Tuesday, March 30, 2021

March Rider Stories

 THE BUS RIDE: How is an Uber ride about a bus ride? The young, black guy got in my car and he was upset.  He was trying to get to work and he was now an hour late. He was on a bus with about six people about an hour and a half ago.  One woman sitting in front of him pulled down her mask to take a drink and the bus driver yelled at her that she has to keep her mask on. The passengers on the bus defended the woman, yelling back at the bus driver, who stopped the bus and called the cops.  The police had everyone get off the bus.  My rider was upset he was late for work and he's been trying to save money and he lost $2 on the bus.  They said he could get it back if he called the bus terminal, but he wasn't looking forward to calling them.  He said, "what are they going to do, send me a $2 check?"

I said to him, "you've had a rough morning, take a look at my sign."  He looked up and it said, "If you can't find the sunshine, be the sunshine."  I said, "don't worry about the $2, you're even." I handed him $2 and he smiled and said thank you. I said, "one day you'll get to do something totally unexpected for someone and you'll remember today. I finally had a chance to tip a rider and I did-it was a great morning.

THE NEW BRIDE: It was going to be a pretty long ride so I knew it would be good, I just didn't realize how interesting it would be.  The young woman maybe mid to late 20's got in the car from being on a boat all day and she was dressed in a bikini with something over it, so I really didn't notice she had a bikini on. For the first 5-10 minutes she made several calls and then I found out she had just married a professional baseball player who was about to retire. She was friendly with Mike Trout, who is recognized as the best player in the game also.  She hates all sports and when she has been at games that her husband is in she is bored to death.  She said, "I get his credit card and go to the refreshment stand.  I like to go to the beach, do shopping and go to the spa." The only sport she would watch is luge.  Due to the virus and not being able to have a ceremony, only their immediate families know they are married now.  Her husband is going to be in the construction business and we talked about how much he's going to miss playing a professional sport.  She also told me that her sister is an ICU nurse and she just appeared in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

AN EGYPTIAN VACATION: My first ride of the day was a guy who had to take a vacation and since we can't go to Europe these days, he went to Egypt.  He enjoyed all the tourist attractions like the Pyramids and The Sphinx, but what amazed me was the highways there.  He said, "there are lines on the highway, but no one pays attention to them  It's a mess and they are always honking at each other."  He continued, "people complain about  following rules and laws, but if there are none, it's awful."  He did have a good time and fortunately he was not driving. The driving didn't scare him that much since he raced cars illegally when he was younger. He also said he met some good people there, but clearly they do not like Americans.

THE EVENT PLANNER: Twenty years ago, Jennifer Lopez played the part of a wedding planner in a movie with the same name. I thought of the movie as I drove my rider to the airport.  She is married to a retired professional basketball player, but I could tell she was very successful with her business. She has four offices which include Los Angeles and New York and teams of workers who make big events happen.  She had just held a major anniversary event for a female rapper and she was worn out. The original budget was $100,000 and after everything was ready to go, the budget was cut in half.  She could not get paid until ten hours before the event and although the event was a major success, her staff celebrated pulling it off for a difficult client. This past year she had to improvise and adjust due to the virus, but there's not doubt she has many more successful years ahead of her.


No comments:

Post a Comment