The day my daughter finished High School I thought "Finally! My chauffeur duties have come to an end!" With her college expenses looming, a month later I took a Part Time job as a Taxi Driver. Some habits are hard to break.
My friends worried. "You'll need mace" they warned, "Maybe you should consider getting a gun" (as if that would ever happen). While their concern touched me, I've never shared any of their fears. Being robbed, raped or worse simply isn't an option. If it were, I would never be able to do this work, so it just isn't. Selective denial keeps me driving. Besides, the cab company I work for has as its home base an affluent Chicago suburb. It's not the ghetto. I'm safe.
The truly awful crimes, the violent, news-worthy type, are hosted primarily in the city, where anonymity and opportunity are easier to come by. Criminals on occasion visit the suburbs but when they do their work is so mundane that it's hardly worth mentioning; the occasional 7-11 hold up or some bicycle or car-radio thefts are about as bad as it gets, typically. My suburb sleeps most nights. That's the allure, of course-quiet, lawns and oh so many Starbucks'.
I go into the city reluctantly and get out of there as quickly as I possibly can. Driving anyplace downtown, even through Wrigleyville or Lincoln Park, I know I'm getting flagged (the taxi term for being waved down for a ride). Stopping is a gambler's game, as it's illegal for a suburban cab to take city business. They're very territorial. Once caught, you are arrested and your car impounded and neither you nor the vehicle are going anywhere before paying about $2400. Like suburban neighbors, the city watches out for its own. Dumb and desperate are those who take that kind of risk but it's so tempting when it's right there in front of you. As long as I get back to where I belong, I don't have to fight with myself about it. So I beat it back to the burbs.
The advantage to being a Chicagoan is that the distance between the city and its outskirts is so minimal that there is no sacrifice; you can have your peace and your party too. Passengers from everywhere love this place, I hear it all the time, and Chicago-land loves its home. That's why we put up with the weather. The real sacrifice.
People I drive in my cab have stories to tell, whether they know it or not. They love, work, rejoice, regret. I intend to share here some of the most interesting and inspiring among them.
