By Frances Bryce, October 22, 2020 — In front of Macy’s store at 17th and Market Street near the bus stop, I saw a small elderly woman standing between the curb and a cab. A driver was standing there and he began moving her cart from the trunk. I went into the helping mode, thinking she was now on her way into the department store. I went over to help her up onto the curb because I knew that was a bus stop and she should not be standing there. I thought maybe if we would go down to the end of the street where the incline was, she would be able to walk. She reminded me that she was not going into Macy’s, but she was going someplace else, and the cab driver was taking her cart out of the trunk and he was going to leave her there. So I proceeded to talk to him about that, and she now offered a solution to her problem, saying she was not on her way into the department store, but on the way to Trader Joe’s, and she could not step up onto the curb, so I went over to help her up onto the curb. I questioned the cab driver about leaving her there, and he seemed to be very annoyed. So then she said if he would pull the cab forward, and then back near the curb, she would be able to transition from the curb, which I had helped her to get to, and step into the driver’s side of the car, where she would be seated. The cab driver now took no action at all. And so as I stood there waiting for him to do something and she kept telling him what she needed him to do, so he finally, looking annoyed and I guess he was ready to abandon her, and he pulled the cab forward, and back next to the curb allowing her to enter the cab. I stood there until he put her cart back into the trunk, and she was able to get into the cab. Then she dismissed me.
I continued my walk away but I stood nearby to be sure that he was going to take her wherever she wanted to go. I also hope she would be able to accomplish what she set out to do that day and someone would help her into the cab so she could safely return home.