»Permutation for a taxi.

From Joe Rogers' Metropolitan Diary column in The New York Times:

Dear Diary:
It was one of those super-frigid evenings recently. I left work about 8 p.m., desperate to find a taxi to get home and out of the cold. There were plenty of taxis heading uptown, but all were occupied. Suddenly, one pulled up to the curb about a half-block away, the medallion light went on and I dashed over to grab it.
Just as I arrived at the taxi from the downtown side, another fellow arrived from the uptown side. The following exchange then took place between two seasoned New Yorkers:
Him: "Gee, we arrived at the same time."
Me (hoping we can just share the cab): "We sure did. Are you heading uptown ?"
Him: "No, downtown."
Me: "Let's choose for it. Odds and evens?"
Him: "No. Rock paper."
Me: "O.K."
Him: "O.K., on the count of three."
Both: "Once. Twice. Three. Shoot."
At which point he held out two fingers (scissors) and I held out my hand, palm-side down (paper). Scissors beating paper, he jumped into the taxi with nary a word, and off he went. I ended up taking the subway home.

This on the heels of a recent piece in The New Yorker about an obsessive taxi driver who cruises midtown in a vintage Chcker. I like to remember how I wanted to pay for graduate school by being a hackie, aka Fountain of Wisdom.