Dark Secrets Of A Yellow Cab Driver

1. They have a secret police signal

Image source: Reddit

Yellow cab drivers have revealed that being a cab driver at times can be a dangerous profession. Sometimes they find themselves in situations where they feel vulnerable, threatened, or just extremely uncomfortable and have to contact the police. They have a help button that directly contacts the police but does not alert the customer which could put them at more risk.

2. They don't have to give you a ride

Image source: Reddit

As yellow taxi cab drivers, they reveal that they are by no means obliged to pick people up. They have no legal obligation to give someone a ride. So, if they see a situation in which they do not like the look of or they know of someone who has a bad reputation with the cab company they can avoid picking up that passenger and that is completely up to the driver!

3. They sometimes return drunk people back to the bar

Image source: NewYork.co.uk

It's a night out, one of the group gets super drunk and their friends put them in a cab and send them home so that they can carry on their night out. This situation happens ALL the time for cab drivers. And a yellow cab driver revealed that on these occasions sometimes they will take the person, drive and realize that they are not n a good way and could be sick in the cab so they drop them right off where they were left again.

4. There's massive competition

Image source: Reddit

For yellow cab drivers, there is so much competition from other cabs. So many cabs are around the area, particularly in huge cities such as New York that picking up passengers is hard when so many cabs are in the area. In fact, as soon as a cab spots someone they try and get to them first. Otherwise, too much competition leads to them not making enough money in a day!

5. You have to do an obvious cab hail to be picked up

Image source: Reddit

So according to yellow cab drivers, there is an art to the cab hail. You can't just make a random gesture and expect to be picked up. The best thing to do is stick your arm straight out and if it's safe to do so even step off the pavement to show the cab you want a ride. If you're making a subtle gesture a cab may assume you're waving to someone, and may not bother to stop.

6. The movie line 'just drive' does happen

Image source: Reddit

A yellow taxi driver revealed that some customers really do get in the cab and say 'Just drive' because they have no idea where they are going they just need some time and space to think without any intention of going anywhere. One woman drove around in a cab for an hour and a half before asking to be taken right back to the place she had been picked up from.

7. People tell them their worst secrets

Image source: Twitter

There's something about being a cab driver which makes people feel as though they can spill their darkest secrets. A yellow cab driver discussed how being sat in the front gives them a sense of anonymity which allows people in need of a way to offload something weighing heavily on them. As a yellow cab driver, they may hear secrets about all kinds of secrets from cheating on their partner to stealing their family heirloom.

8. Don't close the partition

Image source: Reddit

A yellow cab driver discussed how they hated it when customers would close the partition between them and the back seats. For one they found it very rude. But also, some customers who did this felt that it allowed them to behave inappropriately in the back just because the small divide was in place, regardless of the fact that it did not create a soundproof of invisible barrier.

9. Drivers hate when people tell them to drive safely

Image source: Reddit

For a cab driver, it's extremely patronizing when customers tell them how to drive and tell them to drive safely. It's their career and they know what they're doing. It's like telling a chef to cook well or telling a police officer to catch the bad guys. So from a yellow cab driver to us....don't tell them to drive safely. They will do that anyway and it will only annoy them.

10. People rarely sit in the front, especially women

Image source: Reddit

From the experiences of a yellow cab driver, they rarely have passengers sitting in the front. In fact, it can create an uncomfortable experience. Cab drivers don't usually mind it, however, it can put the customer on edge if the back is full. If people do, it is usually men as they find women very rarely sit in the front as they usually don't feel comfortable being in such close proximity.

11. They hate when customers open the back door and carry on chatting with friends

Image source: Reddit

Cab drivers are super busy and really they want to finish their job so that they can move on to the next. If the car isn't driving the meter can't go up. So they particularly hate it when a customer opens the back door but continues to stand outside the door chatting to their friends. The driver does not have the time for this as it is their job and they should be paid for a customer's time wasting.

12. They may call your mom

Image source: Reddit

Drivers have found that if you fall asleep and you're super disorientated if you're sick or too drunk or if you've lost something then cab drivers have found that on occasion they have to locate the passenger's phone to call someone. When they do this, they usually look through the phone book for 'mom' or 'dad' so that they can inform you or return any lost items to you!

13. Cabs only last around 3 years

Image source: Reddit

We would never have guessed that the lifespan of a cab is so short. They may be required to be taken off the road after just 3 years. This is because of the sheer amount of miles that they collect, driving every day, day in and day out. So after three years, the car is considered unfit for use as a business due to the amount of miles and it has to be changed to stay on the road.

14. They don't like people changing in the back

Image source: Reddit

It's not a movie, it's not The Princess Diaries so nobody should be getting changed in the back of the taxi. But, yellow taxi drivers have revealed that it does sometimes happen and that when it does they can feel super uncomfortable. According to the driver when passengers do get changed it's usually for a suspicious reason such as they are disguising themselves.

15. Telling them to hurry won't work unless you pay

Image source: Reddit

According to yellow cab drivers, they get customers all the time telling them to hurry up or 'step on it' because they're in a rush and need to be somewhere. And from their experience, they will not listen to this advice and they will continue to drive exactly at the same speed. Unless the customer is willing to give a good tip, only then will they try and go as fast as is legally possible.

