Brian Winslow, a 49 year-old taxi driver from Leeds, has dared his customers to come up with more stimulating discussion points. After 23 years on the job he argues that the same questions never fail to surface including "What time do you finish?" and "Been busy today?". He asserts that the lack of originality in these conversations is analogous to the death of novel thinking across society at large.
Brian confided in Our Daily Bread, "It's the same nonsense each day and I'm a bit fed up to be honest. Strangely I prefer it when customers are either drunk or silent. When is someone going to ask for my views on God or euthanasia? Or the ethics of genetically engineering a human-bird hybrid?".
He continued, "The other day a bloke asked me whether I had bought or leased my vehicle. Can you bloody believe that? What gives these idiots social license to ask about my personal finances after 3 minutes in my car? So I asked him how much money he had in savings, and he just stared at me blankly."
Some taxi drivers have now formulated a list of 'Icebreakers' and attached these to the back of the front seats. These include questions such as "If happiness is a currency how rich do you think you are?" and "Which of your talents is the world in danger of overlooking?". They hope that these kinds of enquiries can lead to a more enlightening 12 hour shift.