[ WP ] You know the random driver in every action movie where the hero jumps in and orders to `` follow that car ! '' . Yup , that 's you . Every single time you 're trying to get anywhere .

Ella Enchanted was only half the story. Tops. The real story of people like us is a lot less romantic and has fewer fairies. 
 
 In reality, people like Ella and me are just born that way. We have a preternatural compulsion to obey commands. It ’ s something in our epigenetic makeup -- but of course, strict scientific accuracy doesn ’ t sell children ’ s books. Fairies do. 
 
 I ’ m a taxi driver in New York City. I didn ’ t want to be one. In fact, I was going to college to study biology ( in case dropping the word “ epigenetic ” a couple of sentences back didn ’ t give that away ), but I flunked out in my first semester. See, my parents sent me to college with a car thinking they were doing me a favor, but so many classmates whose parents weren ’ t as generous were asking me for rides that I never had time to study. That ’ s when I realized being a taxi driver was the only profession where my compulsion to obey commands wouldn ’ t make me a freak. It ’ s kind of made me into a superhero, actually. 
 
 Put yourself in my shoes. Say there are two different guys on the sidewalk trying to hail your cab -- two conflicting requests. Who do you obey? When I started driving, I would just sort of sit there and twitch like my wires had gotten crossed and I was short-circuiting. It took about a week to figure out the workaround: I picked the person hailing more urgently, the stronger command overruling the weaker one. Because of this, I got really good at reading body language -- how far they ’ re leaning over the curb, waving speed, facial expression, all the indicators. 
 
 And you ’ d be surprised at what the people hailing a cab really urgently want that cab to do. Actually, depending on the number of action-adventure movies you watch, you might not be. Mostly they want me to follow a car or another cab. It makes for pretty exciting workdays, I have to say. Careening through the streets, compulsively obeying every injunction to “ Go faster! Don ’ t let it get out of sight! ” -- that adrenaline rush doesn ’ t get old. I realized I could use my subconscious compulsion to help me out, too. I get funny looks when I say it, but I ask my riders to order me not to hit any cars or pedestrians. And, following orders, I drive as fast as they tell me to -- and I don ’ t hit any cars or pedestrians. Used in the right context, what used to be a defect has turned into a pretty sweet superpower.
