Uber & Lift drivers, What Are The Most Messed Up Thing That Happened To You?

Uber & Lift drivers, What Are The Most Messed Up Thing That Happened To You?

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers, what are the most interesting or
messed up situations that happened to you during the
shift? Story one.
I used to drive for Uber and Lyft in Vermont.
One night I picked up 420 somethings from New York who
were visiting Burlington and drove them back to their Airbnb
and Stowe about an hour away. We were having a blast doing

(00:20):
sing alongs to David Bowie. When we got to Stowe the GPS
started leading me off the main road, then onto a dirt road and
then another dirt Rd. It was around 11:00 PM and there
wasn't set a single light from ahouse, car or street lamp
anywhere. I jokingly said man where are
you guys taking me? One of them replied this is
where we are going to off you. I have a twisted sense of humor

(00:43):
myself and have used that kind of joke before so I tried to
laugh it off. Another passenger chimed in,
Well we really are just going tooff you.
I asked them to stop saying the joke had gone too far.
Then someone added Don set worrywe sell.
Make sure we put olive oil all over your skin so it doesn't set
dry out. Finally we reached their
destination and they invited me in for a beer.

(01:05):
I declined and even refused to pull into the driveway.
As they were getting out, someone dropped their jewel in
the car and asked me to help find it.
No way was I going to do that. I wanted to be ready to leave at
a moment's notice and wasn't going to put myself in a
vulnerable situation. I went home after that.
I'm a pretty big guy so it takesa lot for me to feel unsafe, but

(01:26):
this was one ride where I was genuinely terrified as an Uber
driver. Before we continue, do us a
quick smash that like button andsubscribe to support our
channel. Story two.
I was driving after work making some extra cash when I logged
into Uber and got a ride requestright away.
I cruised over and it was at a dance center with a couple of
bars and a swappers club. I called the guy who ordered the

(01:49):
Uber and sure enough he was at the swappers bar.
I pull up and the guy is about 6foot 10 while his buddy is only
four foot 9. The three girls look identical,
same dresses, glasses, same hairstyle.
He hops up in front with me and the other four get in the back.
We start driving. He puts on his music, joking
around. Then I look in the rear view
mirror and I see him being intimate with one of the girls.

(02:11):
I was dumbfounded. Amid all of that, I glance at
his buddy next to me. He's just smiling, nodding, and
hands me a couple of 100 bucks. Whatever, not my car.
I keep driving and I swear I thought I saw him going even
crazier with the girls in the back seat.
We do this for 15 minutes and finally pull up to a stop light
and I turn and look and sure as heck there are a total of 6

(02:32):
dongs in this car. Mine, the dude up front, the
dude in the back with the girls,and every single one of these
girls had a Dong and all of themwere getting busy in my back
seat. I look over at the dude up front
and he was still just smiling and nodding.
We pull up to his house about 10minutes later and he looks me
dead in the eyes and says want to come upstairs and get your

(02:53):
pay? And that's the time I got blown
away by three trans women while Master and Blaster did Powder
and watched Story 3. I usually drive late at night
because that's when passengers tend to be more relaxed. 1
evening I picked up a woman froma bar.
She was clearly too drunk to stand on her own, so a man who
she was all over helped her intomy back seat and sent me on my

(03:14):
way. In my head I figured he was
hoping for a second date. Her destination was about 45
minutes away so I assumed it wasjust a work outing or something
similar. Then her phone rang.
She answered and said hey honey,Uber is bringing me home.
She hung up and told me. Man my husband is so annoying
asking why I sip him out so late.

(03:35):
It turned out she was having an affair with the guy who helped
her into my backseat. But that wasn't even the
craziest part. She started complaining that she
had to pee. I told her I couldn't pull over
on the highway, but she began crying and begging, so I finally
gave in. I didn't want her peeing in my
car. I pulled over, she got out and
started going. Then the door opened.

(03:55):
She climbed back in with her pants still down to her ankles
and immediately fell asleep. At that point I was freaking
out. She could have blamed me for
anything. About 10 minutes from her house,
she finally woke up, realized the situation and apologized.
But before pulling her pants up,she asked you like what you saw
and then went inside to her husband.

(04:15):
Somehow I still got five stars and a $5 tip.
Story four. It was around 1:00 in the
morning on Saturday night into Sunday, and I picked up two
drunk girls from a bar to take them home.
One sat in the front passenger seat, the other in the back.
The girl in the front was completely belligerent while her
friend in the back was almost there, but not quite.

