What 5 a.m. Cab Rides Have Taught Me About Being Human
In our daily lives, there are invisible people that surround us. People like cab drivers. People that have interesting and unexpected stories.
I regularly encounter cab drivers while traveling for work. They cruise the roads at night, listening to the radio, waiting for the next call that will take them in a new, unexpected direction. And sometimes they arrive at my apartment building — promptly at 5 a.m. to drive me to the airport.
A cab driver who recently drove me to the airport was an engineer from India.
As we got to talking, he told me that when he first arrived in Canada, he got a job at one of the big local banks. He did exceptionally well, exceeding targets and collecting salary increments. When the economy turned in 2008, he got laid off.
He was given an option to become a Mortgage Specialist, a commissions-based role where he would earn based entirely on the business he closes. However, he had to go through an extensive certification process and take some exams. He decided it wasn’t worth it, particularly in an uncertain housing market.
And then there was the university student who was driving a cab to supplement his dad’s income and to put himself through school.
After finishing up his classes during the day, he drove a cab at night. He dreamed of going into brokerage and facilitating multi-million dollar deals. He asked me if he could add me on LinkedIn.
The most memorable incident was from a business trip my husband and I took together.
Sitting in the back of the cab, we were immediately struck by how familiar the driver looked. Ever the networker, my husband immediately struck up a conversation.
It dawned on us that we had met the driver just a couple of months back — at the house of a local businessman. He was being honored at a celebratory dinner the night before a gala honoring Punjabi writers. Our cab driver was just moonlighting to pay the bills. He was actually a Punjabi language writer — who had just won $20,000 in a literature prize.
As our conversation became more animated, we discovered that this writer / cab driver owned his home and had around $200,000 in stock market investments.
Moral of the story?
We tend to perceive cab drivers as new immigrants unqualified for or unable to hold down other jobs. This isn’t always true.
Pause before making judgments and immediately writing people off based on what they do and how they’re dressed. Never make assumptions about people because of the job that they have or the role that they play in our lives.
People are individuals, not stereotypes. Their lives are unique. Everyone has a story to tell. And there’s something poignant, memorable, or useful in every story.
Typecasting people based on profession is just as bad as stereotyping them based on gender or skin color. Be curious instead. That’s how you discover the wondrous beauty of a diverse, multi-faceted, multilingual world.