Alla drives confidently in life’s traffic jams

by Armen Hakobyan

Published: Saturday May 26, 2007 in Armenia at work

Alla Umrshatyan may be the only woman driving a cab in Yerevan. Armen Hakobyan was sure she had a compelling story. He was right. Armen Hakobyan / Armenian Reporter.

Yerevan - Driving a taxicab is possibly one of the most popular occupations in Armenia today. That's most obvious in Yerevan, and especially at night, when I counted 30-35 cabs among 55 cars that passed by me over five minutes on a congested street.

Statisticians tell us that there are around 6,000 taxis operating in Armenia today. We could not neglect them in our "Armenia at Work" series. Chronically tired, they convey their clients to their destinations day and night, around the clock.

However, as you have already seen from the pictures, we would like to tell you about a very special cabbie. She is special not only because she is the only woman taxi driver in Yerevan so far. She is distinguished from the others by a much more substantial characteristic: her determination not to give up in the face of the challenges posed by the traffic jams of life. This is a quality worthy of respect. So, without further ado, let us meet the heroine of our story, Alla Umrshatyan, a driver for Yerevan's Nush taxi service.

Now I love my new job

"I am Armenian, born in Armenia, in the Margaryan maternity hospital," Alla starts introducing herself so cheerfully that all of us gathered in the small dispatch room of the taxi service couldn't help but laugh.

To tell the truth, I had noticed Alla long ago, and not without surprise. It's not that I hadn't seen a woman taxi driver before. I had. Abroad. But not in Armenia. From the very first moment, it was clear to me that Alla had an interesting and instructive story.

"I am a programmer, a graduate of the information technology department of the Yerevan Poly­technic Institute," Alla Umrshatyan tells me quietly, in a relaxed manner. "I worked a year or two in my field. I used to work in the control department, in the city council, in the police, in the housing department. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, I tried my hand in business, engaged in commerce, and was in it for about 13 years. I was bringing goods from Moscow and selling them here. In short, I was trading, but it didn't seem to be a success. There were failures, problems, and I left the business. Then I decided to get a job. However, I didn't know where to go. Everywhere I applied, there were age restrictions. By the way, this is one of the unhealthiest symptoms in today's Armenia, and I would like you to tell everyone that this is a very wrong approach. Everywhere I applied, they told me that they needed girls 18-25 years old. Does this mean that a person over 25 does not have a right to work? All the employers were repeating the same song - 18-25 years old, good-looking girls in miniskirts, with knowledge of a foreign language (mainly English) and computers. Knowledge of Armenian was not that important for them."

Alla is absolutely right. Of course, there is a popular joke about this, which we recalled during our conversation: "There is an advertisement on the doors of the grocery store: ‘Help Wanted: Janitor, 18-25 years old, higher education, knowledge of computers and a foreign language required.'?"

But it's no joke when you are 30-40 years old - or older - and looking for a job. The older and more experienced you are, the harder it is to find a job. On the other hand, there is a good saying: "Seek and you shall find."

"A friend of mine was working at an employment agency. After a while, I put my shyness aside and appealed to her. She said, ‘Alla, dear, you have 20 years of driving experience.' In the Soviet years, I had a VAZ-07, then a VAZ-06, and also another model from the same factory, which people used to call ‘Jori' (mule). ‘Drivers are in demand today. Go ahead, try your hand at driving a cab.' I told her that I wouldn't be able to handle it. She told me that I would. So, I tried and started working as a taxi driver. In the beginning I had some difficulties, but then, step by step I got used to it. But now I love my new job very much. It's been a year and a half already," Alla says.

She says she learned to drive all by herself. When she had just entered the world of commerce, one of her colleagues bought a Zhiguli, and Alla decided that she wanted to have a car as well. And with this same colleague she bought her VAZ-06, but, alas, she couldn't drive.

"Step by step, my friend Margarita taught me the basics, just in one week. Later, I was learning on my own car. I passed the test and got a driving license and that's it," Alla recalls with a smile on her face.

Her "that's it" includes today's situation: hard work at the wheel of a Zhiguli, more than ten orders a day within Yerevan and sometimes out of the city.

And what car does she prefer?

"I prefer a Mercedes."

Which models?

"The best ones," she says. "To be honest, in the beginning, when I was driving Soviet cars, I was happy with them and foreign cars didn't attract me at all. But now, that I have driven a German Opel Astra, it hasn't been that easy to switch back to Soviet cars again. There is a difference and it's a big one.

"Over the years I've gotten used to driving, and I enjoy it. It became very hard for me to manage without a car, especially when I sold my own. After the run of bad luck during the last years, now I have my car again, although this is a taxi, but it's like my own car. Besides, this is an interesting job. You meet all kinds of people, talk with them, and listen to their stories.

"When they see that the driver is a woman, they become polite all at once.

"Usually, it's only at first glance that a job seems simple. Especially in this era of high technology, it can seem that there is nothing difficult about it: just turn the steering wheel, shift gears, press down on the pedal, and go! But that's only at first glance. Maybe it's really not that difficult to make the car move. However, even driving skills are not enough to work as a taxi driver. You need some other very important qualities as well, without which you cannot cope with it.