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If this story doesn't nearly or outright bring a tear to your eye, please pause for a moment and ask yourself why. [edit: it doesn't matter whether it's real v

If this story doesn't nearly or outright bring a tear to your eye, please pause for a moment and ask yourself why. [edit: it doesn't matter whether it's real vs fiction, it's a question of how you would react if you did something in the normal course of what you do, and then come to realize at it had a profoundly positive impact on someone else. Is not the romanticized part of the modern conception of a startup a blend of changing people's lives positively at skill via products that make the world better plus a dash of hopefully positioning yourself to there after only work on projects that capture your eye? I will not dispute that the story here is cute and possibly fiction. But even if your day to do focus is building better tech in some domain, it's about building better tools for other people. ]

tallanvor 15y ago
Because not all of us are affected emotionally to the same extent as you? I can agree that the person telling the story did a good deed without feeling overly moved by the story.
VMG 15y ago
because it probably is not true edit: it seems to be true in the sense that the guy wrote it in a book years ago http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/cabbie.htm http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/cabbie.htm
- etfb 15y ago
  I think it probably is true, but there's not enough evidence either way to allow that to be a factor.
anatoly 15y ago
Because it isn't true. Because it's a hackneyed creation of a shallow imagination peopled with cardboard characters, made to press the emotional buttons especially popular today. Because real people don't say "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy". Because death and loneliness and loss and memory are all so much more than this Hallmark card of a story. Because it's so fake, and so corny.
- mortenjorck 15y ago
  The story brought to mind the movie Crash (2004). I remember thinking "wow, this is basically just manipulating me as a viewer to bring a tear to my eye" – and it worked, just as this story did.
- lobster_johnson 15y ago
  I agree that it at least seems fake. She's moving out her home at 02:30 AM to move into a hospice? They take a detour and she's two hours late, yet the orderlies are immediately around to assist her (presumably it's 04:30 AM now)? There are no details in the story, like place names, that would support the claim that it's a true story.
  - Klinky 15y ago
    I'll also add that he claims he was a driver for Yellow Cab. His boss is going to be pissed if he spent half the night not collecting fares. Edit: As noted by tptacek he was probably an independent contractor. Also he mentioned that impoverished people relied on the taxis. Impoverished people cannot afford taxis and taxi drivers are not big on giving free rides.
    - tptacek 15y ago
      Cab drivers, including Yellow Cab drivers, don't work for "Yellow Cab". Each individual cab is a franchise operation with its own P&L. Cab drivers don't typically have "bosses".
      - Klinky 15y ago
        It does look like you are right, though some companies do hire drivers to a more typical wage, that is not the norm. So I retract my assertion that his boss would be angry.
    - roguecoder 15y ago
      Impoverished people don't have any other choice. It's part of how it's easy to stay poor. There was a while when all I had was a bicycle. When my bike got stolen I didn't have the money for another one, but over the next three months spent more than a bike would have cost on unavoidable and otherwise-impossible transportation. Mostly I walked (including three miles to work each day), but sometimes the cost of the cab was less than the money I'd loose by not being somewhere.
SkyMarshal 15y ago
Because I get email forwards like this all the time, written by some bored political pr email hack on his lunch break just sharpening his craft (you know the guys who create those shady emails about Obama that get forwarded around right-wing circles). Seriously, #1 on HN and it's not even remotely about hacking. Flagged.
begemot 15y ago
I'm unmoved by this sentimental drivel, and I think your urging to "please pause for a moment and ask yourself why" is the most pompous thing I have read on HN.
- mxfh 15y ago
  It's pretty obvious by that this is some egotistical generic write up. Do good things, don't brag with them, at least thats how I learned it.
- nik61 15y ago
  I agree with you
blhack 15y ago
Because its an overdone cliche? I think we've all heard this story 1000 times. I believe there was also recently a movie made about this story (or something like it. In the movie, it was an old man who was suicidal). Not to discount it, just saying that not making you cry is t that bizarre.

tallanvor 15y ago

Because not all of us are affected emotionally to the same extent as you? I can agree that the person telling the story did a good deed without feeling overly moved by the story.

VMG 15y ago

because it probably is not true edit: it seems to be true in the sense that the guy wrote it in a book years ago http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/cabbie.htm http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/cabbie.htm

etfb 15y ago
I think it probably is true, but there's not enough evidence either way to allow that to be a factor.

anatoly 15y ago

Because it isn't true. Because it's a hackneyed creation of a shallow imagination peopled with cardboard characters, made to press the emotional buttons especially popular today. Because real people don't say "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy". Because death and loneliness and loss and memory are all so much more than this Hallmark card of a story. Because it's so fake, and so corny.

mortenjorck 15y ago
The story brought to mind the movie Crash (2004). I remember thinking "wow, this is basically just manipulating me as a viewer to bring a tear to my eye" – and it worked, just as this story did.
lobster_johnson 15y ago
I agree that it at least seems fake. She's moving out her home at 02:30 AM to move into a hospice? They take a detour and she's two hours late, yet the orderlies are immediately around to assist her (presumably it's 04:30 AM now)? There are no details in the story, like place names, that would support the claim that it's a true story.
- Klinky 15y ago
  I'll also add that he claims he was a driver for Yellow Cab. His boss is going to be pissed if he spent half the night not collecting fares. Edit: As noted by tptacek he was probably an independent contractor. Also he mentioned that impoverished people relied on the taxis. Impoverished people cannot afford taxis and taxi drivers are not big on giving free rides.
  - tptacek 15y ago
    Cab drivers, including Yellow Cab drivers, don't work for "Yellow Cab". Each individual cab is a franchise operation with its own P&L. Cab drivers don't typically have "bosses".
    - Klinky 15y ago
      It does look like you are right, though some companies do hire drivers to a more typical wage, that is not the norm. So I retract my assertion that his boss would be angry.
  - roguecoder 15y ago
    Impoverished people don't have any other choice. It's part of how it's easy to stay poor. There was a while when all I had was a bicycle. When my bike got stolen I didn't have the money for another one, but over the next three months spent more than a bike would have cost on unavoidable and otherwise-impossible transportation. Mostly I walked (including three miles to work each day), but sometimes the cost of the cab was less than the money I'd loose by not being somewhere.

SkyMarshal 15y ago

Because I get email forwards like this all the time, written by some bored political pr email hack on his lunch break just sharpening his craft (you know the guys who create those shady emails about Obama that get forwarded around right-wing circles). Seriously, #1 on HN and it's not even remotely about hacking. Flagged.

begemot 15y ago

I'm unmoved by this sentimental drivel, and I think your urging to "please pause for a moment and ask yourself why" is the most pompous thing I have read on HN.

mxfh 15y ago
It's pretty obvious by that this is some egotistical generic write up. Do good things, don't brag with them, at least thats how I learned it.
nik61 15y ago
I agree with you

blhack 15y ago

Because its an overdone cliche? I think we've all heard this story 1000 times. I believe there was also recently a movie made about this story (or something like it. In the movie, it was an old man who was suicidal). Not to discount it, just saying that not making you cry is t that bizarre.