here you'll find new work, other things, stuff, and things of that nature.
since i've lived in chicago there have been few things that have been weird enough to tell about. funny things have happened, unexpected and lovely things have taken place but never quite this strange (except for one crazy train ride to milwaukee). last night when i got in a cab to go home there was some confusion when i told the driver my cross streets. i told him which way to go, where to take a left and how many streets down approximately. he said it was his first week which was why he wasn't familiar with where i was going. i asked him if he liked it to which he replied he did, he was learning, like any job. before driving cabs he said he used to clean shoes and asked me where i got my shoes cleaned. i told him i never had my shoes cleaned before but that i had a nice pair of leather boots i had been meaning to get touched up. he explained to me that he still cleaned shoes on the side which helped him pay for food because as a cabby you only make what you make in tips. a dollar here, a dollar there went towards his groceries. he even said that he would give people rides and then clean their shoes, maybe three or four customers a day and that riders would give him their leftover food from lunch or dinner, and that way he said, he didn't feel like a beggar. i told him it sounded like he had met some generous people.
we pull up to my corner and i said 'this is good thank you' but instead he said he was going to turn the corner and park. i was confused but i was hoping he was just pulling over to get out of the way of traffic. so he's driving further down my street which i didn't understand, pulls over, parks, and gets out. with a rag. he opens my door and i asked him what he was doing and he said he was going to clean my shoes. i told him there must have been some miscommunication, i didn't say i wanted you to clean my shoes!
he insisted it would only take a minute, put your shoe on my knee, and honestly, i didn't know say. the cabby was now kneeling down in the middle of the road, in the snow, in 5 degree weather, at 9 o'clock at night, cleaning my boots with some rag. and he said "see? their dirty." i was stuck between pity and anger. he had been buttering me up the whole ride talking about his lack of food and each dollar bill going towards food and people giving him their leftovers. i felt for him but i never said ok clean my shoes while its dark on my quiet street. i took note of the fact that while i am sitting in the cab with both feet out the door with my hands full the meter was still ticking away. when he was done i was polite but flustered and dropped my bag. my mango flew out and rolled away and i had to ask him to turn around and pick it up because i couldn't reach around him. i was not going to let that mango get away. i was looking forward to that mango.
