THE WICKED WITCH AND SNOW WHITE: I picked up a woman from a hotel who had just finished a nine hour work day in housekeeping. I was taking her to her second job which was going to last another five hours. During the trip she told me she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. I started giving her a "fatherly" lecture on how important it was to eat and then I remembered my apple. I told her I had a big, delicious apple here that I wasn't going to eat and I offered it to her. She accepted and started devouring it. She told me that her husband often calls her to check if she ate. I said to her I have to stop making her laugh, because I don't want her to choke on the apple. "How would I explain that. I gave her an apple and then she choked on it." Of course, she was laughing as I mentioned the wicked witch and Snow White. I just can't remember if I ever washed that apple!
A DISNEY EDUCATION: My rider was bragging that she lived only eight minutes from Disneyland. I told her I was a big Disney fan and I could tell her some things about Disney that she didn't know. She said she worked there at some point also and she seemed amused by my challenge. I told her how Walt Disney came up with Mickey Mouse, that he called him Mortimer and his wife re-named him Mickey. I told her that the famous person who opened Disneyland with Walt Disney was the Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. I taught her a few more Disney things, but she got off easy since it wasn't a very long ride. You could say I gave her "A Disney Ride."
THE GOLFERS: The father and son were going to be in a golf tournament. The father was 84 years old and was still carrying the heavy golf bag. He told me that he had been on 548 golf courses in his life and his son added, "that he remembers." He was some character for sure. When he was 20 years old he got tickets to a College Bowl Game in Miami, Florida and decided to go. He lived in Denver, Colorado so he hitchhiked to the game and back!
THE JOHN LENNON FAN: I convinced the couple on the way to the movie theater that they should see the movie, "Yesterday." The wife was a big Beatle fan, but she had a rough afternoon after locking herself out of their condo. When I asked her about some of her favorite songs, she mentioned "Imagine"(not a Beatle song, but I didn't correct her) and "Hey Jude." She started to tell me that "Hey Jude" was about Paul talking to John Lennon or his son, but she started to get choked up. I asked her if she had any tissues because during this movie there is one scene she will need tissues. She didn't have any, so I gave her some, because anyone who gets choked up talking about John Lennon will be emotional during the movie. (I'm not saying why)
THE FLY FISHING GUY: My passenger's hobby turned into a career and he does a lot of it in the spring down in Florida. He was looking forward to his work next week when he was going fly fishing with Thomas Rhett, one of the big country music stars.
HAMPTON: What an unusual name! I asked him how he got the name and he said, "I was conceived in a Hampton Inn." I started laughing and said, "there's no way I believe that, you're putting me on." He was joking and has used that line before. More interesting was that it's a family name that goes all the way back to General Robert E. Lee's time. His relative was Lt. General Wade Hampton who fought for the South, I did look it up.
HOW OLD WAS HE? She was working at a Starbucks and a little boy came in with his Dad and ordered a latte. The little boy ordered the latte for himself and he was five years old. She talked to the Dad and suggested that his son only get a decaf. The five-year old walked out of the Starbucks with a decaf. I've never had a decaf or a latte.
THE PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER: He had been with the Cleveland Browns for a year and a half and was an offensive lineman. He was big, 6 ft 9 inches tall. When he played with them two years ago, his fellow lineman Joe Thomas was one of the best in the league. Since his name was Joe too, they called Joe Thomas "little Joe" since he was only 6 ft. 6 inches tall. My passenger was teaching computer science at a middle school, working as a bodyguard, doing a couple commercials and trying to hook up with the new football league that was going to be starting soon. He was a very nice guy who kept himself very busy.
A RIDE REQUEST FOR MY DAD: I was driving two guys to the airport for their return flight to New Jersey. When I mentioned that my Dad lives in Tinton Falls, one of them said, "Maybe he can pick us up at the airport." I told them he was 92, in a wheelchair and he hadn't driven in a number of years. They didn't give up, because they said, "where there's a will, there's a way." You may be 650 miles away Dad, but you got your first ride request!
YOUNG KIDS RUNNING FROM THEIR BOSS: I picked up two kids around 20 years old. They had lived in North Carolina and had a big debt of $1,500 to pay off. An Uncle of a friend had a cleaning business in Myrtle Beach and offered to pay off the debt for them to come down and work off the money working for him. They worked off the hours but received no additional pay and wanted to go home, but the Uncle was desperate for help and was trying to change their mind. They were staying in his house to and were on their way to the house to get their clothes and were calling the police for help. I thought I was in a TV show.
THE CHICKEN GUY: I took this couple out to dinner and they went to Cracker Barrel. The husband had seen a sign advertising their new fried chicken and he had to try it. I had it twice and I liked it. We talked about our favorite chicken, his is fried and mine is barbecue. I picked the wife up the following weekend and she said her husband didn't like the Cracker Barrel chicken. I took her to the airport and she was worried that her luggage might be more than fifty pounds. I offered to go into the airport with her if there was any chicken in her bag and I would be happy to take care of it for her. I did make her laugh.
WHITE HAT HACKER: The kid was just out of high school and he worked for a company part-time who paid him to break into their system and give them suggestions on how to make it better. He didn't seem that excited about it and I really wonder if he was any good at it. It certainly was a different kind of job.
THE FIREMAN: The most interesting story was that he drove occasionally for Uber and his first ride he gave was on the night before Thanksgiving. He went to the Myrtle Beach airport and got a three hour ride that paid him $200 and he got a $100 tip on top of that. He thought it was going to be like that every day!
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