Pastor Joe is one of my first cabbie friends who showed me the ropes of the hacking world. The first day I started hacking I was so scared, when my first ever passenger sat in the back seat I thought I saw a ghost. When I got my drivers license for the first time my dad advised me not to pick up people I don't know off the street, but I started to pick up strangers for a living, so every person I used to pick up made me nervous for the first six month until I met the pastor. I will never forget what he said to me when I told him how scared I was giving rides to strangers, "Listen you dumb ass rookie, it is the other way around, passengers are supposed to be scared of your stupid ass, in their eyes you are a low life ex convict, driving around and looking for the next petty crime, so you should be proud of that and act like one!" I felt so good when I heard that. I, Mad Cabbie a petty criminal? What a cool job!Pastor Joe is an ex marine who used to be an air traffic controller before he got mass canned by Ronald Reagan in the early eighties and also got kicked out by his wife the same year. He had an impressive resume after that, used car auctioneer, used car salesman, bike messenger, Wendy's manager, door to door sales and a few pyramid sales scams. He got the name "pastor" because of his wealth of knowledge about the Bible and also never goes anywhere without the holy book including his frequent visits to the nude bars.
The pastor is one of the most talented cabbies in town in my book. He knows his shit, he can make more money in few hours than most drivers hacking a full shift. Cab driving sounds like an easy job, just cruise the streets and pick up hitch hikers, but its not that easy, its not a rocket science but it requires talent and you can't learn it in a classroom, it takes years and years of driving and fucking up to get your shit straight. Pastor is a kind of cabbie that can take you anywhere and get you anything you want. You need a one legged hooker? Call the pastor, you need to know a place where to get some hash which can get you stoned the whole summer? Call the pastor, you need a recommendation in who to call to get your hubby knocked off? Call the pastor, you also wanna get rid of the body? Call the holy man!
Oh I forgot, he is also the person I go to for some spiritual guidance, and I am happy to say I will start my vacation this coming Friday for a couple of weeks and we are taking a trip together with the pastor and there is not going to be one dull moment.
Mad Cabbie.





