Reality Ride

This morning I closed the cab door and told the driver my cross-town destination - Pier 94.  

"Where is that?" he asked. 

"On 55th and West Side Highway," I said, surprised to have to explain further.

As he gingerly drove over bumps in the intersection instead of peeling off like a bat out of hell the way most cab drivers do, I knew something was up.  And then when I had to repeat the destination twice and explain that the piers are all the way on the west side - "just drive west 'til we hit the water!" - I knew this guy had not a clue as to what he was doing.  

I didn't really care though if we inched along - or got lost for that matter - as long as he got me from east to west side in one piece.  An exhausting day of work busyness mixed with periods of boredom awaited at a trade show being held at the piers, and, admittedly, I was not feeling too excited about it.  I hunkered down in the seat and planned to enjoy a quiet ride across town, when again he asked me just where the piers are.  

"Are you kidding me?!" I wanted to scream.  "Everyone knows where the piers are!"  

As I drew a deep breath to tell him again, he apologized for asking and said that it was just his third day driving.  We began chatting, and he told me he was from Tennessee and had only been in New York for four months.  He came for a finance job, but he didn't get it, and he didn't want to move back home so soon, so...there he was, driving a cab until something better came along.  

I sat up a little prouder in my seat and said a quick prayer of apology for my bad attitude about my impending work day.  It beat driving around in a cab for 12 hours at a time, that's for sure.  In fact, my day sounded downright luxurious compared to his.  I launched into a pep talk of "I'm sure you'll find a job doing what you went to school for" and "You never know who might get in your cab who will offer you a finance job!"

We crossed over 6th Avenue - the heart of midtown Manhattan business with skyscrapers and bustling streets all around - and I noticed (impossible not to) a HUGE line of well-dressed business people - young, old, black, white - snaking and curling along the sidewalk.  As we drove, the line continued longer and longer.  "What in the world is going on?!" both the cabbie and I exclaimed.  Finally I saw the beginning of the line turn into the lobby of a hotel, and it hit me like a punch in the stomach - a job fair!  Oh good lord, a job fair.  

Seeing that many people standing in the freezing cold waiting for a chance to go inside to the job fair, while I was being chauffeured to my job by my college-educated cab driver, I suddenly couldn't wait for the work day at the trade show that awaited me.  I put a smile on my face and gratitude in my heart - the most essential part of any business suit these days.