[originaltext] Kenny Enjoys Driving a TaxiInterviewer: Well

Kenny Enjoys Driving a Taxi
Interviewer: Well, Kenny, as a college graduate, how did you becomea a taxi driver?
Kenny: Well, you do it for money, obviously, like most jobs. But I enjoyed the urn, I suppose I enjoy being a taxi driver, because I could be my own boss, you know, doing what I want to do. You decide what area you’re going to, when to have a break, stuff like that. One thing you have to be always thinking about is where you might pick up a passenger. Will the theatre be turning out? Do they have an afternoon performance? What time will the planes be coming in? Are there any trains arriving? You see, you’re always sort of... scheming to make an extra bit of money. And the relationship between reward and effort is very immediate. Um you, you make the right decisions, they pay you and you get a fare. You don’t have to wait until the end of the month! You meet, well you meet some people who aren’t all that nice, but the vast majority of people are very nice. If you’re pleased to talk to them, they’re mostly pleased to talk to you. You get a feel for people who don’t want to talk to you, obviously the first couple of one-word answers will tell you...
Interviewer: So you always start talking?
Kenny: I always wish people "Good morning" or "Good afternoon" or whatever that gets things off to a good start. Because quite a few people have a general dislike of taxi drivers.
Interviewer: Do they?
Kenny: Well, they do. I mean, the mere fact they can’t get a cab the minute they want one makes them annoyed, you know, and if the cab takes half an hour or so to come, you know, people are beside themselves. "Why is it so?", you know, "Why didn’t you come sooner?" "Well, I was on the other side of town at the time, sir!", you know. But um start them off well, on a sunny day, people are pleasant, happy. You meet some people who are famous.
Interviewer: Like?
Kenny: Well, I took Louisa Wallis to the airport on Sunday, who’s ... famous, from soap operas, a big soap opera star in, um what was it? "Fathers and Sons" —oh you must have seen it. She played Gertie for years. Oh yes, yes, famous, well-known. And I took Brian Best, the sports commentator, to a football match a little while ago. He told me a few good jokes, I remember.
Interviewer: Have you ever made a friend of somebody you took in your cab?
Kenny: No. No, I haven’t actually. I suppose they’re brief encounters that aren’t really suitable to be extended. There’re certain professional distances. I suppose. There’s a line beyond which I don’t feel that I want to go. I don’t want to make friends of everybody in the world. I just happen to like having a little chat with them for a while, I suppose I was born to do that sort of thing. I’d have made a good shop assistant. I’d have made a lovely menswear assistant, something like that. Very nice, charming and friendly but don’t need to talk at any length.