The other night it was something like 13 degrees, so I jumped in a cab instead of walking the 6 blocks home…
As with most Philadelphia cabs, I expect to get into some ripped up crappy cab with a grumpy foreign driver, bluetooth in his ear, gabbing away in another language while blasting middle-eastern music through his treble-only speakers.
The other night was different… I got in to an immaculately cleaned back seat as the driver turned around to say “Good Evening” – He wasn’t on the phone and he had a tired, but genuine smile on his face. I told him where I wanted to go, and then I noticed how nice this cab actually was. He was playing a nice up-tempo jazz through working speakers, it smelled great, the temperature was perfect, and he didn’t feel the need to accelerate to 70MPH between every city block.
I couldn’t help but tell him how much I appreciated how well he kept his cab and the immediate-relaxation you get from the style of jazz he was playing. We then got into a brief discussion… He expressed his frustration with most cab drivers in the city not understanding American culture and how important the quality of experience can be. Sure we city dwellers deal with the shitty cabs and poor public transportation, but that’s simply because the bar is never raised and we’ve become used to it. We accept it as part of living in the city. The driver went on to say how he tries harder in a hope to change the opinions of city cabs, which he hopes over the long term, will get the public to spend the few dollars to take a relaxing ride.
This might not seem amazing to most people, but he’s doing something remarkable. He’s doing what he knows he can do to change the perceptions of cabs over the long term. It’s not life changing to most people, but in his circle, he’s a pioneer; and if only for one trip, he changed my opinion of what cabs can be in Philadelphia. There was no trick, no unsolicited spam, no screaming his message… he simply connected with his clients by showing his passion. Passion can make you remarkable.