MY FAVORITE RIDERS IN OCTOBER

 

HE WON THE RODEO BET

There are many ways people meet, but rarely does someone win a bet and find the right girl at the same time. The couple from West Virginia met at the rodeo. He told me, "My friend bet me that I couldn't get her phone number. I walked over and handed her my phone and asked her, 'Can you fill this out for me?'" They are engaged and have been together for ten years. Who said it's a bad thing to bet?

I told her that I was going to write about this in my blog and she enthusiastically urged me on: "Do it, do it!" She is a nurse and he is an airline mechanic with an interesting hobby.  He told me, "I just became a pro fighter.  He also said, "I've always wanted to start a podcast and you would make a good guest." I told him that I would love to, but the only catch was that he wanted me to come to West Virginia to do it.  If you're reading this, you have my number.

THE UN-MARINE BIOLOGIST

My last ride of the month was clearly one of the best.  My passenger told me that, "I have the worst luck of anyone." Recently, her purse was stolen and her Uber driver canceled which is why I got her ride.  I told her that I give out a lot of good vibes and good karma and her luck was going to change starting now.  I quickly had her laughing and told her all the good things that were about to happen to her, including giving her a gift (My list of favorite comments), taking e a picture of us and hanging it in my car as someone whose luck had just changed, and I was going to write this blog about her.

She is a marine biologist with a masters, but she had to leave her job recently because her boss was constantly belittling her. She's temporarily working as a server in a restaurant, but she has a lot going for her.  She is obviously bright and has a delightful personality and a great laugh and big smile.  We had a good time doing a lot of laughing and just before we took our selfie she said to me, "I had a really hard time all week. You are all the sunshine I needed today." It was a great way to end my month.

DEAR UN-MARINE BIOLOGIST: You better have read this story, because your luck has changed.  Expect good things to happen for you and they will happen-all the best to you. THE SUNSHINE MAN

WHEN YOU NEED HELP, WHO DO YOU CALL?

No, not ghostbusters, but how about someone who can help you get electricity?  My passenger's real title is "Right Away Line Cleaner."  He was recently in lower South Carolina and also in Georgia removing trees and debris from power lines so the electric company can restore power for neighborhood's in need.  He said, "It's very rewarding to reduce the time they have to wait from 3-4 weeks to 4-5 days."  It's dangerous work though, and as many as fifty workers doing this in the past year have lost their lives.  

The biggest problem is the communication between the electric company and his company in letting them know which wires are still live and dangerous.  He told me that most people are very good to them, but sometimes they are upset because they believe that we can turn on their electricity.  I asked him, "Was there anything in your life that you've done to prepare you for this dangerous kind of work?" He said, "No, but they do give us a lot of training."

DRIVING "THE TEMPTATIONS"

If I had known at the beginning of the ride that for the last thirty-one years he's been a tour bus driver for one of the top Motown groups in the sixties, our ride would have been different. He got in the car angry at Verizon.  He had just bought his mom a house in Ohio and he was trying to get answers to two simple questions from Verizon. He had spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone and apologized to me several times for the language he was using on the phone.  He said, "I'm calling Ohio and I get India." I was able to calm him down some during the ride, but as he got out he said, "I better tip you now before I throw this phone through a wall." I would have liked to ask him about some stories on the road or if he could sing, but time did not allow it.  The Temptations performed in Myrtle Beach the next night and performed The National Anthem recently at a Mets/Dodgers playoff game.

THE LAW PROFESSOR'S PERSPECTIVE

I enjoyed speaking with a local law professor in the banking area.  I would have loved to have talk with him longer, but I had one interesting question for him. I asked, "In the fifteen plus years you have been teaching, what difference have you noticed in your students?" He told me that he was surprised that, "Young attorneys were demanding things that they would never have gotten in the past."  He said that attorneys who wanted to be partners would come in 90 minutes earlier when the partners are there and young attorneys are intentionally not following traditional rules.  He said that they want a more balanced life and I had a young attorney later that day tell me the same thing.