Reasons to Strike

Late last night I am schlepping to my friend’s place in Northern Woodside, but since I’m carrying a lead crystal vase with flowers, I don’t feel like walking the entire way, so instead I hail a cab on Queens Boulevard: the Cabbie, who’s some sort of Indian/Pakistani/Bangla. I do my best not to spill the water which I’ve already topped off, and he doesn’t seem to be a native of Queens, so I’m doing my best to navigate, although I only know the route by foot and there is a labyrinth of one-way streets which make things rather difficult.

Anyway, aside from the redirections, our small talk begins when I ask him about the impending taxi strike over GPS. He remarks that he thinks the objections are overblown, that he finds GPS helpful, that a lot of people are trying to be dishonest and shave, that although this cab doesn’t have GPS, it would be a great help, and that it’s really not that big of a deal. I try to challenge and probe a little bit, and I ask him if there are indeed things worth striking for—he says, yes, there are, but this is not one of those things—besides he doesn’t think that enough people will strike to ultimately make a difference. I am barely aware of the actual issues, but I was interested primarily in the ways in which he reaches his opinions—the role of peer opinions, and how he makes sense of the struggle.

As he drops me off, he compliments me on the flowers (I have dropped the baby’s breath by now)—in response to his question about what they are, I say they’re lilies.