He: "When I moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Colorado it was like moving to Beverley Hills."
She: "Lovely was supposed to be my middle name, but my dad wrote it on the wrong line, so I'm Lovely."
The truck driver who was from Turkey and now living in Michigan asked me a question no one has ever asked: "How is life living in America?"
She: "I once worked at a gas station and my boss said this, "You know how you've heard the customer is always right, not here. They're 95% wrong. We have a whole drawer of lost car keys here."
She: "Our baby was only sleeping a couple hours each day so we had a sleep coach spend three days with us. Our baby is now 9 months old and she takes two 2-2 1/2 hour naps a day and sleeps from 6 pm to 7 am." I said, "She's sleeping almost 18 hours a day, you have a visiting toddler."
The young Texan was visiting New York City and he was lost. "I went up to a guy in a suit and asked him if he knew where I could get this train. He said, 'Figure it the F_ _ _ out yourself. He was probably thinking this guy has the audacity to ask me a stupid question."
She's in grad school to be a therapist to "Pay forward," for all the help she received when she was younger. I asked her how being half blind and half deaf she was able to head out to live in Alaska for three years. She said, "My mom taught me that the universe looks out for you."
He is twenty-two: "I'm a daredevil. As a kid I would climb up on the roof of our house and jump off. I once had a bad fall on a skateboard and I still have a scar to remind me how stupid I was."
A drug addict for ten years I asked him how he became drug-free the last couple years. He said, "I got tired of doing something that was getting me nowhere."
She: "2025 was the worst year of my life, but I do have a perfect F'n six-year-old."
Talented musician of many instruments: "Talent is a quality you have to practice or you lose it."
He: "My uncle wrote a book that I published, "Meals to Die For." He was a chef in prison who cooked the last meal for 189 inmates describing their requests and crimes. I'll send you a copy."
After fifteen minutes of silence she suddenly asked something no one has ever asked me, "Jeffrey, what do you think I should make for dinner?"
Me: "How did you decide to join the Air Force?" He: "I was a junior in college studying finance and one day I was running late through the student center and I saw a sign that said, 'Free lunch if you take our test.' I got the free lunch and took a test for the Air Force and they said they could get me wings to fly and I was with them for thirty years."
MORE RIDER COMMENTS
I told her that I've had a lot of amazing people in my car and she said, "I don't know if I'm one of them."
I asked the young guy who does security checks at Wal-Mart, "Do you like your job?" He said, "I like it when it's easy."
She said, "Working in assisted living is the coolest job. You get to hear people's stories, be part of their family and help them."
He: "I messed up in my twenties and didn't travel. Now I'm in my thirties and I just got back from Japan. It was my first plane ride and time in another country."
She used to live near the very famous Monterey Bay Aquarium in California and said, "They had a two year waiting list for divers who wanted to volunteer to clean the aquarium."
The app said his name was young, so I asked the young guy, "Is young your first name or your last name?" He said, "It's my middle name."
She pointed to a neighborhood near her neighborhood and said, "Years ago they found the bones of an eight hundred year old Cherokee Indian there."
He's a junior in college who wants to direct movies. I asked him him what his three favorite movies were and he said, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Dark Knight" and "Heat."
I asked the man from Iraq who has been in Colorado for ten years, "Do Uber drivers talk to you?" He said, "None of them talk to me, and I don't know why." They don't know what they're missing.
She: "In my mom's condo they don't let you take your garbage out, you have to pay to have someone pick it up."
He: "My grandma taught me how to play the piano when I was four or five and then I learned how to play a violin next."
He: "We have a woman at Amazon who is 74 years old and she's doing physical work."
He: "I once paid $25 for beer at Coors Field."
She lived in a suburb in Pennsylvania and said, "I loved it there, the people were great."
Picking her up from the emergency room she said, "I accidentally cut my hand with a knife and there was blood everywhere."
COUNTRY #73 IN MY CAR
Special thanks to Alexis from Vancouver, Washington for the above bill from Vietnam.
UNIQUE JOBS
Surgical Athletic Trainer
Sand Allocator Coordinator for Fracking
I DROVE PEOPLE FROM THESE COUNTRIES:
Argentina, Nepal, South Sudan, Iraq, Mexico, Peru, China, El Salvador, The Congo.
WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT ME AND MY CAR:
"I love what you're doing, we need this."
"I'm enthused, my heart is fluttering. It's like a kid in a candy store."
"Thanks for lifting my spirits, I was in a shitty mood this morning."
"I truly enjoyed your car ride. It was like a museum on wheels. Most of all, I enjoyed your kind and joyous energy! I appreciate your curiosity for culture and people!
"This is a cool Uber, you're a cool dude."
"This is a great way to start our trip, I didn't expect this."
She said about my mannequin: "She's beautiful. She makes her statement-I'm here to stay."
"This was so much fun."
"Thank you for the conversation."
"This really is a museum."
"I'll remember this car, it's unique."
"You're not like any other Uber driver."
"Awesome car."
"I wish you safe travels and many beautiful memories with your passengers."
"I love what you're doing."
"I like you car it's pretty cool."
"This inspired me to keep traveling."
"You have a beautiful car."
"Everyone has a story."
"You should put a blindfold on your mannequin, please."
"You are awesome."
"Thanks for helping get my week off to a good start."
After the .8 miles ride she said, "You're of the best Uber drivers I've ever had."
She said about my mannequin: "She's beautiful. She makes her statement-I'm here to stay."
