As a desperate, perpetually broke newspaper publisher in the 1980s, I was offered jobs as, among other things, a porn actor, a convenience store clerk and a taxicab driver.

One was ruled out for obvious reasons -- "obvious" if you've ever seen me and because the "producer" didn't have a business card but wrote his name and number on a paper bag.

Clerking at the local Grab 'n Go was a no-go: I couldn't master the cash register, and I was warned that many customers liked to grab and go without paying.

So, after a temporary and relatively safe job cleaning asbestos from a local elementary school ended, I moonlighted as a cabdriver. It felt like a dangerous gig even in little bitty Rockingham, where I could at least get a buddy to ride shotgun -- OK, handgun -- like those Old West stagecoaches used to do.

That lessened the fear factor for me, as did the fact that I knew most of the people I picked up and the company owner, Dewey "Boss Hogg" Edens, kept a constant tab on my whereabouts lest I make a fare run without him getting his cut.

Sabiu Tuker had neither the luxury of knowing each fare he picked up nor a buddy to ride with him Monday night. As a result, the 52-year-old Nigerian cabbie known for his jovial nature is dead.

Police said Tuker, owner of Excel Cab Co., was stabbed to death in Raleigh during a robbery attempt. Two men have been arrested in his death, one accused of murder, the other accused of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Driving a cab for a living is unglamorous and, given the cost of gas these days, not that profitable. Still, it takes a special kind of person to take a job picking up strangers who sit behind you, knowing you've got cash.

Considering the service they render -- taking old women to pay their utility bills, saving us fees at airport parking lots, keeping drunken drivers off the streets -- cab drivers get little respect.

They're the butt of jokes: Every hack comedian who ever stood in front of a brick wall with a microphone has a cabbie put-down. And cabbies, often foreign born, are convenient foils for fearmongering: A lamebrained U.S. senator from Montana said a couple of years ago that America is besieged by enemies who "drive taxicabs in the day and kill at night."

Oh really? I don't know about you, but I've heard nothing of terrorists supporting al-Qaida with the fares and tips they make here.

Just like cops, cabbies know that every call could be their last. Also just like cops, they don't think much about that, Arthur Blaylock said.

Blaylock, owner of Mattapan Taxi Service, said, "I've been driving for 16 years, and I've never had a problem" with a passenger. After thinking about it for several seconds, he added, "There was one time a guy jumped out and ran without paying."

Most of the other cabbies parked along Hargett Street at midday Wednesday had a seemingly superstitious reluctance to talk about the death of their colleague, except to say that they were aware of the dangers inherent in their jobs but that they couldn't afford to be choosy about which fares they picked up.

As for precautions, Blaylock said he calls his base to let someone know who he has picked up, from where and where he's taking them.

Of course, even that precaution probably wouldn't work with a criminal mastermind who, as police say about the suspect in Tuker's death, would call a cab from a neighbor's apartment two doors down from his own.

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