Shabbos Cabby

My sister spent 8 hours in the emergency room last Friday night trying to figure out why her stomach was killing her. Eight hours of pain, waiting, tests and entertainment by the myriad of emergency cases near her (gunshots, overdoses, etc.) In the end, while they did rule out anything that would require emergency medical treatment, they couldn’t find anything wrong with her and sent her on her way.

Thet he problem became how to get home. By then it was early Shabbos morning and walking home was out of the question. So now my sister and brother-in-law needed to get home with the least mechalel shabbos as possible. He had a nurse call a cab and when it arrived, he told the guy he couldn’t open the door and asked him to open the door for them. He gave them a little strange look, but did it. Thinking that this was going to work out alright, they arrive at their house. My brother-in-law had prepared some money in his pocket for this event and when the cabby told them the fee, he asked if the cabby wouldn’t mind reaching into his pocket to take out the money. Personally, ifI was the cabby at this point, I’d be a little freaked out. No problem though. He reaches in and pulled out the twenty from the deep recesses of my brother-in-laws front pocket (and with minimal groping, I assume). Since the tab came out to considerably less, he offered change. Of course, being Jewish, my BIL was not going to turn it down-Shabbos or not, so he asked him to place the change in his pocket. I may stretching the truth here, but Iwould guess that he had the cabby keep a tip for himself. Maybe a little extra for feeling him up in the pocket.

Once all was said and done, the cabby turns to the both of them and says:

“Don’t worry about all of this. You may think that Ithink you’re both nuts, but I know all about this stuff. I’m Jewish.”

You can't make this up.