THE FEMALE COMEDIAN: I am rapidly approaching 5,000 Uber and Lyft rides and this passenger is certainly going to be one I'll always remember. I've had less than ten riders who were very funny and this woman made the list. She told me that twenty years ago a friend told her that she could do a talk show and I have no doubt she could still do one. She was entertaining and I had no idea what she was going to say next. After she got in the car I asked her what she did for a living and she replied, "I'm a whore and a massage therapist." She said the woman's voice on the directions was ruining her life and that, "people think I'm crazy because I speak my mind." I hope I get to pick her up again and I'd listen to her doing a talk show also.
THE FBI AGENT: It doesn't happen often that someone is happy they spoke with an FBI agent, but I was. Technically he's no longer an agent and working in finance, but he was an agent for ten years. He used to work in the white collar crimes unit and left because he had enough of the bureaucracy. He asked me a question that no one has asked before, "what does Lyft and Uber do to keep drivers happy and driving?" Several times during the ride I joked about his questioning and that he sounded like an FBI agent and he laughed. As the ride ended I said, "it's too bad the ride wasn't longer so you could continue your questioning."
THE ARTIST: I've had a lot of riders in my car that were inspiring and she has to be included in that group. As a recovering alcoholic, she spoke eloquently about the illness and all the support she's had from friends and family. She called her sponsor from the car and told me she had been posting sunrises on Facebook this week. She loved my quote that's hanging, "If you can't find the sunshine, Be the Sunshine." I told her my business name was, "The Sunshine Man," that's probably why I picked her up. Obviously very talented, you could tell that overcoming alcoholism was something that she was dedicated to beating. I encouraged her and congratulated her on her determination. I think she's going to beat it.
RIDER LOST: On a Sunday morning I got a ride that was 22 minutes away, which is a pretty long distance. When I was four minutes away I texted the rider since I knew it was a gated community. I texted, "should I go to the front or back gate?" His reply was, "I'm already there." I figured he meant the gate, but when I got there, he wasn't there. I texted him again and then called him. He told me, "I didn't think you were coming, so I'm walking." Obviously, not a regular Uber user, he told me he was about to walk over a bridge into Little River near a restaurant. I thought he meant the drawbridge, but he wasn't there. He started walking up a highway bridge in the wrong direction from where his car was. I picked him up on the bridge and drove him two miles to his car. He never would have made it on foot. His ride was actually short, but since Uber pays for a long pick-up, it turned out to be one of the best paying rides of the day and I did save the rider.
THE REPORTER: We had a football tournament in Myrtle Beach with 100 teams from across the country. Covering the tournament for high school students was a reporter for Yahoo Sports. I recognized his name, although he mainly covers College Football. He's worked for them for two years and travels every couple weekends. He's living in Chicago and enjoys his job, but now that he's married the travel is not his favorite thing. I enjoyed interviewing the reporter, it's not something I get to do too often.
No comments:
Post a Comment