Focus on people who do unusual summer work

Ondrej Neumenn, rickshaw driver in Dublin

How did you become a rickshaw driver?

I was working until earlier this year in England on a bean farm and floods destroyed all of the fields. I was looking for a new job and I contacted my friends in Ireland, who have been doing this job a long time, and I decided to come over to

Dublin and do it too. So far, it has been good.

What kind of hours do you work?

From 10 in the evenings to six in the mornings, every day. It's a night job, I don't do it during the day, most people don't, as there isn't much business.

What is a typical night like?

My base is Grafton Street so I just wait at the top near Stephen's Green. On week nights especially there can be a lot of waiting around, on weekends it's busier. You get to meet your friends when you don't have customers.

What's the best part of the job?

I can meet with very good people, which can be nice, and I can speak with them in English and it's good for my studies. I'm studying mechanical engineering but, as I'm from the Czech Republic, I want to improve my English too. Doing this job is good practice as you are always meeting people.

Are there aspects of the job that you don't like?

I sometimes meet bad people who don't respect my work. I've had some pretty bad customers. They call me a horse and say I must run faster and ask me if I'm a donkey and so on [ laughs]. It's joking but, you know, it's not really that nice.

How is the money?

With this job, it's all about fortune, it's about luck. If you are lucky, you can make good money for not too much work. Some nights it's bad, other nights it can be better. You never know how much you're going to earn on any night so it's all about luck.

Do you get tired?

On Saturday nights, Friday nights, it's really hard physically because there are more customers and you're much busier. It depends on what part of Dublin you go as well. It's harder if you go a long way up a hill with two big guys in the back. But if you have two ladies and you're away from the hill, it's fun and not that tiring.

Would you recommend the job to others? Well, Irish people don't really do it, it's mostly people from other countries. I don't know if I'd recommend it for everyone. It isn't that bad a job but you must be a psychologically strong man to do it. You must know what you want and what the price for it is. It's not easy for the brain, it's not always an easy job.

- In conversation with Denis Clifford.  Series concluded