Man I love my job (from 2006)

Man I love my job. I once read that over %50 of all Americans really don’t like their jobs. They especially dread going in on Monday mornings. I can honestly say I have never had a day when I dreaded going to work. In fact, I really like it. I’m a people person and I enjoy talking to all the interesting people that I pick up in the course of my day. Plus, the $30 an hour I can make ain't bad either.

Monday mornings are especially exciting. Monday is like going to a casino and knowing the odds are stacked in your favor! The cash comes quick and it piles up. I usually bound out of bed anticipating the wonderful things that are waiting for me. After the bars close, you get people going to the airport and people coming into the airport. There’s a tremendous amount of activity and it last all morning.

I heard some guy on the AM radio this morning, and it seemed ironic because of all the money I was making, that the “average guys” style of living was being eroded by a number of factors. He cited decreasing labor union support, outsourcing, no minimum wage protection, the Wall-Martization of our economy which actually suppresses wages. All of these things and others where giving the working stiff a raw deal.

This all appeared odd to me. Most of our drivers are immigrants who left totalitarian regimes or countries so mired in difficult political struggles and suppressed economies that the opportunity to drive a cab here seems like the ticket to wealth. And you know what? It is. You see no one has told them that it’s not a great opportunity. No one has told them that a trade union or the Democratic Party or anti-trust legislation, NAACP or whatever is their savior. They approach the gig as if wonderful things are awaiting them. They are able to support their families abroad, buy homes, send kids to college and purchase the most expensive computers and electronics I have ever seen. We taxi drivers are self employed. I hope you knew that. And it’s an important distinction between this and some suck ass hourly wage job.

You see folks; if you want to get rich don’t work a union job. Or 30 years will go by and you’ll end up talking about how all along you were taking it in the shorts. In America you do not have to stay where you’re at. You can move up! Educate yourself, become ambitious ask yourself what is it that really turns you on. Do you have a passion? Are you a writer, photographer just what do you enjoy doing? I knew all along if I did not do something that involved meeting and talking to people, I would never be good at it. You can trust me on this if it seems like drudgery you will never become successful. It’s as simple as that. There’s a spirit of self-reliance that seems to almost be missing from America today and I see it in the eyes of our foreign drivers.

My last run of the day from TIA was taking an American League baseball arbitrator to the Vinoy in St. Pete. Wow! What job will let you rap with a baseball insider for 20 minutes and get paid 50 bucks for the privilege of doing it!

Man I love My Job.