Our Secret Life

Ever wonder what goes on behind closed doors on a trading floor? Or what about what that musician at your favorite bar really thinks about hecklers? Perhaps you’d like to know what it’s like to be a scaffolder, working high above the ground, or a sex toy seller on Temple Street. Here's and inside look at the lives of workers in some of the city’s strangest, most glamorous and most thankless jobs.

Night-Shift Taxi Driver

One driver recounts the highs and lows of driving over the past 40 years.

I retired about a month ago. I have been a taxi driver for more than 40 years. When I first started, the flag fall was only $1, and we charged 20 cents every 200 meters. Time flies and things change! Now, the fare starts at $20, and they are talking about increasing it again!

I am a night owl and I have always worked the night shift. I drove the cab from 5pm to 1am. After a hard day of work, I would meet my fellow cabbies. That’s the time I enjoyed most—we would grab some beer and chit-chat for hours. After that, I would go home and watch TV. I went to bed at 6am.

Before driving taxi, I worked in a pawn shop. It was boring and once I got a driving license, I became a taxi driver. I loved it because it gave me a lot of freedom. I was different from other taxi drivers as I only ever worked for eight hours a day. No more than that. It’s not good for one’s health to sit for so long, but I always exercised so it’s fine for me. The most difficult thing for cabbies is to find a washroom!

People say that taxis are the best economic indicator, and it’s very true. The 80s was the golden time, and taxi drivers were very, very picky. We only wanted to take customers who travelled long distances. Some taxi drivers would even put a sign in the windows, telling customers that they would only go to certain places.

In the 80s, some customers were very generous. They would give us $1,000 and tell us to keep the change. That was a lot of money then! 2003 was the worst. No one wanted to take a cab. After working all day, I could only make $200 and I had already spent $220 renting the taxi!

Taxi drivers do see people from all walks of life. The worst customers? Hm... I have to say that I don’t like drunkards very much. A drunken Korean was once pushed into my cab by his friends. He was so drunk and I did not understand a word he was saying. In the end, I had to dial 999 for the police and an ambulance. I wasted an hour and a half!

Back in the day, business in the Tsim Sha Tsui nightclubs was booming. Some of the “PR” girls and their customers would go for “outings” in the cabs—I have seen many of them. Sometimes, the prostitutes who did not have customers would get into a taxi and try to seduce the cabbies. Every time they got into my cab, I would ask them to leave. It’s outrageous!