Driving a cab in New York is a tough, stressful, 12 hour a day job. And, if you’ve ever been in the back of one of those yellow taxis, you might also think riding in one is just as intense. I often find myself, just like Jerry Seinfeld joked, in a backseat flying down the road at 90 miles per hour on bald tires – but I’m sure they know what they’re doing.

There are 13,000 cabs roaming the streets of New York so it’s easy to assume that sitting in the back gives you some anonymity – or so I thought. Early on a Saturday morning at the end of June, I hailed a taxi on 8th Ave and 25th Street, outside of Brooklyn Bagel. I told the driver “LaGuardia” and unusually, he struck up a conversation. He explained that he was coming up on the end of his first month on the job and was nervous about the upcoming summer lull, especially in light of how competitive it is to pick up a passenger. Since I was headed to Ohio, he began speaking about his affinity for the Cincinnati Reds. I didn’t have a lot to contribute to that part of the conversation but I did get some bonus points for remembering Pete Rose and Marge Schott (and her dog Schottzie). Once we arrived at LaGuardia, I bid farewell and good luck.

Several weeks later, I was running late for work and hailed a cab. As I told him where I needed to go, the meter started and the name of the driver appeared on the TV screen in front of me; it looked very familiar. He said no more than two words and I recognized his gravely voice (think Harvey Fierstein) and excitedly told him that he recently drove me to LaGuardia! He seemed puzzled at first, but once I mentioned Brooklyn Bagel and our chat about the Cincinnati Reds, he remembered. By now it was nearly his third month and he said that he often wondered if he would carry the same passenger more than once. He shared some fun stories about his recent backseat customers and before we knew it, I was at my office. I slipped him a big tip and shook his hand. Then, I bought a lottery ticket.