Crash!

It's been a rather quiet 10 months since my last post.  There have been some great guests, but no great stories to tell you.  Until recently.  Here is one of my favorite moments in New York.

I was behind the desk one morning checking a guest out of the hotel.  He was a foreign guest heading to the airport after a business trip to New York, looking forward to the weekend.  He asked me if I could help him flag down a taxi to take him to the airport, which I had no problem doing.  I grabbed his luggage and walked outside with him as a taxi came flying down out street.  I threw my hand out to get his attention.  The driver saw me as he was about to pass the hotel and slammed on the brakes, coming to a screeching stop two doors down. 

The next thing I know, I hear a loud crash.  I look up to where the taxi stopped and I see he came to a stop by rear-ending a police car.  The officer gets out of the driver's seat, massaging her neck, and goes to look at the damage.  What happens next is the crazy part.  The taxi driver gets out of his car and starts to yell at the police officer for "being in his way"!!

She doesn't seem to be fazed by the yelling.  While the taxi driver was going off on her, she just pulled out her ticket book to write him a ticket.  Once he saw this happening, he got even madder and yelled louder, saying it wasn't his fault and whatnot.  She wasn't having any of it.  She just ignored everything he was saying and wrote the ticket and slipped it under his windshield wiper.

As she turned to walk away, he completely lost it and spit on her.  I don't mean a playful 'thbbt' kind of spit.  I mean he hocked a loogey and let it loose.  It must have been a big one because she reacted instantly.  Within 5 seconds, she had him flipped on the hood of his taxi with his hands cuffed behind his back!  A few minutes later, backup was there along with a tow truck to impound the taxi.  It was awesome.  

Now, I know that women are treated differently in different countries.  Some respect women and their rights.  Some force them to hide their faces.  Some don't let them have rights.  It doesn't matter where you come from...once you come to America you forfeit the ability to treat women (and people) with anything other than respect.