Of all the funny signs I used panhandling in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the "Lexus" sign above got the best reaction from people driving by. Even cops rolled up and took photos of it.
I went back to taxi driving in 2003, focusing on Huntington Beach, California, but it took me all over Orange County, and occasionally into L.A. County. But right after I got started again in '03, the taxi company put dispatch computers in our cabs and took out the old radios. That changed everything, LITERALLY overnight. The computers were programmed to take rides from the good, veteran drivers, and give rides to the lame ass new guys. The computers also allowed the taxi company to put an unlimited amount of cabs on the road.
More cabs meant less business per cab, but our weekly lease stayed the same and gas prices went up. I knew I needed to escape soon, but just wasn't able to. I'm just one of the millions of people whose job was destroyed by technology. So, without drugs or alcohol in the picture, I literally worked my way to homelessness. To be completely honest, after working so many hours for so long, homelessness kinda felt like a vacation. Well, except for the constant threat of death or dismemberment by cops, thugs, wild animals, stray dogs, spiders, and snakes.
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