Blood, Sweat and Chump Change: Taxi Tales and Vignettes

Blood, Sweat and Chump Change: Taxi Tales and Vignettes, Kirk Alex, Tucumcari Press, 2004

This is another group of stories about life in present-day Los Angeles as seen from the inside of a taxicab. It isn't pretty.

The author is a native of Sarajevo, who came to LA via Brussels and Chicago (with 2 years in Vietnam included). He dreams of being a writer. He spends his days driving people in the film business, or who are working on a "project" (which can mean practically anything), so they feel that they can treat others, including cabbies, like dirt. It would be a huge understatement to say that he hates LA, and would leave in a second, if he had the money. More important things come first, like wondering if he can pay the monthly rent on his apartment, and his cab.

Many things about Los Angeles get him angry and frustrated, but perhaps the worst is waiting in the taxi line at a hotel (which is bad enough). Hoping for a potentially lucrative fare to the airport, he gets pulled out of line by someone wanting to travel only a couple of blocks, a fare worth only a couple of dollars. Back at the hotel, he is now last in line.

There are only 2 things which help keep him sane during the day. The first is anything to do with books and writing. The second is the nice people that he sometimes ferries in his cab. There are some people who willingly give decent tips, or who otherwise are not arrogant, self-absorbed jerks, unlike everyone else in Los Angeles. The first story in this book, which, by itself, is worth the price of the book, is about being an unofficial tour guide for a young woman visiting from Denmark. He tries very hard to show that he is interested in a serious relationship instead of just sex (but if sex becomes a possibility...).

These stories are very much worth reading. This honest, almost painfully honest, writing does an excellent job of showing the underside of humanity.