Could it be that New Yorkers hold their liquor better than Chicagoans?
Composer/pianist Marc Neikrug was in the Windy City for 13 weeks taping radio programs. In the taxi to the airport for the flight back to New York, he noticed the rate card.
Between the items “Each additional passenger after first passenger — $0.50” and “Airport Departure/Arrival Tax — $2.00” is one that reads: “Vomit Clean-up Fee — $50.00.”
Neikrug, who premieres his new piano solo at the New York Philharmonic on Jan. 13, told me, “I thought it was a joke until the cab driver told me otherwise.”
In New York, such mishaps are rare enough that there is no set fee for vomit clean-up, although the poor drivers certainly appreciate at least a $50 tip for their troubles.