right on talking. And not turning on the meter.

So I let him yak it up, drive erratically and eventually end up where I told him I wanted to be. It wasn't til then that he looked at the meter, slapped himself in the forehead and kept right on talking. To someone else.

I threw a 10 at him and got out.

He's lucky I'm not connected.