(04:36):
On the way home, they started complaining to each other about
not finding a guy to take home. The front seat girl wasn't the
prettiest, but not the ugliest either.
The back seat girl was a complete mess.
Still, their drunken state made them both look like threes in my
eyes. I made a few jokes, things like
damn, another night at home or looks like you need to call your

(04:57):
handyman and they laughed. Little did I know I had just set
myself up for trouble. The front seat passenger quickly
became very forward during the ride, placing her hand on my leg
and inching closer to my groin. She kept complimenting me in
awkward ways, saying things likeI've never had an Uber driver
this cute before while touching me, all while I was driving at

(05:17):
45 mph. I repeatedly told her I have a
girlfriend, this is inappropriate.
At one point her friend in the back seat was cheering her on
like she was at a baseball game.We were close to their
destination so I decided to justpower through the rest of the
ride even though they were beingextremely disrespectful and she
was essaying me. They were two drunk girls and I

(05:37):
wasn't going to kick them out inthe middle of nowhere at 1:00 in
the morning. I wanted to make sure they got
home safely. When we arrived at their
destination, the front seat passenger stumbled over to my
side of the car, open the door, grabbed my hands and tried to
pull me out while shouting things like I rode in your car
Mr. Uber, it's your turn now along with other obscenities.

(05:59):
After respectfully declining multiple times and getting back
into my car, she became verballyagitated about not being able to
sleep with me. She started yelling that she
can't wait to tell Uber that youtried to take advantage of two
drunk girls and accusing me of trying to assault them while
throwing their belongings and swinging their purses at my car.
I ignored them and drove off, leaving the rest of the night

(06:21):
behind me. The next day I got a call from
Uber. They told me I had received a
terrible review full of spellingerrors claiming exactly what the
women had threatened to report. Upon checking, I saw that her
rider profile had a two star rating and that she had similar
incidents with other Uber drivers in the past.
After a brief conversation, Uberdetermined the review was false

(06:41):
and removed it from my page. Story 5.
I was driving on Halloween in a small coastal city when I picked
up a couple from a local hotel. The woman wore a long buttoned
up jacket, fishnet pantyhose, and stilettos.
The man was in sweatpants and a similar long coat, but I could
see something black and shiny around his wrists and at his
collar. It was about 76° out, so clearly

(07:04):
they weren't dressed for the weather.
I figured, OK, maybe just a weird Halloween couples costume,
it's fine. I picked them up and made small
talk while driving them to an industrial complex in a nearby
small community. They were traveling from Florida
to meet friends for a Halloween party.
So far the only odd thing was their clothing.
We pulled up to the drop off location, a small mall with

(07:25):
doctors offices and a few businesses.
At the far end there was a door with a bright red heart symbol
that had a devil's tail. I started noticing other people
getting out of cars and walking toward it.
Most of the women were dressed as attractive nuns, teachers,
librarians, pretty much every fantasy you could imagine.
Some of the men wear in leather chaps or suits.

(07:45):
The couple grinned at me, tossedme a $20 tip, and practically
ran into the building. I'm pretty sure the guy was
wearing a leather bodysuit and the woman wasn't wearing much at
all. That was my first time dropping
people off at that local club. Now I basically have their
schedule memorized and make a point of being on the other side
of town when the events end. Story 6.

(08:06):
The first one that comes to mindwas a 78 year old lady who
insisted I needed to hear about the hookup she was coming home
from. She went into graphic detail
about her intimate life. When she realized I wasn't
interested, she decided that talking about Trump was the next
best topic. The other was a guy I picked up
around 5:00 PM on a Wednesday. He was probably the drunkest

(08:26):
person I've ever met. He kept calling me smart guy and
asking if I spoke French and German.
When I said no, he insisted I did and called me a liar.
I asked if he wanted to take thetollway and he said it was up to
me since I was the smart guy. I took the tollway and he yelled
at me for going that way. I basically told him to either
get out on the tollway or shut up.

(08:48):
When I dropped him off it took him 10 minutes to get out of the
car. His house was just before a
cul-de-sac so when I came back around he was standing in the
road and blocked my path. That dude was a psycho.
Story 7 A friend visiting New York City took a taxi back to
his hotel late at night. Riding in the back, he found a
small woman's clutch purse. Inside were the ID of a 19 year

(09:10):
old girl and a business card fora police officer in a
neighboring state. The officer shared the same last
name as the girl, so my friend assumed he was her father and
that she kept the card in case she ever needed help with a
traffic stop. He left a voicemail on the
officer's business number and dropped the purse at the hotel
front desk for the girl to collect, Exactly what he did as

(09:30):
soon as he reached his room. About 3 hours later, around 3:00
or 4:00 in the morning, he was in a deep sleep when loud knocks
on his hotel room door woke him.A group of NYPD detectives stood
outside asking for every detail about how he found the purse,
including where he had first hailed the cab.
It turned out the girl was indeed the daughter of the

(09:51):
officer on the business card, and she had been missing for
several days. The purse was the first sign she
had resurfaced. Fortunately, my friend had paid
for the cab with a credit card and kept the receipt, which he
handed over to the detectives. Presumably, they used it to
track down the driver and gatherany information he could
provide. After that night, my friend

(10:11):
never heard from the police again and doesn't know what
became of the case. Story eight I'm not a driver,
but I was recently a passenger in an Uber.
It was a Monday morning, so I wasn't in the best mood and
didn't feel much like talking. The driver started chatting
about how beautiful the weather was and explained that a good
day begins with a positive mindset.
Then she asked if I wanted to see her book.

