The ex-Las Vegas, Nevada cabbie was only in my taxi for a few minutes but, as he recounted his three Vegas years, I knew he, and others like him, were to blame for our current business malaise, this guy a "taxi poster child" for everything wrong and nothing right in our shared past. How, you might ask, could one solitary individual be responsible for our collective demise? How much damage can one cabbie do?
And the answer is, quite a bit when your entire attitude is complete permission to do anything you damn well please---from double and triple loading at the Las Vegas airport, selling booze out of your car, to running a "couple of girls on the side." In short, he was a free-form, unbridled, total bandido cabbie taking wild Las Vegas by the hand, saying "This is my playground and I make the rules, no one else. Neither do I have to abide by standards and regulations, they don't apply to me in any way shape or measure, morality an outdated concept followed only by whimpering fools. I am in complete command!" In other words, long, short or abbreviated, he was beyond argument, a commonplace criminal.
After qualifying for his "sheriff's card," he became a card dealer translating into just another kind of hustle, making big tips and having a good time. As I said, I wish he was unusual but he's not, having seen thousands like him over the years, be they Greek, Iranian, Russian, or like this guy, a native born American.
Is he a bad guy? Well, it depends upon your definition. He gave me $13.00 for a $7.00 fare so at least he felt some camaraderie meaning he had some redeeming qualities lurking inside him.
So call him a free-spirit, call him a free-lancer but also call him what he also is, a disgusting, reprehensible crook, taking our industry down the gutter to perdition, joining his fellow devils at the sulphurous, burning gates of hell.
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