The Shortest Taxi Ride

Note: I refuse to use names, locations and dates in this story. In the best interest of all parties I won’t do it. Seriously, I can’t. I respect those involved too much and if I did some of you guys would figure it out. That said, if you message me privately I’ll spill my guts.

Many a year ago I was out on the town with a couple major college coaches and a some of their assistants, possibly somewhere on the east coast but maybe in the midwest, I ain’t tellin’. It had been decided we’d all go out for dinner and adult beverages after a game. Not always do opposing coaches and their staffs hang out after games, but it does happen occasionally as it did on this evening. We were in a big city so places would sometimes stay open beyond closing hours, especially for the coaches in question. Not for me of course, but for the famous guys.

Anyway, we ate at a nice Italian restaurant, had a drink or two, then decided to hit a few bars in the area as well. The guys I was with were pretty recognizable so folks were sending rounds over and it was starting to get a little wild. Hey, we weren’t driving so it was all good. This was before Uber so we were hailing taxis to get us around. As the night wore on some of the guys dropped out so it was just the two head coaches, an assistant and of course yours truly remaining. After a few more stops it was decided we’d better head back to our hotel, so we asked the bartender to call us a cab, which she did. We stood outside waiting, and pretty soon the cab pulled up. We all hopped in, and the following conversation took place:

“Where to fellas?”

“The Hilton.”

“Which Hilton?”

“Not sure. The one near the waterfront.”

“Are you positive? There are a couple others in town.”

‘Yep. It’s about a block from the water.”

“Oooookay, you got it.”

The guy then proceeded to drive about 30-feet, stopped, and said, “Here you go.”

Yep. We’d somehow circled back and had been in a bar right next to our hotel and didn’t even know it. The amazing thing is, the driver drove us the 30-feet before telling us.

It’s a classic story that still gets brought up to this day.

PS- And yes, the guy was tipped handsomely, not for the drive but for the balls to do what he did.