Who is Janeway Smithson from Factotum and what is their importance?

Janeway Smithson is an insane bantam rooster of a man, Smithson is an instructor for the Yellow Cab Company in Lost Angeles. He holds the record for braking in the dry LA River bed and is angry when Henry Chinaski breaks it. Smithson has been on the job for twenty-five years and is dumb enough to be proud of it.