i had always thought about driving a cab just thought itd be interesting and different a good way to make money but it always seemed like a fleeting whim a funny idea something i would never actually doin her late twenties and after a series of unsatisfying office jobs melissa plaut decided she was going to stop worrying about what to do with the rest of her life and focus on what she was going to do next her first adventure becoming a taxi driver undeterred by the fact that 99 percent of cabbies in the city were men she went to taxi school got her hack license and hit the streets of manhattan and the outlying boroughshack traces plauts first two years behind the wheel of a yellow cab traveling the 6400 miles of new york city streets she shares the highs the lows the shortcuts and professional trade secrets between figuring out where and when to take a bathroom break and trying to avoid runins with the nypd plaut became an honorary member of a diverse brotherhood that included harvey the crossdressing cabbie the dispatcher affectionately called paul the crazy romanian and lenny the garage owner rumored to be the reallife prototype for tvs louie de palma of taxiwith wicked wit and arresting insight melissa plaut reveals the crazy parade of humanity that passed through her cabincluding struggling actors federal judges bartenders strippers and drug dealerswhile showing how this grueling work provided her with empowerment and a greater sense of self hack introduces an irresistible new voice that is much like new york itselfvivid profane lyrical and ineffably hip