Hooking Up in a Cab: Cool, Slutty, or Inconsiderate?

Lovelies:

A few weeks ago, I got my hands on a copy of the new book Taxi Confidential: Life, Death and 3 a.m. Revelations in New York City Cabs--a collection of stories from the 1970s, through the present day, about the outrageous, bizarre, tawdry, sad and sweet things that have happened in the back seat. Not surprisingly, there's an entire section devoted to "Hooking Up."

How many of you have gotten hot and heavy in the back seat of a hired car?

I'll admit that when I was younger (and more of a boozehound), I was dating a guy--a wanna-be writer who was about to start an MBA program--who inspired me to make out with him just about every time we dropped down into the black leather seat behind the driver's partition.

Of course, for some of us, there's something transgressively pleasing about making out in a taxi--it's like: We're doing something naughty! And that makes us hot.

Another part of the appeal is that a cab feels like something of a private space: After having been out on the town all night, it's finally just the two of us ...

And yet ... it's NOT just the "two of us." There in the front, behind the wheel, do you see that human being? Yes, he's called a driver.

In one of the stories in Taxi Confidential, the driver seems more into the sexual performance than the man who was actually having the sex. In another story, one good-natured cabbie comments that some people get into his cab just to have sex--and that doesn't seem to bother him at all. A third cabbie, however, completely freaks out when a young couple starts feeling each other up in his vehicle--and he kicks them out. A fourth cabbie accepts free sex from a prostitute who takes a shine to him--who then insists on paying him for the ride, to boot. After a fifth cabbie puts the move on one of his passengers, they have an illicit make-out session in Central Park.

Although I'd never thought too much about the make-out-in-cabs question before, after reading the book, it occurred to me it must be horrible for some drivers to have to see such things--strangers, naked!--up close and personal.

So my thought is, a little making out in a cab is okay ... but not too much. Especially if you get the feeling you're freaking the driver out. And NO nudity. And no humping.

What do you guys think? (Am I taking this all a little too seriously?)

The most recent time I smooched someone in a cab, I was in the front seat, my date was in the back seat, my bike was in the way back. The boy and I were talking to the driver--he was from Egypt, he had two little kids, they all lived out in Bay Ridge--and every once in a while, the two of us stole a not-so-covert kiss. Rather than being annoyed, the driver seemed to like us; it was like we were three chums. In fact, I felt like we all bonded a little during our long ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn. For me, it was one of those wonderful New York moments.

xxx

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dear commenters:

-Norah: I love that one! How did I miss it? And Chessenia, as I said on the Fbook page, the quote you mentioned is great, too.

-Sweet Potato: I giggled hysterically after reading your comment yesterday. Ha! You rock, dude. I'm so glad I'm getting you through college.

-JP: I'm with you. Total Holden crush.

-And Clarrisia: I'm glad it sounds like you love the book as much as I do.