(10:34):
A little confused, I agreed. She explained that she carries A
scrapbook filled with index cards and markers for her
passengers, inviting them to write a positive message or
simply jot down whatever they like.
The book was filled with notes from locals, visitors from other
areas and even travellers from overseas.
Some wrote uplifting messages, others left funny comments, and

(10:55):
a few drunken writers scribbled support for our sports teams.
It was a collection of thoughts from people of all kinds coming
together on those pages. Before I got out, I told her how
the messages had completely turned my Monday around and how
much I appreciated what she does.
She simply said that if she can bring a smile to someone's face,
her day is made. Now whenever I request an Uber,

(11:17):
I always hope I get the same driver so I can keep reading the
book of positivity. Story 9.
At the time I was unemployed. I had quit a job because of a
toxic work environment, and although I had recently
graduated from a coding boot camp, I wasn't having any luck
finding new opportunities. The bills were piling up and I
was starting to lose hope. One night after driving people

(11:40):
around for hours, I was ready tocall it quits.
But then I thought, what's one more ride?
That's when three older women requested a trip to a
neighboring state to do some gambling.
They had trouble finding a driver, so I said yes and
figured I'd end the night. After dropping them off during
the ride, we got to talking and I learned that one of them was
an IT consultant. By the end of the night they

(12:02):
were paying me basically $100.00an hour to wait while they
gambled and then drive them all home.
The consultant and I I connectedand she ended up revising my
resume and putting me in touch with some of her references.
Not only did I make good money from the fairs, but I also
turned my life around by landinga dream job with her help.
After accepting the offer, I wrote her a heartfelt thank you

(12:23):
note and she replied help othersbecause you can.
Not a day goes by that I don't think about how lucky I am.
Story 10 I'm not a driver, but I'm a pretty frequent Uber and
Lyft customer. On one trip to my buddy's place
in New Hampshire, about a 25 minute ride, the driver and I
got to talking. He told me about one of his
weirdest rides one night in Boston.

(12:44):
He picked up two guys who were clearly drunk or high.
One sat in the front seat, the other in the back.
The guy up front kept fiddling with something in his pocket
while his friend nervously told him to stop.
Then he suddenly pulled out somepowder and a credit card and
started using it right on the dashboard.
The driver looked over, panicked, and told him to put it
away or he'd kick them out. The guy stuffed it back, they

(13:06):
got dropped off and afterward the driver immediately called
Lyft support. He explained what happened and
told them not to accept that rider's credit card again.
On another ride to work one day I asked a different driver the
same question. He told me about a bachelor
party he had driven. A group of guys were already
hyped up pre gaming, heading to bars and clubs just full of
energy. They were so into it that they

(13:28):
actually invited him to join theparty.
He decided to close out the app and said OK.
He ended up partying with them all night.
They had a great time. The groom bought everyone around
and the the driver said he stillkeeps in touch with some of them
to this day. Story 11 My cousin drives for
Uber and at every family gathering he always has a new
creepy, strange or just plain wild story.

(13:51):
One of the more memorable ones was about a passenger.
He dropped off a guy dressed to the nines, carrying a bouquet of
roses, heading to his fiance's place.
The twist? The very next day, that same guy
broke off the engagement. And to make it even more
ridiculous, about a week later my cousin found out he himself
was the side guy. The engagement had even been

(14:11):
announced in front of her parents.
He he also once had to replace the entire back seat and half
the carpeting after a woman's water broke and she started
delivering her baby in the car while he was driving her and her
husband to the hospital. They had been heading there to
induce labor since she was already past term.
He jokes that he shook the baby out of her during the ride.
Unfortunately, Uber in our country doesn't cover damage

(14:33):
like that, and his insurance wouldn't either, so he had to
pay for all the repairs out of pocket.
He also once got caught up in a failed police drug sting.
A passenger asked him to delivera bag to a location, but
something about it felt way too suspicious.
Instead of going through with it, he pulled into the nearest
police station and sure enough, inside the tote bag were dozens

(14:54):
of little plastic bags filled with white powder, along with a
tracker. He occasionally delivers
harmless stuff like clothes to the gym or groceries, but this
guy set off alarm bells right away.
Story 12 This happened to a friend of mine.
He's not an Uber or taxi driver.He works as a security guard
doing patrol driving. His car is decked out with
stickers that, especially at night, could easily make someone

(15:17):
think it's a taxi. One evening while driving
between jobs, he stopped at a set of traffic lights near a
nightclub. Suddenly, a drunk guy and his
girlfriend climbed into the backand gave him an address to drive
to. My friend explained that he was
a security guard, not a taxi driver.
The guy paused for a second, then laughed, thinking my friend
was joking, and repeated the address anyway.

