Cabbie demands cash payout after 6-year old vomits in car By Lachlan Cartwright and Jeremy Olshan from the New York Post | From:NewsCore October 26, 2010
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/cough_it_upchuck_aXPDXT7FML80liVqHcKPEK#ixzz13OJgq8C4 (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/cough_it_upchuck_aXPDXT7FML80liVqHcKPEK#ixzz13OJgq8C4)
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/breaking-news/cabbie-demands-cash-payout-after-6-year-old-vomits-in-car/story-e6frea73-1225943510727?from=public_rss (http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/breaking-news/cabbie-demands-cash-payout-after-6-year-old-vomits-in-car/story-e6frea73-1225943510727?from=public_rss)
A NEW York City mother was left shocked after a cab driver called police when she refused to pay a spontaneous $120 cleaning surcharge after her child vomited. (http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2010/10/25/news/photos_stories/nahidul_islam--300x300.jpg)
Nahidul Islam: "You need to give me $120, or I can't use my cab!"
Shamie Cuthbert, 29, said she and son Jacob hopped in the cab in Manhattan on Saturday night and were heading home when the boy said he was not feeling well and threw up, The New York Post reported.
"I leaned over into the front of the cab and said [to the driver], 'As soon as we get home, my husband will come down with cleaning products, and I will clean everything up,'" Mrs Cuthbert said.
"I expected [the driver] to be polite about it. Instead, he went sort of crazy and screamed, 'This isn't right! You need to give me $120, or I can't use my cab! I am going to lose a lot of money today!'" the stunned mother said.
She said driver Nahidul Islam, 33, dialed 911 as soon as he pulled up at her building. As they waited, Mrs Cuthbert scrubbed the seat with products her husband brought down.
"The mess wasn't atrocious, and when I was done, it was much cleaner than when we got there," she said.
Police arrived, and an officer informed Islam he could make no demand for $120.
Islam said Mrs Cuthbert merely pushed the mess around and he claimed it would cost $120 to pay a crew of "Mexican cleaners" who specialise in removing vomit from taxis.
The fare was $21, and Cuthbert tipped him $4 - but the ride ended up costing hundreds of dollars in lost revenue, Islam said.
Comment:I had the same thing in the 80's when I was in the army. One early morning after drinking the night away, a mate and I were returning to the barracks when he needed to throw up. The driver wouldn't stop on the "highway," so he wound down the window and threw up outside the cab while Ho Chi Minh, the slant eyed cab driver screamed and ranted and raved that he'd never pick up soldiers again. I told him if he just did his job and took us home, I'd give him five bucks extra to take his cab through a car wash, and if he really wanted it, I'd give him a 5 litre tin of methylated spirits and/or other cleaning products out of my Q-store so he could sterilize the damned thing.
When we got back to the base, Ho Chi Minh refused to go beyond the main gate and stormed into the guard post demanding to see the officer in command. Being 3 am he had to wake up the 21 year old lieutenant, who was not happy to see this screaming Gook. I calmly told the lieutenant my offer, which Ho Chi Minh had already turned down, and I reminded him that there was a 24 hour petrol station at the end of the road and if Ho Chi Minh refused to accept any cleaning products from my store, there was also a Seven Eleven around the corner. All the vehicle needed was a hose down and maybe some glass cleaner at the most.
The young lieutenant advised the Gook to accept my offer, but Ho Chi Minh screamed, ranted and raved that if he didn't get his money ($300 I think he demanded), he would refuse to pick up soldiers again! So the lieutenant threw the Gook off the base and that was the end of Ho Chi Minh and his attempts at extorting money from soldiers.
These days the situation would have turned out completely different. With today's army bent on public relations and political correctness, I have no doubt that any current soldier in my position would be ordered to pay the extortion and then would be charged with something like Prejudicial Behaviour - a charge which covers anything they want - and spent a week or a month in military prison; but in the 80's we were not politically correct. We were trained to hate the enemy, and forty years of fighting and killing Gooks from Korea, to Malaya, Vietnam and the silent war with Indonesia that was going on at the time was all very fresh in our minds, meaning that no Gook was going to be able to dictate his terms of extortion against us and make a profit from it.
The moral of both stories is that when political correctness is ignored, there can only be a logical outcome.
Pontifex Cambeul.
Looking at the pic of the driver I think I would have puked too if stuck down wind from him!
looking at the pic. of the driver you would have to pay me to get into a car with someone like. :o