-OK, so are you ready? -Yes.
So let's step on the clutch.
OK, let’s go.
I got him. I got him.
Alright, yeah, I got him.
Good to be aggressive sometimes, right?
Now I’ll stop talking to you.
Driving, it’s no easy task, especially being from New York.
As it is I struggle with automatic transmission,
but I figured I would give...
manual transmission a try today.
So I’m going to be attending a class at a driving school
that has received numerous one star reviews.
[One Star Reviews]
[Find driving schools]
So bear with me,
hopefully we don’t get into a wreck, and we’ll see you out there.
“This driving school is the worst experience I have ever had.”
“Do not waste your money going here.”
“You will definitely regret it.”
“As everyone else has mentioned... yes, the lady there is horrible.”
“She would constantly be on her phone during lessons.”
-Hello. -Hi.
I’m Taji.
I’m Davi.
-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.
So I’m just here today to try to learn to drive a little better.
Yeah, I think I'm also interested in doing some manual transmission.
Oh, yeah, we do have a manual car also.
Awesome.
You can have a seat.
How would you rate yourself as a driver... out of ten?
Maybe, I don’t know, a seven?
A seven? OK.
How are your turning skills?
I’m pretty good at not clipping anything.
OK.
It’s always advisable as you’re making the turn,
you want to cover the brake.
because there’s a lot of hazards that you need to look out for.
Got it.
Do you have any sort of acronym for that?
Certain things, like switching lanes, I have signal, mirror, shoulder.
Signal, mirror, shoulder.
Shoulder, yes.
I’m assuming you have no points.
You have no moving violations.
That's a good thing.
Can you train me to avoid points?
Well, I can train you to be a better driver,
a defensive driver.
Should we get driving now?
Yeah.
Cool.
Yeah.
Here is our manual transmission car.
You see, there are three pedals on the bottom.
Yes.
So the first one would be your clutch.
The clutch is actually your best friend in a manual transmission car.
-OK, cool. -And that’s the gear lever.
The patterns on the shifter, that tells you which gear to go in.
The engine will tell you when to shift.
Got it.
It's a natural feeling to be nervous.
Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.
“The absolute worst driving school ever!”
“The instructors don’t pay attention to you when you’re driving.”
-OK, so are you ready? -Yes.
-So let’s step on the clutch. -OK.
-And the brake. -OK.
-Now, let’s shift into first. -Shall I go to one?
Yeah.
And now can I go off the clutch then, in one?
-No. -Stay on the clutch?
Yes. You’re going to ease off the clutch halfway.
-OK. -OK. Do you feel that?
And just stalled.
-So we stalled out? -Yeah.
Oh, so that means your car turns off, basically?
-That’s what stalling is, yeah. -Got it.
Ease off the clutch a little bit more and you’ll feel it roll.
-So now I stalled again? -Yes.
OK, remove your foot from the brake.
And give it light gas.
-Oh, I stalled again. -Yeah.
Whoops.
Now do I gas a little and release the clutch?
Yeah, give it light gas.
-That’s a little too much gas. -Oh, sorry.
Shall I let go of the clutch now
-or should I go to second? -Step on the clutch and give it--
Step on the clutch, go to second.
Oh, ****, what do I do about this?
-Alright, just brake for this guy. -Brake and clutch.
Woah, sorry.
-OK. -Alright. Sorry about that.
So now I would just kind of release the clutch and brake a little bit?
Hold on, signal.
Oh, wait. Sorry, I think I stalled.
Alright, now I guess I brake at this. Do I clutch, then brake?
Did I stall? Should I go back to one every time?
Watch the pedestrian.
Woah, look at this guy.
That seems pretty distracting
if I was currently driving and that happened.
Yeah. OK, let’s prepare to go.
Slow it down.
Got it. So it’s clutch, then brake?
-Is that, like, a rule? -Yeah.
That's why I said that your clutch is your best friend.
The clutch is actually your best friend.
Got it.
I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.
-I think I stalled. -Yeah.
Seems like everything's good.
-No. -Yes.
