I drove a taxi in Boston for a while. For all its liberal pretensions, Boston is a very bigoted city. Neighborhoods are clearly marked by their racial and economic boundaries. People in Roxbury don't go to Beacon Hill and vice-versa.
I was no hero but I believed that once you got into my taxi it was my job to take you where you wanted to go, no matter who you were or what your destination. This led to a few interesting situations.
One time I picked up this elderly black woman at the Stop and Shop. She wanted to go to the Franklin Hill apartments and asked me if I would take her there before even getting into the car. No surprise, Franklin Hill was notorious for gang activity and most drivers wouldn't go anywhere near the place for fear of being robbed, or worse. I told her that if that's where she wanted to go then that's where I'd take her.
When we got to the edge of the complex she told me to pull over and she would walk the rest of the way. She had several bags of groceries which would have been a heavy load so I told her I would take her to her building. She shook her head but gave me directions. When we pulled up I offered to help bring the bags up to her apartment.
She looked at me as
if I was crazy and said, “It's bad enough that I have to live here
without having the death of some crazy white cab driver on my
conscience!” She took her bags and I left with the sound of gunshots behind me. Either they were firing at somebody else or they
were just bad shots. I didn't really care which.
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