The first time I quit cab driving, I figured it was my last — but I ended up quitting three (technically four) times after that. I might again. My first last shift was on a hot night in May. School was done and traffic was thin; everybody was moving out. It was time for me […]
Sean Genell
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson #12 — Mississippi Fred McDowell makes for a good night
Some nights are made lucky. For instance, the dayshift driver left a blues CD in the pleasure radio. Blues ain’t really my thing, but for whatever reason this set grabbed me. I even pulled the disc out to look at the name markered on it, then slid the disc back in. Just one dude playing […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson #11 — Sometimes it’s best to pass up a good deal
Lyle stayed at the far end of 9th Street, out at 23rd Ave. He had a tic. He would gasp and catch a hand on his face like he might sneeze. The frequency and depth of his gasping would become pronounced as he got excited, which was often. He was peculiarly particular, an older gentleman, […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson #10 — The one who got away
Sheraton circle, 0245 hours and two young lasses, one of whom began to dribble vomit as she plunked down. “Take it outside the cab.” Her friend asked, “Will you wait for us?” “I said take it outside the cab.” I was getting better at knowing who was going to puke, and when. I was also […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson #9 — And Babel is the traffic of Language
#23. Maintain your lane. Dominate it. Most drivers aren’t paying attention. Take advantage of this and look the fuck out. #24. Drive off-center of the driver in front of you so as to see a direct angle of the traffic lanes ahead. If you can’t get an angle, look through their windshield. Try to get […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson 8 –Asleep at the wheel
Captain Jerry called me into the office and asked, “How well do you know Wellman?” I’d been there a few times dropping Rx at the old folk’s home, but I didn’t know it know it. “I know it well enough,” I said, because Wellman is out of town. “Is it picking up there?” “It’s picking […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson 7 — Lots yet to learn
Driving cab in the summertime is the kind of bullshit you do because you’re hooked on drugs, or in need of a hotline. Nothing goes on. A switch is thrown and the roar of the outgoing graduates is clipped. The money is gone. Still, it will never be slow enough for some people. “Hey, Marty […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson 6 — Traffic is the language of Babel
#1. You don’t have to know how the machinery of 30,000 whirring parts makes your car go vroom, but you should consider the physics at play. Velocity, friction, vector relationships and turning radii are all up for consideration. #2. Participation is mandatory. Science confirms this. #3. People live like they drive, and as such we […]
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The Early Tears with Pasternak: Lesson 5 – Municipal as a fireplug and just as pissed on
I’d see her around town a lot back then, a bony woman walking fast in a country headscarf. From a distance you could see she wore her face garishly made up, and I wondered at her story. When I got her aboard the taxi at Campus Amoco, I realized it wasn’t makeup she was wearing. […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson 4 – Always get paid
“You’re the cabdriver and you’re going to do as I say.” Like that. He was tanked, babbling on how he didn’t want the cab in the first place but his friends — “And aren’t they assholes!” … Two minutes on our way to Lakeside and already I wanted to fork out his eyes like the […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson 3 – Knock Harder
Down in the dispatch office, Captain Jerry held out the ticket so I could read the call he had for me: Sunrise Trailer Court to Touch of Mink #2, the massage parlor. “It’s a relay call,” he warned. “Aunt Bea called it in from the Touch, asked you pick up a friend of hers and […]
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The Early Tears with Vic Pasternak: Lesson 2 – Keeping your trajectory
People live like they drive. By this marker alone, cab drivers are complete assholes. But the sentiment doesn’t quite apply to us. Driving for money makes for a different animal. You’d change too if driving was a capital investment, if it was tied to the roof overhead and the food on your plate and the […]
