The Perfect Foam

Perspective

I had forgotten about a surprising and enlightening experience I had while visiting Las Vegas for the first time on my recent cross-country road trip. I was riding in a cab yesterday in downtown San Francisco, and the pleasant nature of the driver reminded me of my Vegas experience.

It was the first full day on the Strip for my girlfriend and I, and we had just finished getting some gelato at the Bellagio. We were seeing a show that night and our hotel, the Luxor, was on the opposite end of the Strip. Tired from walking around all day, and running late, we decided to cab it back to our hotel, knowing full well that it would be quite an expensive 10 minute ride.

We got into the cab line at the Bellagio, and were soon on our way. It was our cab driver’s first ride of the night. As I have a tendency to do, I struck up a conversation, and soon we were learning quite a bit about his life.

He works 6 days a week, from 5:00 PM to 3:00 AM, though by the time he gets home it ends up closer to 3:30 AM. He works the night shift, at about a 60 hour-per-week clip, with one full day off each week. He lives outside the Strip, with his wife and children, and had moved to Vegas from Los Angeles two years earlier. And before that he had lived in Korea.

Our cab driver was extremely friendly, and throughout our conversation with him, it became readily apparent that he was a very good-natured and kind person. He asked where we were visiting from, and upon hearing that we were headed to San Francisco, he exclaimed that he had always wanted to live there as well. We were nearing the end of our drive, and as we were getting out I mentioned that were he to decide that he wanted to join us the next day on our way to San Francisco, we would have room in our car for one more!

Here was a man at the very beginning of a long night shift. A 10 hour night ahead of him. Could you blame him if he wasn’t in the best of moods? If perhaps he wasn’t all too friendly? If he chose to remain silent, instead of sharing some personal details about his life? I wouldn’t be able to blame him. Not at all.

Instead, he had a positive outlook, and he seemed to sense that in his 60 hour weeks there was a strong purpose. The purpose of supporting his family.

As we stepped out of the cab, my girlfriend and I looked at each other and smiled. I made some remark about our driver being such a nice guy. But it went beyond that for me. Not only was he a nice guy, but he provided me with some perspective that I sometimes lack. There have been (and I am sure there will continue to be) days in which I have had a negative/pessimistic attitude as a result of much smaller “problems”. His example is one I need to try and emulate, and if successful, I will surely experience life for the better. A nice lesson to learn from a 10 minute ride!