“The advantage of working at night is that there are fewer traffic jams. Any Parisian driver can attest to this: the only time without traffic jams is when the City of Light surrenders to its streetlights. And it is not Etienne, a taxi driver who has been surveying the capital for thirty years, who will say the opposite: “I knew the day job, but I have been working at night for twenty-six years. “A quick choice after his conversion.
An accountant in the early 1990s, Étienne, 68 years old today, wanted to change profession, with no other project than to gain his independence. “One day, at the end of sports training, a friend told me that he was taking training to become a taxi driver… This made me think. Open to all opportunities, Étienne only set himself three non-negotiable criteria: a simple company, a permanent request and no customer account management. “I also like human contact and adventure. »
The night loosens tongues and promotes exchanges
This human contact is one of the elements that convinced him to ride at night: “When we start out, we try everything that comes our way. We look at profitability, comfort. And then we discuss with colleagues, it’s very nice. “If he no longer takes the time to chat in the station, he can chat with his night owl customers, who are more pleasant than their daytime counterparts, according to him. “In the evening in general, people go home, they have no deadline and are therefore less in a hurry. And with the smoother traffic, they are even more relaxed. »
A context that creates an atmosphere more conducive to conversation according to Etienne who says he sometimes empathizes with customers and takes part in the discussion when the mood is right. “From time to time, I slip in a dash of humor and I see right away whether customers are open to it or not. »
Part time psychologist
But most often, it is the customers themselves who ask for it, and not always for fun: “We have to show psychology. In the evening, there are clients who need to talk because they are going through difficult times. They ask for advice, an opinion. “Throughout his career, Étienne has learned to welcome confidences and the sadness that is more inclined to express itself at night: “We meet people who experience all the miseries in the world. I remember a woman whose spouse was stricken with cancer…”
To manage these difficulties, Étienne strives to always go in the direction of the customer and to respect him: “Sometimes I extend the discussion beyond the race. At destination, I turn off the meter, but I let the customer do the talking. Sometimes a few moments, sometimes it’s fifteen or twenty minutes. All I can do is listen, and maybe find some comforting words. »
“There are customer profiles that rather aspire to mistrust”
But not all night owls are good companions or lost souls. Some are simply unpleasant. On this subject, Étienne unhesitatingly cites situations such as going out to nightclubs or shopping from certain districts, before quoting the 11th arrondissement: “Often on the Bastille side, I don’t know why. “Faced with rude or aggressive customers, the sixty-year-old learned to react very quickly: “It’s part of the job. It’s not about welcoming people and telling them to behave. But at the slightest wrong word, it is necessary to reframe immediately otherwise the person will say to himself that he can do what he wants. Most of the time, this is enough to calm the situation. »
By drinking, Étienne has learned to recognize disrespectful customers, or those who have had one drink too many. “There are profiles that rather aspire to mistrust. We look at the dress and behavior of people. Like a physiognomist, he carefully observes the candidates before accepting a race. One of his tricks: to spot the consistency between the clothing and the way the customer speaks to him. And if clichés die hard, Étienne knows that they are often misleading: “There are people who are very well dressed but who don’t speak to you properly. And vice versa. With experience, I generally manage to detect whether the client is going to be difficult or not. »
A pistol in the robber’s knees
Of course, the technique is not infallible. Witness this race during which he “got robbed” in 2008 and which he recounts in detail as if it were yesterday: “I take a guy on the Champs-Elysées. He was coming out of the Queen. Between 25 and 30 years old, looking correct, dressed soberly: moccasins, velvet trousers, ecru wool vest, well-groomed. The young man asks him to take him to Boulogne-Billancourt, place Marcel-Sembat. “Not what is called a risky destination. But once launched on the device, the client pulls out a gun and explains to him that it’s “a heist” and that if he obeys, everything will be fine.
Despite the gun resting on his robber’s lap, Étienne does not panic. “I told myself that what would happen would happen. We’ll try not to panic him, he didn’t ask me anything eccentric. Just take off the headset I was wearing. When he reached his destination, the man got out and disappeared down a no-way street with the evening’s recipe… Only to be arrested a few tens of minutes later by the police whom Etienne had gone to look for a few streets away. “I got my cash back and it all happened without physical or even verbal violence. »
Working at night “it cost me a marriage”
Despite these kinds of anecdotes, Étienne continues to love his job. Despite the exhausting pace as well. If no night is alike, the driver assesses his amplitude of work at eleven hours a day on average. “Let’s say that I usually start around 7 p.m. and finish around 6 a.m. Sometimes a little later if I have a race to finish. “A rhythm that shifts his nights and his days according to the week:” I have daily cycles of more than twenty-four hours. I don’t sleep seven times a week but six. “If biologically, the taxi driver has got used to this very special life very well, it is not easy to live for everyone. “It cost me a marriage,” he confesses.
However, if he is entitled to give up his apron, Étienne intends to drive for a few more years. At least six years. “I have personal goals that require me to continue working. Retiring at 64 does not concern me, he smiles, before specifying, when you love what you do, it’s still much easier. »