(15:38):
My friend decided to make the best of the situation when he
realized the guy's house was only a few streets away from his
next patrol job. Anyway, he drove them to their
destination and when the guy I asked how much he owed my friend
said $150.00. Without hesitation the guy
handed over the money and left. A regular taxi would have
charged only 30 or $40, but he was so blind drunk he didn't

(16:01):
realize my mate was ripping him off.
Story 13 I'm not a driver, just a passenger, but one ride was
pretty scary. The driver, clearly high as a
kite, picked me up one day. I didn't think much of it at
first since he was close by and I was in a hurry.
He said he needed to make a pit stop and that it was just around
the corner. Not wanting to cause trouble
with someone high, I agreed. It ended up taking about 30

(16:24):
minutes to get there, and the stop turned into a full on hand
off in a neighborhood where everyone looked like they could
turn violent at any moment. I was late for work that day,
but I didn't complain. I stayed quiet the whole time
because I was terrified. One guy was eating fried chicken
while handling the deal, which at least added a bizarre sense
of normalcy to the chaos. I'm very fair skinned, whiter

(16:46):
than white, but for some reason I get mistaken for Middle
Eastern a lot, especially by Middle Eastern Uber drivers. 1
driver started complimenting me from the moment I got in,
talking about my Middle Eastern beauty and all that.
I was polite at first, thanking him, but things got
uncomfortable when he started putting his hand on my knee.
I wasn't wearing anything revealing and I usually sit in

(17:06):
the front seat, but this time I made that mistake.
His compliments and touches keptescalating, eventually moving to
mid thigh. At that point I told him I had
entered the wrong address and asked him to pull over.
He stopped. I got out and walked the rest of
the way. A good hour and a half, but it
was worth it. I reported him to Uber and
apparently he had received a lotof negative reviews before and

(17:29):
was eventually removed from the platform.
I got my money back. It was really scary.
Story 14 I drove Uber for a few months between jobs.
Luckily, I didn't encounter anything too wild, since I
mostly stuck to rush hour driving in a nearby college
town. One day, though, I got a request
to pick someone up from a local hospital.
Red flags went off immediately. I knew this hospital had a psych

(17:52):
ward, but I wasn't about to turndown a fare so I accepted it.
When I arrived, a cute kind of hippie looking girl in her 20s
was waiting outside. She hopped into the front seat
and I could immediately tell shewas upset.
I asked how her day was going and she replied right away.
Not so good. I just saw my boyfriend at the
psych ward. I wasn't so sure how to respond

(18:13):
so I just offered my condolences, but she immediately
launched into the whole story unprompted.
Yeah. So my boyfriend and I did powder
for the first time together a couple of weeks ago.
We both had an amazing time, buthe was tripping really hard and
talking about aliens and finallyseeing the truth.
It scared me a bit, but I dismissed it since we were both
high. Once the trip ended though, he

(18:34):
never snapped out of it. For two weeks he's been calling
me frantically, talking about aliens, conspiracies and
whatnot. He even called his parents to
say he's quitting his job. Then this morning he told me he
was going to the hospital with no other details.
I show up as he's getting out ofthe ambulance, lying on the
Gurney with a smile saying now I'll be able to show everybody

(18:54):
the truth, isn't it great? When I picked her up, he was
still being held in the psych ward.
By the end of her story, the girl was in tears, explaining
that she was really scared the powder might have triggered some
dormant schizophrenia in her boyfriend, especially given his
family history and age. I felt sick to my stomach after
hearing all of that and didn't really feel like driving for the

(19:14):
rest of the day. Story 15 I used to drive Uber at
Fort Myers Beach. One night I picked up 4
middle-aged people who were completely drunk and crammed
them into my tiny car. As we approached their
neighborhood, one guy suddenly said, I need you to follow that
car. I shrugged and thought sure
let's see how this plays out. We started tailing a random SUV

(19:37):
and I asked who is this guy? They said we don't know but we
have 20 minutes of babysitter left and we aren't wasting it.
I reminded them they were on a triple rate surcharge but they
didn't care. Eventually the SUV pulled over
and they shouted go go go as we speed off into the night.
It ended up being $100 ride witha $20 tip and a five star

(19:59):
review. Totally worth it.
Entertaining drunk but otherwiseresponsible people is a blast.
Story 16 I drove a taxi in a Boston suburb for a while in the
1980s. One day, a guy in his 20s
carrying a baseball bat hailed me and asked for a ride to a
nearby pharmacy. It was midday, so I assumed he
was just coming from softball practice.

(20:21):
He told me to wait and went inside, leaving the bat in the
car. A minute or two later, he came
running out with the pharmacist right behind him.
I thought, is this guy nuts? What kind of criminal uses a cab
as a getaway car? I casually reached back and
locked the door just as he reached for it.
He fumble with the handle, realizing he'd left his only
weapon inside and ran off. I let the pharmacist into the

(20:43):
cab and together we slowly pursued the guy while reporting
his location over the radio. Eventually he got so exhausted
that I got out and held him until the police arrived.
Later I had to testify in court and identify him.
Story 17. I was the passenger for this
one, and I've been mortified ever since.
I'd had a miscarriage 5 days earlier, but I was trying to

(21:04):
carry on with my life, mostly toavoid telling anyone why I
needed a few days off, since I hadn't even disclosed that I was
pregnant. I was Ubering to work in a kind
of numb emotional haze. The driver had aggressively
Christian music playing, which was fine at 1st until one of the
songs started going on and on about babies.
It was something like baby Jesusis the holiest thing ever and

(21:27):
you've just got to love him withhis little feet and his little
face and his innocence and all this pure love in your heart
because baby. So I somewhat frantically, half
a degree away from bawling in the Uber, said sorry, can you
change the station? The driver asked why?
I replied I just really need youto change the station.
He pressed further. Do you not like Christian music?

