I'm not sure that "Ubering" is really a word, but it is important that it's seven letters. That would be worth fifty points in scrabble, so I'm going to try to use that the next time I play with my kids.
July was my first month "Ubering" and I took around 90 rides mostly on the weekend. It was fun and it didn't feel like I was working. The hours were very flexible, the money was good, and there were plenty of people who generously tipped me for the ride. I met people from all over the country and a number of foreign students who were working here for the summer. They came from Taiwan, Russia, Lithuania, Albania, and Romania to name a few.
Here are some of my most interesting rides in July:
Jerry from West Virginia just started using the Uber app the day before after his kids set it up for his visit to Myrtle Beach. He prefers to drive the eight hours here, but he took a flight this time. When he explained his reasons for driving(not dealing with the airport getting there early, being dropped off and picked up) I started laughing, because he was saying exactly the same things I've said recently. We appeared to be around the same age and it was probably just a coincidence that I have referred to my myself as "Jerry" as recently as a couple months ago when I was going to use the name as an alias to print the book I wrote.
The woman from Iowa was fascinating to talk to. About half way through our 45 minute trip she told me she used to work on the Iowa caucus's and met many candidates over the years and heard their speeches. She's a registered Democrat who has a mentor who happens to be the Republican Governor of Iowa. When she said that it's too bad we couldn't talk further, I offered to drive her around more and we both got a good laugh out of that.
The nine year-old boy riding with his older sisters did not stop talking. However, he said the magic words when he blurted out that he "loved history." I told him that I did too and I suggested he give me a history question and I would give him one. He asked me the date of Pearl Harbor and of course I told him without a pause. I asked him, "who was President of the United States when Pearl Harbor happened?" He quickly said, "Roosevelt and not Theodore." I asked if he meant Eleanor, but he didn't fall for that trick. I did tell him it was FDR and I'm pretty sure if the ride was longer we could have talked about history for a lot longer.
My second female Yankee fan of the day was my last ride after also having two rides with Red Sox fans during the day. My ride with the lawyer in a big New York City law firm was over an hour and we spent a lot of time talking about baseball and the law. I was jealous of all the Yankee games she's been to and enjoyed hearing about how she got into law and how difficult passing the bar was. Although she was not wearing a Yankee hat as my other Yankee fan did earlier, she did have one packed in her suitcase.
Probably the most unusual ride was a girl in her 20's that I picked up near the beach traveling to the airport. I know she had just came from the beach since her big towel was wrapped around her bag and it was still full of sand. When she got in the car I also realized she had been drinking and was not feeling any pain, or maybe anything. The ride was only two miles long, but during that time she yelled out my name three times, said she wanted to go to McDonalds, touched my arm and then said, "it's probably a good idea not to touch the Uber driver," and all this time I was calm and acted like she was perfectly fine. When we got close to the airport she looked in the mirror to check her make-up and announced to me that she better "fluff her boobs."
I had to ask my wife what exactly she meant by that, but I can't tell you if she did it successfully or not. I just kept looking at the road straight ahead as I pulled up to the airport to let her off. She was catching a flight to Cleveland, but when I said goodbye to her I think she was already half way home.
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