Taxi drivers, we see them everyday and can regard them as any other day-to-day worker. However, more than likely, society generally thinks of them negatively. For example, there are commentaries that recommend being careful when riding cabs, especially at night, because cabbies can easily seize the belongings of their passengers by murdering them or letting them faint through a chemical mixed with the airconditioner. Therefore, whenever I see passengers seat themselves at the back, it doesn't take much for me to recognize that the reason they do that is to monitor all the moves the driver makes. Furthermore, not only do I think that cabbies have the potential to be dangerous, but they can be quite such opportunists. I have learned of news extras on TV and newspapers of a number of people complaining about taxi drivers who take advantage of the belongings their passengers have mistakenly left, even if these purses, laptops or file envelopes have contact information. In addition, many cab operators violate their responsibility to ensure fair and proper service to passengers. To illustrate, when my group of friends tried to hail taxi cabs early in the night in order to go from Ortigas to Libis, the cabbies whom we encountered either refused to give transportation or demanded for discriminatingly high prices to the hundreds. No doubt, I have the impression that taxi drivers are dangerous, opportunistic and unfair.
             That was the notion that I had of taxi drivers until I held a conversation with one of them. Late in my 4th yr. high school life, I decided to come back home from school by hiring a cab. I stood in front of the Ateneo campus and waved for a vacant taxi. Once I seated at the rear, I kept silent and looked at the driver's ID to verify the cabbie. The middle-aged man had a dark complexion, typical of any other taxi driver I have seen. Then about five minutes into our trip, the man caught my eye in the rearview mirror and in t...