Taxi Driver

I went to a training course this morning. I scheduled enough time for travelling to the new location. When I realized that my bus was heading towards the opposite direction, I knew I would be late. So I stopped a taxi and hoped I could still reach on time.

The driver seemed to be quite interested in my iPad and start to ask about the functionality, what it can do, where I bought the cover, whether it can download software from computer. I was busy searching for my emails and told him the exact location of my course, so I kind of hmmm, haa, errr … and couldn’t pay attention to what he said.

Then the driver show me his Asus PadFone tablet.  It caught my attention. As he is the first person I have met who actually purpose this product. It is a very innovative design that a tablet is powered by a phone. You can take about the core and it become a fully function android phone. I didn’t expect such a taxi driver whom is willing to purchase this kind of fancy gadget. Then he started to comment on what he can do with his favorite gadget and complained that he could find a iPad like cover. But he still like it very much as he can conveniently switch between his big and small screens.

After showing me a few photos in his tablet about his girlfriend, he said this number is strictly only used by his close friends and families. I am a bit confused on why he stress on this. We share our numbers to all people. Credit card bills, colleagues, acquitances, etc. Then he took out his Galaxy S2 and said he used another number for his business related activities. He also owned a Galaxy Notes but left it at home idle because of his new Asus PadFone.

Wow, what a surprise! I thought he must be a PlayBoy type of taxi driver. My impression on them (no discrimination here) are people who are in late 40s and couldn’t locate a proper job. That’s why they take on this 12 hour shift in order to support their families. And to me, my taxi driver must lives in a quite slavish manner. But I was wrong.

The driver then told me, he actually owns a printing business and the business is almost on autopilot mode. He decided to drive taxi because he simply like to meet people and travel around the city. While he is driving and taking passengers, he is able to talk to different people and get to know many new things. And from time to time, he is able to meet some customers by accident. As he talked about his experience, he said, some passengers just happen need to print some brochures, business cards, T-shirt, etc. Happily for both side, they can make a connection and talk about the deal further. He also drives his taxi when he need to meet customers in their office or make deliveries. And because he drives a taxi to meet customers, he will always arrive early in order to have enough time to park the car. He doesn’t want the customer want to know he is also a taxi driver except those he met as his passengers. As a result, he never late for his meetings.

While he is free or waiting in the airport queue, he will use his tablet to make some design works. He side he actually have Fireworks installed(not sure that is true). He helps his customer review and design the material they need to print for free because that is part of his interest.

What a happy side business! (It is quite of hard for me to tell which one is his side business though.)