Taxi Drivers

This article is based on an interview with a Middle Eastern taxi driver that likes his job and plans to stick with this job for the future. He shares some insights of what’s good about being a taxi driver, while taking me to my destination that’s 30 minutes far. “As far as my education, I have degree. I came to the US to pursue my higher education and I actually studied some master courses but I eventually got into the real life. “
 Taxi drivers are really interesting and always exciting people. They can be so educated people but they also can be in poor and difficult circumstances. Some actually consider this job as the one to do when your life run out of luck.
 “I can make money and travel anytime I want to, quit whenever I want to .. you know. If I’m an employee I can’t do that. I have my own breaks and don’t have a boss on top of me and telling what to do. No. I don’t like that. I’m my own boss in my own cab in my own world.” Most of those who drive taxies find many advantages of being such a guy. A guy who picks up people and take them wherever they want. They enjoy the grace of having no supervisor breathing down their necks, they have absolute flexibility and the capability of setting up their own schedule.
 Up to this point, the driver didn’t yet start telling exciting stories about crazy customers or celebrities. So I asked “As a taxi driver I assume you meet all different kinds people. Is there a story that comes to your mind about a person you picked up?”
 
He responded “I picked up in my life about 5 five famous people! The most popular, Toby Keith, he’s a country singer. I picked ‘em up at Nashville, Tennessee. Because I came from Nashville, Tennessee. I only came here four years ago. He introduced himself to me, but I didn’t know him by then. I realized how big he is only after I got home and did some research about him.
 I also picked up Joel, she’s a rock & roll singer, a popular football player. I met him because he paid me for them. I picked up the founder of Coyote Ugly, a chain of bars across the U.S. Jimmy McKnight. All these gave me autographs that I still keep them with me.“
As times goes by, and the taxi driver meets more and more people. He or she starts categorizing customers and sorting them into types. At least this is what I thought and I wanted to clear my doubts, so I asked “Are there types of customers? Do you have categories on your mind?”
 It sounded like what I assumed was very true because he immediately answer if he prepared his answer from before. He said “There are 3 kinds of ways to find a customer. The first way is being dispatched by the office. The customer calls the office, and the office sends you to the caller. The second way is to stop by a flagger on the street. He could be criminal! He could be celebrity. That’s second. The third type is the regular customer.“
 As of now, I have learned that this taxi driver I’m interviewing served in Nashville for many years and he came to Austin just 6 years ago. Once I realized asked him about does he see the difference between the two places he lived in for the past decade.
 People over there in Nashville are slower and more laid back than here. The pace of live there is slower than the pace here. Here it’s too fast and the traffic is really bad, makes people angry and agitated. He added “because there is a lot people who come and go here all the time, there is frequent misunderstandings, clashed and fight. A lot of people gather in Austin, all kinds of people. Friendly people, unfriendly and even opportunists ...”
 When he mentioned opportunists, I recalled one of my American friends telling me about how people from around the world come to Austin to establish their musical careers because the city is considered a place to show the people your talent. So I told the taxi driver about it and reminded about the ACL festival that took place few weeks from the day of the interview. And then finally asked him what he thinks about it.

He said. “They say Austin is the music capital of the world. They have a lot of live music here in this town. And compared to Tennessee, it’s different. They have something called country music. And even the people are different. You can say that people in Nashville are friendlier than people from here. Because country music is kind of a mellow, it doesn’t have any violence, it’s all about love and hippie life.”