I guess you never drove a taxicab on night shift lol. I drove one in Melbourne Australia for 7 years while playing in a live band. There was no such thing as an 8 hour shift driving a taxicab. There are only 2 shifts a day, day shift and night shift and they are 12 hour shifts or 24 hour hungry shifts where I would grab a few hours sleep in between jobs. It was an interesting job and there were murder threats on a few occasions. I even drove an armed holdup getaway once with a sawed off shotgun at the back of my head. And though I convinced the bandit to put the gun down if he wanted me to drive him away after putting it down it went off blowing a hole through the bench seat 12 inches from me. There isn't anything as loud as a shotgun firing inside a car sitting behind you you. So don't think driving a taxicab would have been an easy alternative for you. And I was in Australia. I am sure the Bronx would be much scarier. People don't realize what driving a cab is like. A bad gig doesn't compare.