Holiday Heartwarmer

It's no secret: People are a little more generous to strangers as the Christmas holiday approaches. Hence, the toy/food drives and all the bellringers collecting for the Salvation Army outside nearly every grocery and retail store. (And for my fellow NYers, more beggars on the streets, particularly along Shopping Mile of Fifth Avenue.)

I've been on the giving end more than once, but I've never been on the receiving end... until early this morning. I'm flying out from Newark-Liberty this morning at 6:30, which meant I needed to get up extremely early to head into Manhattan and meet my shuttle ride to the airport.

[On a side note, can anyone please explain to me the logic for needing to meet the shuttle at 2:30 in the morning for a 6:30 flight? There's almost no traffic at that hour, so we usually get to Newark in about fifteen minutes, and the TSA security line at that hour of the morning is laughably short. But could I schedule any later pickup time with the shuttle? Of course not.]

Anyway, I'd seriously misjudged how long it would take me to get from Queens to Manhattan at that hour of the morning (Hint: schedule about an hour and a half if going by subway; the trains are really unpredictable in the early morning hours), and I usually meet my shuttle outside the Warwick Hotel on 54th St. Since I was running late, I flagged down a taxi to take me into the city. This isn't as easy as it sounds: why is it so cursedly difficult to find a cab in Astoria after dark?

The problem was, I had only $15 in cash on me, and I knew the fare alone to the hotel would be about $16, not including tip. I told this to the driver before I got in the cab, and amazingly, he was fine with it! As he told me, some people tip more generously around the holidays; he could afford to take a few people who were just short of the full fare. Not only did he not put the trip on the meter, he realized I was late and hurried to get me to the hotel on time.

I didn't even get his name, and I certainly wouldn't recognize him again, not having gotten a look at his face in the first place. But wherever he is, I owe him one. Maybe I'll show my thanks by tipping generously the next time I take a taxi. He'd probably approve.