Hacking It in New York

A lot of weird shit has happened in the back of Melissa Plaut’s cab—well, not that weird, considering what’s bound to happen when drunk and horny people are driven from place to place by indifferent strangers. (Plus, Taxicab Confessions has desensitized most of us, anyway.) What is genuinely shocking is that no one, Plaut says, has ever barfed in her cab. “I’m probably the only cabbie in New York who can say that. That’s my claim to fame.”

That, plus the fact that she’s probably the only female, Jewish, college-educated, gay cab driver. And you can add blogger, published author, and cabbie strike on-air insta-spokeswoman to that list, too. Plaut, a 32-year-old Bushwick resident, has used her blog, New York Hack, to chronicle her nightly voyages through the streets of New York. Some highlights include dealing with assholes, getting fares from celebrities, and even playing herself (or, at least, a cabbie) in a film project starring Tilda Swinton.