Talking to Cabbies

A double-bill of The District this afternoon. In the first episode, the Chief is concerned with crimes against cab drivers so some detectives go undercover to catch the criminals who target them. The trap works and one of the detectives finds himself being threatened by a criminal with a syringe of blood, the attacker claiming to be HIV+. Its a nasty, malicious crime (although it turns out to not be true) but what struck me most about this episode was the conversation the assailant had with the pretend cabbie beforehand. He asked the cab driver who long he'd been working and if he'd had a busy night. I thought this just happened in England, but apparently not - it would seem that world-over it is expected that you will make this same inane conversation with the cab driver, even if you intend to assault him!