Drivers read posture, dress, and demeanor as coded cues of a type.

Evidence

Although almost as numerous as businessmen, Lady Shoppers are not nearly as well thought of by cabdrivers. The stereotype is a middle-aged woman, fashionably though unattractively dressed, sitting somewhat stiffly at the edge of her seat and wearing a fixed glare which bespeaks her conviction that she is being “taken for a ride.” Her major delinquency, however, is undertipping; her preferred coin is a dime, no more or less, regardless of how long or arduous the trip. A forever repeated story is of the annoyed driver, who, after a grueling trip with a Lady Shopper, hands the coin back, telling her, “Lady, keep your lousy dime. You need it more than I do.” — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 568

Categorization

• CANDY: The ‘Lady, keep your lousy dime’ putdown is a genuinely fun, shareable anecdote about cab-driver folklore.