(21:49):
I said please just change the station.
She changed the station and gaveme a weird look for a moment.
I took deep breaths thinking okay this is fine I can keep it
together. She said told just remember this
as see that one time I gave a ride to a panicked atheist seps.
Then I went ahead and cried my eyes out.
Anyway, the driver gave me a rather alarmed look and I sit am

(22:12):
pretty sure her perception of the situation immediately
shifted to that one time I gave a ride to an atheist who might
need an exorcism. She didn't ask anything so I
just stumbled out of the car andwent to work and we exchanged no
more words. Later when I was coming home
from work, I got the same driveragain.
I got in and she immediately turned the radio off and drove

(22:33):
me home in complete silence. Story 18 I picked up a guy from
a club around 5:00 in the evening.
He'd clearly been there a while and was a talkative drunk.
While talking to a friend on hisphone.
He kept saying he couldn't go into detail because he had a
lady driver. He explained he was going home
and then taking his daughter to a basketball game followed by an
after game concert she was excited about.

(22:56):
Little did he know he had been routed to her high school
dressed in a rumpled suit, smelling like the club and
clearly not sober. He handed me a few singles, said
thanks for the ride, Boo, and hitched up his pants like a man
resigned to a situation. Story 19 I drove for Uber and
Lyft for a short time and one ride stands out.
I was driving downtown DSM when I picked up a guy who had just

(23:18):
left a Cubs game. He was loaded with about $400.00
worth of Cubs gear and completely trashed from drinking
all day. The first thing he said when he
got in was I know that's my destination but I need to go to
my hotel first to put all this stuff away.
I said no problem and he told mehow much he appreciated it and
that he would make it worth my time.
I didn't mind waiting since the ride was still active, I was

(23:41):
still making money. He got back in the car and we
started heading toward his original destination about 30
minutes away. We started talking and he
mentioned that he was a beveragedistributor for a company in
California doing some sales in the area.
He asked if I like to drink and when I said I did occasionally,
he asked do you like vodka And handed me a full bottle While I

(24:01):
was in the driver's seat. He explained it was a new vodka
he was trying to get on the shelves of some local bars.
It had originally been created by some ISU students.
When we arrived at his destination he thanked me again
for going out of my way and let me keep the bottle as a tip.
Story 20 I'm a driver myself, but just yesterday I heard a
pretty wild story from a passenger.

(24:22):
He was in Tampa on business and he and his boss got into an Uber
on the way to a meeting. He thought the driver seemed a
little shady, but figured that was just Tampa.
Once they got on the freeway, the driver sideswiped a woman
they pulled over, presumably to exchange information or handle
the accident. The passenger watched the driver
talk to the woman for maybe 30 seconds, then get back in the

(24:43):
car and speed off. They thought that was really
fast for an exchange of insurance info after a pretty
significant collision when in the rear view mirror they saw
cop lights flashing and the car they'd side swiped chasing them
down. The driver let out an
exasperated sigh and pulled overagain, yelling at the
passengers. You cancelled the ride, Get out
of my car. He got out to talk to the cop.

(25:06):
The passengers realized they weren't making their meeting and
that the whole situation was completely screwed, and they
started laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Then they noticed the woman who had been side swiped, standing
on the side of the freeway in the rain, wearing a house shirt
and a shower cap, screaming at them.
She was calling them jerks and worse and they could only
respond. Hey, sorry lady, we're just

(25:26):
passengers in an Uber. Her tone softened a bit.
She realized they weren't makingfun of her and that they were
just friends with the Uber driver.
Then they noticed the driver being arrested.
Now they were stuck on the side of the freeway in the rain with
no way to get to their meeting or even call another Uber.
Since you can't set a pick up onthe freeway.
They asked the officer if he could at least take them to the

(25:47):
next exit and he replied not my problem, figure it out, I'm late
for court. In the end they got a ride from
the woman who had been sideswiped to the nearest gas
station. Story 21 I got a call to pick up
a guy from a bar in Milwaukee, WI where everyone was extremely
drunk. I arrived but he was nowhere to
be seen. Then I get a call from his phone

(26:08):
from some girls saying they've got him and he's over on a
bridge going around the block. I pick him up at the side of the
road in the middle of the bridgeand the girls just dump him in
my car and leave. He tells me to take him home but
there's no address. Head for the airport, he says,
started driving South toward theMilwaukee airport, but he
actually meant the airport in Waukesha, about 20 minutes West

