People In My Car

Each month I'm going to share with you some of the interesting people I've given rides to as an Uber driver.  Here are some of my favorites this past month:

RAYMOND BARONE'S MOTHER

If you watched the television show "Everyone Loves Raymond" you know that Raymond's mother, Marie, stole many of the shows with her personality.  I did not really have her in my car, but I did pick up a retired couple from Queens and the wife reminded me of her.  Her first name was not Marie, but it did start with an "M". (My oldest daughter said I should not use real names so I'll just tell you that her first name was the same name as a famous Beatle's song)  She made me laugh many times on the short trip and I actually thought I should have paid her for the ride.  One example was when I told her that people here in Myrtle Beach complain about all the traffic during the  summer, because the roads are so busy, she said, "Busy, my sidewalk is busy in Queens! There are kids and bicycles and animals and everything going on."  I was hoping to get another ride with "M" while they were in town, because I think she could be a stand-up comedian in her retirement.

THE DRONE PILOT

My son was in North Dakota this weekend at the wedding of a close friend who is a drone pilot in the Air Force.  While he was there I picked up a drone pilot and gave him a ride in my vehicle. We'll call him Joe, but I have no idea what his real name was. He had just signed up for six years after his first two years and is planning on making a career of it.  I thanked him for his service and asked him how he became a drone pilot.  He actually thought he was going to work on fixing them, but instead had the opportunity to learn how to fly them.  He said that they've become more popular because, "if one crashes it's not a big deal since no one was hurt."  I found out that each one cost $20 million dollars, so I told him I thought it would still be a big deal and he laughed and agreed.  Another thing I thought was interesting was that he has to be careful on who he tells he's a drone pilot since there are many people who protest drones. Sometimes he just tells people he works on repairing them which I think is too bad.  Those people miss out on talking with someone doing something very unique and very challenging.  So, don't tell anyone what Joe does.

THE BEST FRIENDS

They flew in from two different cities and left their husbands at home to spend a few days together in Myrtle Beach. We'll call them Lucy and Ethel, because, you know who they are.  They were laughing as they got in the car so I knew this was going to be a fun ride.  They were best friends since grade school and you could tell they were very close. They had never used Uber so I told them I would make sure it was a great experience for them.  They wanted to take a picture of me to show their kids that they really did take an Uber.  I told them that my wife was an Uber driver too and they said that she could go shopping with them.  They even asked me if my wife likes to go shopping and I said, "what kind of question is that?" They told me there was a Shrimpfest coming up in Little River this weekend about 35 minutes north of us. They invited us to join them(and give them a ride up there) and they would treat us to dinner. We may hear from them and take them up on their offer too.  They were so thrilled with their first Uber ride they each gave me a $5 tip!

THE EGYPTIAN, CHRISTIAN PRIEST

By far the most interesting passenger in the past month was the guy I picked up at a church after he presided over a wedding.  You can call him Anwar, because it's the only Egyptian name I can think of.  I took him to the airport where he was flying back to Indiana where he now lives.  I think he laughed at everything I said, which is one reason I liked him.  I told him that I was Jewish and he was very enthusiastic about that.  He taught me two Egyptian words which I'm going to teach you now.    "Coptic" means Egyptian and when we say shalom in Hebrew for hello/goodbye, in Egyptian it sounds like "salem" to say the same thing.  He also told me that in Egypt there are more than ten million Christians in Egypt, but they are a large minority.  He said the biggest problem they have in Egypt is terrorism from the radical Muslims. He was very outgoing and full of life, which I think is very different than what you would expect a Priest to be. Then again, I don't think I know any priests.

Salem...