Where do NYC Cabbies Pee?

It's like this. Recently I was having one of my fabulous, five martini lunches during the work week, and the conversation turned to cab stories. A colleague of mine relayed the tale of his buddy, early in his career, who was in the process of jumping into a cab in a rush with some clients. They were late for a meeting so this guy, knowing he'd have to sit in the front because there were too many of them, pulled open the passenger side, front door and jumped in. As he did this, he felt something splash all over him. As it oozed into his clothes, the guy looked down and discovered some sort of receptacle that he'd overturned on the front seat. It did not take him long to work out, from the smell, that what he'd just overturned, was a bucket of piss. He confronted the driver who, at first, wouldn't answer him. Eventually, after much prodding, he admitted it was true. But in his defense, he said, ALL NYC CAB DRIVERS HAVE PISS BUCKETS THAT THEY CARRY IN THE FRONT SEAT WITH THEM. This passenger had simply jumped into the cab too quickly for the driver to put his away. Hence, the accident.

First of all, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Second of all, could this be true? Think about it, in New York City, how else are you going to take a piss in the middle of your cab shift? Between businesses' lack of hospitality and the parking situation, you're pretty much S.O.L.

A few hours after this story was told to me and my business partner, she phoned me from the corner of 14th and 8th avenue to tell me she'd just spotted a cab driver who'd pulled over at a gas station and was carrying a plastic thermos towards the bathroom. Shocking.