Remember how
excited you were the day you started your last job?
Remember the
day you were hired and how absolutely thrilled you were? How your head was swimming with the names of
new coworkers to memorize, the layout of a new building to learn and the jargon
you had to know to do your fantastic new job?
Now, do you
remember how you just couldn’t wait to leave and find another new job?
Work.
Who needs
it?
Maybe you
should just chuck it all and drive a cab.
Or maybe not, if you ask author Melissa Plaut. In her new book “Hack,” you’ll see that
driving a cab could drive a person crazy.
While all of
her friends were graduating from college, finding partners and settling down,
Melissa Plaut wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life, and it bothered
her. She’d always kept a mental list of
things she dreamed about, adventure being at the top of the list. Driving a taxi in New York City seemed like
the grandest adventure of all, so Plaut took classes and a multi-part test, got
her license and found a family-owned cab company to work for.
At first,
learning the streets of The Big Apple was difficult and scary, but Plaut had
plats, a cell phone so she could call her parents for directions, and plenty of
drive to be a good cabbie. Customers
were surprisingly very patient with her then, but later in her new career, too
many fares were rude and nasty. Some
dashed off without paying her. Others left the kind of mess nobody should have
to clean up. Still others tried to do illegal things in the cab, gave bad
directions, or acted as if Plaut was invisible or ignorant.
She tried to
be nice to everyone. But despite some good passenger experiences, having the
adventure she craved and making new friends in the “office”, Plaut soon became
jaded and unhappy.
After about
two years, she decided she’d had all the “adventure” she could hack.
Hmm. Skinny little book. Short chapters. I read pretty fast, so why did this book take
so long for me to finish?
Because I
loved it so much, I didn’t want it to end, that’s why.
“Hack” is
funny and honest, an insider’s peek at a job that many people wouldn’t be brave
enough to take on and an off-handed kudo to those who are. I couldn’t get enough of Plaut’s experiences;
in fact, although she says she eventually became irritated at people who
badgered her with questions about her customers, her coworkers, and what it’s
like to be a female in a mostly male industry, I have to admit that I would’ve
been right alongside those interrogators.
I wanted more
stories.
If you’ve
ever driven a cab, ridden in a cab, or thought the grass was greener on someone
else’s paycheck, grab this book and settle down in the back seat. “Hack” is definitely one incredible ride.
c.2007, Villard $13.95 / $17.95 Canada 256
pages