In any case, I'll make sure to mention it to the next example of the working poor that I meet - for instance, the taxi driver who works all night to pay for the fuel he needs for his car, to travel to the only day job he was able to land.

There is really nothing in this sentence to indicate that you actually met such a person at any time. Many people automatically respond to criticisms of social programs with something along the lines of "what about the working mother who can't afford child care?" They are usually referring to a rhetorical person, and there is no indication that the speaker actually knows such a person. Nor, since the existence of such a person is quite plausible, is it necessary for them to actually provide evidence of personal knowledge to make the argument valid.

Nor is the speaker lying when he makes such a statement, since at no point do they imply that he personally know such a person. When Mary Anne talks about rhetorical people, it's pretty obvious. When she's talking about real people she knows, that's pretty obvious too.

It wasn't obvious either way in your statement, and I drew the wrong conclusion.

I assumed you had been speaking of such a rhetorical person, and my main objection was that the rhetorical example you came up with wasn't all that plausible. Hell, even when you inform me that this was a real person, it still isn't that plausible. Working all night plus a day job he drives to? Hell, when does this guy sleep? Did it ever occur to you that he just might be bullshitting you to pad the tip? Did he mention his ten starving kids?