I’ll let this guy go.
Oh my! Oh, ****.
Clutch, clutch, clutch.
Sorry.
These are all things that
I was talking about earlier in the classroom
about scanning and looking ahead.
So as you’re driving, you need to scan ahead.
I got him, I got him.
Alright, I got him.
I messed up. Sorry about that.
Sorry, I’ll just be a sec.
So now we're blocking traffic.
We need to move.
OK. Alright. Oh, sorry.
Oh, man, I'm sorry.
-Did I stall? -You stalled, yeah.
Oh, man, sorry.
Release the brake.
Clutch, clutch.
-OK. -Stop.
Could you just grab that for me? Is that allowed?
Could you possibly just--
Sorry, I just want to see what this is all about.
Can you maybe just pick it up for just a moment?
This is definitely a distraction, you know,
one of the major reasons people get into accidents.
Sorry. Let’s just quickly see what that’s about.
Hello?
Hey, sorry, man, I can’t really talk right now.
I’m in the middle of a driving lesson.
OK. Did you take my iPods from the edit room yesterday?
You mean the AirPods?
Yeah.
Yeah, I did. Sorry, man.
Alright. Buh-bye.
OK.
Alright.
OK, that wasn’t an emergency.
-Yeah, sorry about that. -Do you want to turn--
Maybe I should put it on silent.
Sorry about that.
While we were pulled over,
there felt like no better time than to bring up the negative reviews.
So I was doing a search before I came in,
and I noticed a bunch of the reviews on Yelp.
Well, everyone has something to say.
Would you be willing to chat for a moment
about just some of the reviews?
We like to, when we experience the service,
give the business owner, you know, the person who runs it
an opportunity to kind of speak on behalf of them.
-Yes, sure, no problem. -You would be into that?
I got a few I jotted down.
Was it my driving
or was Davi trying to escape the harsh reality of
I’ll try to wrap it up with them in five minutes.
It turned out I was making her late for the next lesson,
but I wasn’t going anywhere.
So yeah, thanks for addressing some of these reviews.
I just wanted to kind of hear your perspective on them.
So the first one I jotted down, someone said,
“If you want better teaching than this place,
ask your siblings or your parents
or even a dog.”
I don’t sugarcoat things.
I don’t say, “Well, you’re doing great and you’re doing wonderful,”
knowing to myself that you’re not.
This is a serious business.
This is learning how to drive. It’s a weapon.
We’re in the car. We need to focus on that.
How would you respond to a lot of people I see mentioned that,
“I passed my test, but with no help from her”?
I would say that’s someone bitter.
If you passed your test, I obviously did something right.
You didn’t pass it on your own.
That's a valid point.
My business comes through word of mouth.
I have testimonies from my students.
Here, this is a student that passed his road test yesterday.
I love school!
I got the best instructor in the world.
She really takes care of me and I appreciate her.
God bless her. Executive Driving School.
That’s awesome.
That’s awesome. This isn’t a guy you’ve hired, he’s--
Yeah, that's a real student.
It just goes to show you can’t really believe
everything you read on the internet.
Thank you so much for having me, everyone.
Thank you.
I am not going to lie,
I’m not the best driver.
And combining that with Executive Driving School’s reviews
seemed like a recipe for disaster.
However, to my fortune, my teacher, Davi, was patient
and took the safety of both me and those around me very seriously.
Yes, there were tense times between us,
but that is just tough love because driving is no joke.
I also learned about
the many factors that come with running a driving school.
Lessons can go on long because of traffic
and difficult students.
However, if you are patient, just as if you were driving,
and will simply talk with the instructor face-to-face,
it will all work out in the end
because they just want you to pass that road test
and stay safe.
Thank you, Executive Driving School.
Do you guys do school bus lessons as well?
-Yes, we do. -Really?
-Even the long ones? -Yeah.
So if you could drive the tractor trailer,
you could probably drive the school bus.
-No. -No?
But I guess if you could drive the tractor trailer,
you’re on your way to one day being able to drive the school bus.
Yeah.
Alright!