The year was 1976 - it was the bicentennial in Philadelphia. I was taking organic chemistry in summer school and needed a job. My brother was driving for yellow cab and everywhere you look, cabs were driving around with billboards on top that said: "Need work? Full-time? Part-time? Yellow is hiring!"
I go in for the explanation on how the meter works, how to estimate fares, and rules regarding the airport. You can take a fare to the airport and, once there, pick up a lucrative fare to some exotic destination, but you are forbidden to go to the airport empty (presumably because that's what every cabby would do). On the way out, they mention "by the way, Philadelphia has 37 hospitals. You might want to buy a map." I was excited my first day at Yellow Cab, wondering what kind of gleaming vehicle I would get to drive. Instead, I get this piece of shit with the driver's seat caving-in )springs are shot). Rearview mirror missing from the windshield (there is one on the outside). And the keyhole for the trunk is just a hole with a coat hanger sticking out. The emergency brake was a metal rod with teeth. But since the plastic handle was missing, there's no way to apply the parking brake.
I'm driving down Broadway Avenue looking for my first customer. A man hails me, tosses a suitcase in the back seat, and says "to the airport." The airport! On my very first fare! I'm in taxi cab drivers' heaven! The problem is I've never been to the airport from that part of town. My passenger thinks I've made a wrong turn. He tells me pull up behind a truck to ask for directions. I stop, put the transmission in PARK, but was unable to set the parking brake as previous described. I get out the car and run up to the truck, begging the truck driver for directions when I glance over my shoulder. My customer is stealing my taxi! No, that can't be right - you don't steal a car from the backseat! The cab was backing up through the intersection of Broad and Tasker. The passenger, reaching forward from the back seat, has turned the wheel and had it backing up sideways, across the two lanes of south bound traffic. As I watch in disbelief, he's got the door open and, feet skidding across the payment, leaps to safety! The cab continues rolling across the wide central median. As it narrowly misses a pole, the still open passenger door gets BENT backwards 180 degrees. The cab continues rolling across the two northbound lanes. Since nobody's coming, I run up to the car, reach in through the open driver's window, and pull up on the transmission lever to engage park. It should to stop, right? But instead of stopping, it continues moving, now with a click-click-click-click-clicking sound. I open the door, jump in the driver's seat (such as it was) and stomp on the foot brake, stopping the vehicle inches from a huge oak tree.
My passenger is distraught. He wants to end our business relationship then and there. I said no, I've got to get you to the airport. "What about the door?" he asks. Don't worry, I reassured him, as I bend it closed. On the way to the airport, he confides that he's going to an Alcoholics Anonymous convention in Denver. He says he works for tips, and I don't deserve one, but he did pay the fare. I'm sitting at the airport, head in my hands, wondering what to do, when I hear an ominous click. I forgot to turn off the meter! That's another five-cent out-of-pocket expense to me. I made 37 cents my first day at yellow cab. I called the garage on the radio, and they told me to drive it in. The next day, I had to see their insurance adjuster, one-eyed Sam.
Years later, my mother sent me a newspaper clipping about a certain auto recall. Seems the tiny spring that keeps the shifter in PARK would fail, allowing it to fall into reverse.