(26:29):
of Milwaukee. I was well out of my way by the
time he got his act together andpunched in the correct address.
We eventually arrived at his place, an apartment above an old
bottling factory or something very dark, isolated, and
strange. He stumbles toward the fire
escape on the side of the building.
As usual, I checked the back seat for anything left behind.
I'd found powder, candy, food wrappers, a box cutter with no

(26:53):
blades, and money before, but inhis case he had left his wallet.
I grabbed it and went out to give it to him since he wasn't
far, barely able to walk. I asked if he needed help
getting into his apartment and he said yes.
I handed him his wallet and put one arm over his shoulder and
the other around his back to help steady him.
Suddenly he cinched his arm around my neck in a headlock.

(27:14):
I wasn't sure what he intended, but I immediately felt in
trouble. He was strong and my neck was
starting to pop and crack. I quickly used a bit of judo.
I threw my arm over his shoulderand cranked it down in a
shoulder lock. Then I stepped in and hip
checked him, which knocked him down since he was hunched over
drunk and completely off balance.
I then heard a button snap and saw him fiddling in his pocket,

(27:37):
so I stepped back, put my hand on the CCWI, definitely wasn't
carrying, and yelled at him to stop.
I was a military cop before thisso that training kicked in
automatically. I never drew a weapon, but from
the way I was yelling, he sure thought I did.
At least until I got back in my car and drove off.
That ended up being my last fareas an Uber driver.

(27:57):
I realized it was ridiculous to put myself in situations like
that for low pay, especially since Uber doesn't allow drivers
to carry protection. If something had happened, I
would have been in serious trouble.
They simply don't pay enough to deal with that kind of risk.
Story 22. One time my friend and I went to
a bar and were immediately approached by three very drunk

(28:18):
men in their 40s. They asked if we could give them
a ride to a nearby hotel. When we hesitated, they offered
$20 and said the bartender couldvouch for them.
The hotel was less than a mile away so we said screw it and
agreed. Then they called over a fourth
guy and all of them piled into my car.
My car is a sub compact hatchback.
There was no way to fit a fourthfull grown man in the back seat

(28:41):
so he just went in the trunk. As we were driving they were
doing their drunken banter when one of them asked are you guys
Uber? The guy in the trunk shouted
back. I'm in the freaking trunk and
you're asking if they're Uber? I almost died laughing.
Totally worth it. Story 23.
I drove Lyft for about a month afew years ago and hated it.
One day I had a pickup near the Flatiron building for a woman.

(29:03):
When I arrived she wasn't there.She called and said she was on
her way. A few minutes later she showed
up with a guy. She told me she'd be right with
me. Both of them were obviously
hammered and started making out right outside the car.
I didn't get much of a look at her, but she was petite and
blonde with a Pixie haircut. She got in and we headed to
Hoboken. She asked me to turn on a Top 40

(29:24):
station, started singing along and we ended up chatting.
She was really excited about thenew Taylor Swift album coming
out any day. We kept talking, friendly and a
little flirty. At one point she leaned forward
and started ruffling my hair. Then she sat back and we went
quiet. The music was still playing, but
I began hearing soft moaning noises.

(29:45):
I looked in the rear view mirrorand realized she was doing her
thing. You know?
This continued for quite a whileand at at no point did she
acknowledge me directly. When we finally reached Hoboken,
she became a little talkative again and asked me to drop her
off at a nearby bar instead of her apartment.
She hopped out without saying anything and walked into the bar
while I watched. Story 24.

(30:06):
I deliver for Uber Eats and one night I went to Hooters for my
third pick up there that day. When I walked in, the customer I
had just delivered to was sitting at the bar.
He recognized me and called me over, then proceeded to chew me
out because his order was wrong.I had no idea idea the bartender
who packed the food and was supposed to do a final check had
sealed the bag before handing itto me.

(30:27):
I accepted responsibility and apologized profusely.
Even though the customer also happened to be a cop.
The bartender just stood there and watched me get chewed out.
She didn't take responsibility, defend me, or ever bring it up
again. I felt so bad that the customer
had to drive 8 miles back late at night, so I went straight
home after work and wrote him a long handwritten apology letter.

(30:49):
I explained that I was still newat Uber, admitted my fault, and
said I had learned my lesson about checking orders myself so
it wouldn't happen again. I also included a $15.00 check
to cover his trouble and mailed it that night.
I never heard from him again until about two months later
when he ordered food again. We joked about the whole thing
and he told me he had kept my letter and check on his

(31:10):
refrigerator, hoping he would see me again.
He returned my check and now I keep it in my car as one of five
mementos I've collected from my time delivering for Uber Eats.
I sometimes go back to that Hooters to eat, but only when
that particular bartender is working.
My meal is much cheaper since she's the only person there.
I never tip. Story 25 I picked up four women

(31:32):
celebrating their friend's divorce.
They were all dressed up in nicedresses and gowns with makeup,
jewelry and perfume and all veryattractive.
One rode up front with me explaining how much of a piece
of crap her friend's ex-husband had been, while the friend
shared how her husband was neveraround, never slept with her,
and never took her out. The conversation turned into
them giving me advice on how to treat a woman, how to approach

(31:54):
them, and how to maintain a relationship.
All things I believed I was doing well.
It was a very wholesome ride. Throughout the ride they
complimented my looks and said Iwas a fun guy, which was great
for myself. Esteem, The friend in front
started asking very personal questions which I entertained.
Things like my ideal woman, how many women I'd been with,
whether I wanted kids, and even my favorite positions in bed.

