Many of you have probably had the colorful urban experience of vomiting in a cab, due to drunkenness, intoxication, or just plain alcohol-induced motion sickness. You disgusting lush. How much should a cab driver be compensated for your mess?

NYC cabbie Nahidul Islam demanded $120 from a Manhattan mom whose six year-old kid threw up in his cab last weekend. She ended up cleaning the mess herself and paying him nothing—though he said the vomit smell lingered enough to cost him hundreds of dollars in fares that night. The New York Post plays Islam for the villain (ha), but the guy has a point: cabbies definitely deserve some kind of cleaning fee for your yak in their upholstery. We propose the following compensation scale:

  • ALCOHOL-INDUCED VOMIT: $50
  • SICKNESS-INDUCED VOMIT: $75. Probably full of germs.
  • CHILD VOMIT: $85. Children are gross.
  • SPITEFUL VOMIT: $0. Sometimes you just have to teach that cabbie a lesson.

[Pic: Ian Muttoo]