16. Cab drivers have special hand signals

Image source: Reddit

As we discussed before, yellow cab drivers have a help button to call the police. A kind of light can be seen by other cab drivers. So, when a cab see's the light on they do a signal to the driver to let them know in case the button was pressed accidentally. The signal is shown when a driver lifts up a hand and closes a fist quickly. This way, they let them know that the button is on in case the police were not meant to be called.

17. Drunk passengers cause a lot of issues

Image source: Reddit

Drunken passengers are some of the most problematic customers. Sometimes drunk customers cause damage to the cab by being sick. It can also make them act in a way that can be intimidating or out of control, jeopardizing not only the taxis' livelihood for the night but also their safety. And sometimes passengers pass out and the cab driver has to help get them out of the cab, all of which are services not being paid for.

18. They sometimes stop for statues accidentally

Image source: Reddit

Some yellow cab drivers have admitted that despite being a driver for several years, they have on multiple occasions stopped for statues who they assumed were waiting for a cab. Because they look from a distance to see any potential passengers, they stop automatically, and then only when they were close up to the statues did they actually realize.

19. They have a lot of strange experiences

Image source: Reddit

In the world of a yellow cab driver, they have stated that they have some VERY strange experiences. People get into cabs after all kinds of experiences, whether they are getting home from work, running away from something, drunk after a night out, or as one stated as an escort going around several different spots of the city and re-dressing for each different part.

20. They sometimes cut their day short after bad interactions

Image source: Reddit

Sometimes yellow cab drivers experience such bad interactions with customers that according to them, it can ruin their entire day but not just that because they are so affected by the customer's anger or verbal abuse that they have to cut their day short. This is shocking as the cab driver could be missing out on crucial money with which they have to live off and feed their family.

21. No two days are the same

Image source: Reddit

No two days are the same as a cab driver. From positive experiences to negative, the kinds of people they drive it's always changing. For example, one yellow cab driver picked up someone from number 10 London. They were carrying the Prime Minister's head in sculpture form. The cab driver had picked up the artist and had to be checked several times by security before they did.

22. They get accused of taking the wrong route a LOT

Image source: Reddit

Cab drivers have discussed being accused of taking the wrong route so that which outs the price of the fare up. And, from a yellow cab driver's personal experience, this does not happen as they state that taking the long route for a tiny bit extra money would not be worth their reputation. And so if they are taking a route, it's because they know that that is the route they should be taking.

23. If you're rude, they will tell you to get straight out

Image source: Reddit

When you're doing this job day in and day out, there's no way cab drivers can deal with multiple rude passengers. So according to a yellow cab driver, they immediately ask them to get out of the car if they are rude, no matter where they are because people should not have to deal with that when providing people with a public service! So if you're rude you'll have to make your own way home.

24. Being nice makes a huge difference

Image source: Reddit

If you're nice to a cab driver it may change how you are treated drastically. For example, if you've lost something in the cab and you were a normally, respectful passenger the cab driver would do their best to get it returned back to you. If you have been rude or aggressive you are probably not going to get the same treatment! Some cab drivers have given free rides to passengers who were super kind.

25. Sometimes passengers get aggressive

Image source: Reddit

There are numerous incidents which have been told by yellow cab drivers of times when passengers get aggressive. According to them, after a while, they get so good at diffusing situations because they have to for their own safety and career. But sometimes the customers are so unreasonable and if they are physically aggressive the driver will drop them without getting paid.

26. Some passengers make very strange requests

Image source: Reddit

One thing you don't tend to think of is that some passengers make very strange requests. Yellow cab drivers have revealed some of the requests which can vary to very odd music choices, requests on things such as 'can you only take left turns', or even things such as 'stop at every McDonalds in the entire city'. No two days as a yellow cab driver is ever the same.

27. They sometimes witness people in their worst states

Image source: Reddit

As yellow cab drivers, they have found that they often witness people in some of their worst states. They pick up people who are in tears and who have just found out the worst news of their life. They pick up people who have been kicked out of their homes with nowhere to go. And sometimes they experience passengers with very fragile or vulnerable states of mind and it can be a very difficult aspect of the job.

28. Cab damage costs drivers a lot of money

Image source: Reddit

There are people who cause damage to the cabs, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Some people are sick and vomit over the cab causing the cab to be out of service for the next hour or so when they can miss out on money. Other passengers also deface the cabs due to them being in an angry state, regardless of the cab driver doing them a service and just trying to do their job.

29. Some customers run without paying

Image source: Reddit

It's a horrible reality that yellow cab drivers have dealt with running customers who catch a ride and then run away without paying. Taxi drivers rely on the taxi fare as their income and their livelihood and when someone doesn't pay for the service they have been given they are threatening their existence. Sadly according to yellow cab drivers, this has happened on a number of occasions.

30. They face discrimination

Image source: Reddit

Yellow cab drivers have many accounts of different times and experiences where they have been at the brunt of racist/ discriminatory or prejudiced comments by verbally abusive passengers. The passengers are more frequent than we think, and it's a dark secret and side of being a cab driver - it shouldn't be, but the sad reality is that for many, it is!