(32:17):
I had fun with it and she seemedto enjoy it too.
She then asked what part of a woman I loved most.
I said I loved all the parts of a woman who takes care of
herself. This led to her asking about her
own chest as she was consideringimplants and soon all the women
in the car wanted my honest opinion for one friend.
I pulled over so they could showme and get my uncut feedback.

(32:38):
I told them that from what I could see in their dresses, they
all had phenomenal bodies. They weren't satisfied with my
answer, so I pulled over and allfour women proceeded to show me
more. I then drove them to their
destination. My friend invited me to join
them, but in sweatpants and an Overwatch hoodie.
I clearly didn't fit the nightclub dress code.
She thanked me again and handed me $10.00 with her number

(33:01):
written on it. Story 26 I once had a carpool
ride with a Hindi, Pakistani andIsraeli man who had a very
intense conversation about the political climate between their
countries. They weren't arguing, it was
calm, yet deep and intense. They discussed their views,
their perspectives on each other's cultures and the divides
between Hindi and Muslim cultures and Yiddish and Muslim

(33:24):
cultures. I've seen this before, but being
that close to people talking about their differences,
realizing they're not that different, and seeing those
viewpoints shed light on the conflict was striking.
As far as I know, they didn't know each other.
I dropped them off at different locations for different
companies and I doubt I'll ever see any of them again.
But that brief 20 minute conversation confirmed that when

(33:45):
you remove the venom of racial ties, you're left with people
seeking solutions and understanding.
Story 27. My family and I were on vacation
in Chicago and had to make an 11:00 PM flight at O'Hare.
Sounds easy, right? I wish it had been.
We were running late because we'd been sightseeing.
The train was delayed due to construction, so we went back to
the street to find an Uber or Lyft.

(34:07):
I was the one with the account, but my signal kept dropping
between the skyscrapers, making it nearly impossible to book a
ride. Then imagine our luck.
An empty cab sitting at the light, just waiting for us.
Or so we thought. It turned out to be a gypsy cab.
The driver tried to avoid using his meter, but my dad and I shut
that down quickly. Still halfway to the airport, he

(34:28):
pulled over for gas. At least he had the decency to
pause the meter. We rolled up to the terminal
with maybe 30 minutes to spare before departure.
I hustled my sister out of the cab, and we unloaded our bags
like seasoned pros. Meanwhile my parents were
fumbling for cash because surprise, the drivers working
credit machine had magically stopped at the airport.

(34:49):
I half expected him to grab our luggage and speed off.
By the time we got inside, the check and cut off had passed us
by 5 measly minutes. Even without the gas stop our
situation would have been dire. The security line was
practically backed up to the counter.
So instead of flying out, we ended up re booking on a 6:00 AM
flight the next morning and spent the night at the airport

(35:09):
hotel. Story 28 A friend of mine
recently had a ride straight outof a movie scene.
There were originally three of us on the ride, but two of us
were getting off 1st. To make this easier to follow,
I'll call them Friend A and Friend B.
The three of us had been out drinking and clubbing one night
and it continued well into the following morning.
Neither I nor Friend A was drunk, but friend B definitely

(35:31):
was. To get home, we booked a grab
with two drop off points. As mentioned, two of us would
get off 1st and then Friend A would take it the rest of the
way to her house. The grab arrived and we got in
when drunk Friend B suddenly started confessing her love for
Friend A. It's important to note that
Friend A had been in love with Friend B forever.

(35:51):
Naturally, Friend A and I were shocked.
This was completely out of nowhere, and Friend B had
already rejected her a couple oftimes.
Still, she continued professing her love, insisting she was
ready to start a relationship, and crying as she tried to prove
she meant it. I just wanted to disappear, jump
out of the car, and escape the sheer awkwardness.

(36:12):
What felt like an eternity was probably only a 20 minute ride.
At some point, I felt compelled to apologize to the driver for
having to deal with our messy drama so early in the morning.
I did, but he stayed quiet, which made me feel like he was
judging us and not enjoying the ride at all.
We arrived at our first drop offpoint and drunk Friend B and I
got out. She was annoyed because she

(36:33):
insisted I get off alone while she took the cab straight to
Friend A's house so they could talk.
Friend A and I agreed that we needed to sleep things off and
sober up before having any conversations.
After they dropped us off, I made sure Friend B got to her
place safely and then left. On my bus ride home, Friend A
called me to say she was back atFriend B's home.
I told her I was already on the bus and ended the call.

