Jessica Sewing | design chief

After a long stint without work, Cory Strong a few months ago found himself driving a cab.
Strong says he hasn’t found much that he doesn’t like about the job.
“It’s interesting because I meet a lot of different people,” said Strong, senior in justice studies.
Strong landed the job at Pitt Taxi because he knew the owners. He says that one day he asked if they were looking for another driver.
“After I found out they wanted to hire me, I went out and got my taxi driver’s license and began working,” Strong said.
On his first night, which happened to be New Year’s Eve, Strong says he packed six intoxicated college students into his car and their conversation took an odd but entertaining turn.
“They were talking about how they liked their eggs; scrambled, sunny side up or fertilized,” Strong said with a chuckle. “It was a pretty funny first night.”
Strong says that when situations like that happen he just goes with it.
“I either laugh along with them or just let them go until it gets too out of hand,” Strong said. “I can usually judge how people want me to react when they get in the car.”
Being a taxi driver sometimes feels like being a therapist, says Strong.
“A lot of the time people just get in and start talking about their life problems to me,” Strong said. “I usually don’t have to say much, I normally just listen.”
The hardest part of the job can be finding some of the locations.
“One time I was just driving around in circles, and being a man I wasn’t going to ask for directions,” Strong said. “I just kept thinking, ‘Where in the heck is this place?’ After a little while the passenger told me where exactly it was.”
As one of the only taxi places in Pittsburg, Strong says he has a lot of regular customers, especially international students.
“We get to know them,” Strong said. “We can talk and interact with them the more they ride with us.”
Even though he enjoys his job, Strong says that taxi driving is just a job to tide him over until he begins his career in law enforcement.
“Once I find a position in my field, I’m done with the taxi business,” Strong said. “It’s just a steppingstone.”