A man hailed a taxi late one evening, and as he settled into the back seat, he couldn’t help but notice the somewhat somber mood of the cab driver. Determined to lighten the atmosphere, the passenger decided to strike up a conversation.
He tapped the driver on the shoulder and asked, “Hey, how’s your day going?” Little did he know that this innocent gesture would set off a chain of events that would leave both of them in a state of shock.
The driver, startled by the tap, swerved the taxi dangerously close to the edge of the road, narrowly avoiding a collision with a parked car. The passenger, wide-eyed and gripping the edges of his seat, was now regretting his attempt at small talk.
The taxi, now on a rollercoaster of chaos, careened down the street, narrowly missing pedestrians and cyclists alike. The driver, clearly not accustomed to such social interactions, was struggling to maintain control. The passenger, on the other hand, was contemplating whether he should have just stayed silent.
Finally, the taxi screeched to a halt, mere inches away from a street vendor’s cart. Both men sat in stunned silence for a moment, the gravity of the situation sinking in.
The passenger stammered out an apology, “I didn’t mean to startle you that much. I was just trying to be friendly.” The driver, recovering from the shock, turned to the passenger and said, “You don’t understand. This is my first day as a taxi driver. I’ve spent the last 25 years driving a funeral van, and no one ever tapped me on the shoulder during a somber procession.”
As the realization dawned on them both, they burst into laughter, the tension of the moment giving way to the absurdity of the situation. The rest of the journey was spent swapping stories, with the passenger vowing never to tap a cab driver on the shoulder again, and the driver gaining a newfound appreciation for the unpredictability of his new career.