(36:56):
Fast forward after a good bath and a 7 hour sleep, Friend A
messaged me with the full details of what happened.
Apparently after we got off she told the driver her side of the
story how she had loved Friend Bfor a very long time and had
been rejected before. She also admitted she was
doubtful of what Friend B said because she was drunk.
The driver told her that opportunities like that only

(37:18):
happen once in a lifetime, and people tend to be more honest
about their feelings when intoxicated.
He even offered to turn the cab around and take them back to
Friend B's place, which he did. Friend A was so touched by what
the driver did, and we both feltbad for assuming he was judging
us. In fact, he turned out to be a
genuinely cool dude. Hopefully our little drama makes

(37:38):
a good story for him to tell hisfriends or family.
Story 29 One time I was picking up a couple from a bar, as they
were getting in, another guy charged out of the bar and
literally pulled my passenger outside to fight him.
Apparently this guy had been talking crap to the girl all
night, calling her boyfriend nota man and a wuss.
They started throwing punches. My passenger was way too drunk

(38:00):
to fight effectively and ended up bloody and bruised.
It was 3:00 AM and I had had enough.
The bar manager and I had to pull them apart and I told my
passenger get in the car, we don't have time for this and I'm
freaking tired while literally pushing him into the car.
The manager wanted to call the police but we left before that
happened. On the way to the couple's

(38:21):
house, the girlfriend broke up with him, saying she couldn't
believe he never acted like thatbefore and that she was afraid
of him. Another time, I was picking up a
fair just outside a bar down thestreet from a police station.
My car was slightly blocking a crosswalk when a cop knocked on
my window to tell me I was beingticketed.
I tried to explain that I was anUber driver and just picking up

(38:41):
a fair, but the officer wasn't having it.
When my rider got in, I explained why we couldn't leave
immediately. This was just after several
police incidents had occurred around the country, so the rider
immediately pulled out his phoneto film everything just in case.
While this was happening, two men barely an arm's length from
my car started throwing punches over a woman.

(39:02):
All of them were completely drunk, shouting and screaming
right in front of the police. The officers rushed over,
including the one writing my ticket.
He said I'm sorry, I don't have time to finish this, I have to
deal with an actual crime. Then he handed back my license
and waved me on. Story 30.
I'd gotten my hands on some powder meant for micro dosing,

(39:23):
but since I had plenty, my girlfriend and I ended up
tripping on a couple of times. One night we decided to go for a
long walk. At first she was hesitant about
going outside, but eventually I convinced her to step out and
she ended up loving it. It was a cold, crisp, cloudless
winter night with Silver Stars scattered across the sky.
Just gorgeous. We walked and talked for hours,

(39:44):
doing impressions of different comedians.
For some reason we couldn't stoplaughing at Louis CK's line.
They're my little believies while rubbing our bellies and
chests in mock seriousness. Eventually, we wandered into a
grocery store. It was only her second time
tripping, while it was probably my 30th.
Suddenly being thrown back into a social setting unsettled her a

(40:05):
little. She kept asking, Are you sure
the store is open and repeating to other shoppers, This place is
open, right? We're supposed to be here.
Yeah. She was a bit anxious, but not
overwhelmed. I steadied her and together we
picked out some citrus fruit to bring back home.
Her anxiety rubbed off on me as I worried for her.
And when we left the store, thatunease seemed.

(40:25):
To attract some oddness, a couple of ragged pirate looking
kids growled at us as we crossedthe parking lot and the street
lights glared down. We were cutting through the gas
station lot to head home when myspider scents started tingling.
Sure enough, when I turned around I saw a figure I could
only describe as a hunter from Left 4 Dead riding a bike
silently behind us. If you're not familiar with the

(40:46):
game, it's a fast feral zombie in a black hoodie, its face
always hidden in shadow, moving with a low growl as if guided by
scent. This rider perched high on the
bike, weaving back and forth, locked on to us with the same
predatory focus. There was no way we could just
walk home and shake it off, so we stopped to think.
The hunter paused too, circling the gas station lot as if

(41:09):
waiting to see our move. I pulled out my phone and
ordered an Uber, setting the pickup point in the well lit
Home Depot lot across the street.
The driver who picked us up was about to head straight home, but
I realized a bike could probablykeep up, especially with those
crazy hunter legs pedaling whilethe car had to stop and turn.
So I asked if he'd take a slightly longer route that put

(41:29):
us on the freeway for a stretch.We're trying to evade a man on a
bike. He won't be able to keep up on
the freeway, I explained. The driver nodded as if that
made perfect sense, took the route, chatted with us
pleasantly, and delivered us home.
We feasted on pineapple, grapes and watermelon while listening
to Jefferson Airplane and talking, half in wonder, half in
seriousness, about how she mightrepair her family karma during

(41:52):
an upcoming visit. The next time I was paired with
that same driver, he unmatched. Thank you for watching.
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