11 ms·

There’s a related story, unfortunately not quite as neatly packaged, and it’s about taxi drivers. A businessman gets into a taxi and starts talking to the taxi

by fwlr 3y ago

There’s a related story, unfortunately not quite as neatly packaged, and it’s about taxi drivers. A businessman gets into a taxi and starts talking to the taxi driver about (of course) business. The taxi driver is in a great mood and explains that today is a good day, this is his last trip since he has made the $400 he aims to make in just two hours. The businessman asks him what a bad day looks like, and the taxi driver says he might have to drive for ten hours to make that $400, and he’s miserable the whole time. The businessman asks why he stops at that specific number, and the taxi driver replies that he starts out $300 ‘in the hole’ for car and medallion rental, so he has to make that back plus some more for his take-home pay. The businessman suggests to the taxi driver that good days like these are when he should do his epic ten hour shifts, and he should go home early on the bad days even if he loses money that day, as the extra money from the good days will more than cover the small losses on the bad days. I guess the moral of both of these stories put together is that sometimes businessmen have good advice and sometimes they don’t.

passion__desire 3y ago
Businessman (American) vs Fisherman (European), if we try to assign cultural values to these characters.
- jerrre 3y ago
  There's a very broad range of (work) cultures within Europe, broader than the avg of US vs avg of EU of there was such a thing.
dazc 3y ago
Since driving a taxi isn't hard work he should just do 'epic' ten hour shifts every day.
- gremlinunderway 3y ago
  I hope I'm missing the sarcasm or irony but saying driving a taxi isn't hard work is a really ignorant comment. It's the kind of privileged statement coming from naive knowledge workers who believe that intellectual challenges are the ultimate measurement of difficulty. Personally, I think having a job where your only challenge is solving puzzles is one of the most privileged and lucky one could have, especially if it pays well. I'd invite anyone who's a knowledge worker to go work a 'dumb' job for multiple, mindnumbing and nonstop hours. Love this idea that taxis and McDonald's aren't "hard work" and therefore undeserving of respect or fair payment. Hardest jobs I've ever had were those that were the most boring and you were explicitly unable to distract yourself to get through the day. Driving a taxi would actually be up there for me in terms of difficulty because at least if you were doing some repetitive manual labour like washing cars you could throw on music/podcast, zone out and you'd be healthier on your feet all day. Driving a taxi means you have to go through repetitive, mind-numbingly boring operations for hours a day, but the whole time you have to maintain focus to avoid accidents. You cant watch anything, and because you have customers who might not like what you're playing, you probably don't have a choice in what music you listen to either. You're sitting all day barely moving, so by the end of the day you're completely stiff and don't even have the satisfaction of having physically worked hard.
  - gremlinunderway 3y ago
    add on the fact that most of your take-home pay is made through tips, you also now have to be subservient and overly nice to everyone lest you run into some entitled piece of shit who loves the personalized control they get from influencing someone's behavior with tips. This is all btw under the assumption of a "classic" taxi job that barely even exists now. Most actual drivers work for uber/lyft, which adds a whole other layer of exploitation, pressure and stress. Good highlight of this is the Financial Times Uber Driver game. https://ig.ft.com/uber-game/ https://ig.ft.com/uber-game/
  - dazc 3y ago
    I used to work in construction and was lucky enough to find an escape route before my body eventually gave in to the daily punishment. The toll wasn't just physical either, after working hectic long hours, day in day out, constant travelling, working away from home for weeks at time and far too many night-shifts, there was an inevitable mental breakdown. I found my feet again eventually but it wasn't easy. Driving a taxi isn't hard work and if you think it is then I congratulate you for having such a blessed and entitled life that you are able sit in judgement and call me ignorant.

by fwlr 3y ago

passion__desire 3y ago

Businessman (American) vs Fisherman (European), if we try to assign cultural values to these characters.

jerrre 3y ago
There's a very broad range of (work) cultures within Europe, broader than the avg of US vs avg of EU of there was such a thing.

dazc 3y ago

Since driving a taxi isn't hard work he should just do 'epic' ten hour shifts every day.

gremlinunderway 3y ago
I hope I'm missing the sarcasm or irony but saying driving a taxi isn't hard work is a really ignorant comment. It's the kind of privileged statement coming from naive knowledge workers who believe that intellectual challenges are the ultimate measurement of difficulty. Personally, I think having a job where your only challenge is solving puzzles is one of the most privileged and lucky one could have, especially if it pays well. I'd invite anyone who's a knowledge worker to go work a 'dumb' job for multiple, mindnumbing and nonstop hours. Love this idea that taxis and McDonald's aren't "hard work" and therefore undeserving of respect or fair payment. Hardest jobs I've ever had were those that were the most boring and you were explicitly unable to distract yourself to get through the day. Driving a taxi would actually be up there for me in terms of difficulty because at least if you were doing some repetitive manual labour like washing cars you could throw on music/podcast, zone out and you'd be healthier on your feet all day. Driving a taxi means you have to go through repetitive, mind-numbingly boring operations for hours a day, but the whole time you have to maintain focus to avoid accidents. You cant watch anything, and because you have customers who might not like what you're playing, you probably don't have a choice in what music you listen to either. You're sitting all day barely moving, so by the end of the day you're completely stiff and don't even have the satisfaction of having physically worked hard.
- gremlinunderway 3y ago
  add on the fact that most of your take-home pay is made through tips, you also now have to be subservient and overly nice to everyone lest you run into some entitled piece of shit who loves the personalized control they get from influencing someone's behavior with tips. This is all btw under the assumption of a "classic" taxi job that barely even exists now. Most actual drivers work for uber/lyft, which adds a whole other layer of exploitation, pressure and stress. Good highlight of this is the Financial Times Uber Driver game. https://ig.ft.com/uber-game/ https://ig.ft.com/uber-game/
- dazc 3y ago
  I used to work in construction and was lucky enough to find an escape route before my body eventually gave in to the daily punishment. The toll wasn't just physical either, after working hectic long hours, day in day out, constant travelling, working away from home for weeks at time and far too many night-shifts, there was an inevitable mental breakdown. I found my feet again eventually but it wasn't easy. Driving a taxi isn't hard work and if you think it is then I congratulate you for having such a blessed and entitled life that you are able sit in judgement and call me ignorant.