in addition to the car i take when i have to carry my bass into work, there's the cab to the practice space after work (ok; to the parkside lounge where i get liquored up before practice.) i usually get this cab at the taxi stand in front of macy's. while i wait for the cab, i sometimes chat with the small man in the suit who stands there all day hailing cabs. or he chats at me, making friendly small talk. i think he's ecuadoran. this is the first time ever for me dealing with any sort of regular transportation aquisition person (i guess doormen would count, too), so it's all a little new. end disclaimer.
today, when i got to the front of the line, he pointed at my bass and said "you are an entertainer. you give entertainment to people." i agreed, and he continued: "but you never give entertainment to me! you come every week here, but you only tipped me once!"
i'm pretty sure i've never tipped him at all. i never even thought about it. i figured he was just a macy's service, sort of like an escalator. not to be harsh, but he's got the full uniform with the hat and just seems so in place by that little velvet rope thing that separates the line from passers by. ok; this is my prejudice: i find short people in uniform hard to take seriously as people. and he's not a little person or anything, just short.
i said: "damn!" and gave him five dollars. it seemed to make him happy, but now that i know, i've got to tip coming and going to get my damned taxi to parkside. it's impossible to get cabs after work anywhere else in midtown, so i have to go back. i saw the line in front of madison square garden once, and it was brutal. even at macy's it sometimes takes half an hour.
thinking about it, it's not hard to see how the little man fell through the cracks. first car service needs a tip after getting charlotte and me into the city, then, after work, the cab to the bar, then the bartender after every drink (and there's usually a few), then the taxi home after practice. i've heard foreigners gripe about how traveling in america's annoying because of the hordes of people all wanting little bits of their money. it does get to be fairly routine. i find it odd not tipping in london when drinking at a bar. it's weird. i eventually just tell that i'm american, so take this pound as thanks for giving me liquor. you've got to give it directly to them, they tell me, or someone will walk off with it, since as nobody ever tips, the bartender doesn't have that money on his mind.
nice being able to smoke in bars there, but it's obnoxious how they ring that bell for last call at 10:45. years ago, the first time someone told me about closing time, i thought it was a joke. after helen and i landed in london friday night, i went with her friend richard to his local. the bartender there told us some of the ways pubs finally kicked everyone out at 11:30. (his turned on all the horrible, bright lights, then the staff went around saying very loudly LADIES AND GENLTEMEN, IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE. pretty standard.) one place, he told us, started playing the national anthem at full volume, with no starting off low, then gradually bringing up the volume. just full-blast national anthem to evict the drunks. i can't remember any of the others now. damn. i was too busy trying to get two double whiskeys into me before they chased us out. i'd got them ordered just before 11:00, two minutes prior to them going violent on that bastard bell, meaning: no more.
damn. it was cold enough today to wear my new 
