Jerry Tierstein and Andrew Vollo

Jerry Tierstein and Andrew Vollo

Interview transcript

JT: A lady puts a cat in my cab, and it’s rush hour, and then se says, “oh I forgot my portfolio, I’ve gotta go up and get it. So just drive the cat around the block or so and come around.” So she slammed the door and she left. Now I’m sitting there with the cat in the backseat. So I say “okay, frick it, I’ll drive around the block,” what am I going to do? So as I reach the first corner there’s a light. Somebody’s running over to the cab. I say, “woah, you can’t get in, I got somebody.” “I don’t see anybody in there.” (customer) So he opens the door and he goes, “ohh”, and jumps back, he goes. “why didn’t you tell me you’ve got a cat?”, “I said I got somebody, you know, it ain’t human, so i don’t know what to say”. Then I go to the next corner, a lady’s ready to jump in, she opens the door and screams and jumps back. Finally, thank god, I pull up infront and the lady runs down. I said, “lady you don’t know, people are jumping in the car, you’re killing me here. They think there’s no-one in here, but I got this stupid cat in the backseat…”, “don’t call my cat stupid!” (woman), “okay, okay,

AV: What would you do differently if you had t do your life over again?

JT: What would I do differently? I don’t think I could have done better than being a cab driver. One thing I always remembered, if you’re going to do something in life, I don’t care if you’re mopping floors, do it well. If I was mopping floors, I’d be the best damn mopper you’d ever see. That floor would shine, you could eat off it. And being I’m a cab driver, I want to be the best in the business, and I think I am one of the best in the business, because I really do the job the way it should be done, the old fashion way.