单选题
In a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver? I began studying this question and found the answers interesting.
One morning I got into three different taxis and announced, "Well, it"s my first day back in New York in seven years. I"ve been in prison." Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. "Yeah, I shot a man in Reno." I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, but nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver, "Reno? That is in Nevada?"
Taxi drivers were uniformly sympathetic when I said I"d just been fired. "This is America," a Haitian driver said. "One door is closed. Another is open." He argued against my plan to burn down my boss"s house. A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope; he refused to take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge—a $20 trip. "Why you want to go there? Go home and relax. Don"t worry. Take a new job."
One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word "BANK" on it, I tried calling a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with a Haitian driver was typical of the superb assistance I received.
"Let"s go across the park." I said. "I just robbed the bank there. I got $25,000."
"$25,000?" he asked.
"Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it?"
"No, man. I work 8 hours and I don"t make almost $70. If I can do that, I do it too."
As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank.
"Hey, there"s another bank," I said, "Could you wait here a minute while I go inside?"
"No, I can"t wait. Pay me now." His reluctance may have had something to do with money—taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low—but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can"t expect unconditional support.
单选题
From the Ghanaian driver"s response, we can infer that ______.