It gets cold and people stay home - whats up with that?!?

So I woke up at 7am with all intentions of airport driving and focusing on my Lyft score but some serious anxiety kicked in about working the Airport for the first time...   Contacted my Lyft mentor, Art and he said that's to be expected, you've gotten the hang of picking up jovial drunks, Airports are a different ball game, high stress business travelers running late for a meeting expect more from their driver - water and barf bags dont cut it but you have 110v in you car, they eat that up!   Nothing like being able to give them a charge on their laptop computer and give them Wifi by hot-spotting your phone...

Great pep-talk, thanks Art, I know you read these!   But no, I didn't drive airports, I stuck to my comfort zone, jovial drunks!  :P

Tonight was insanely slow, probably didn't help that it was cold outside...  I did focus on driving for Lyft as I was encountering a problem where I was missing rides and I fell to a 50% acceptance rate which isn't acceptable by their standards...  Problem truly lies in the software and alert system, I can be in any screen and I know there is an uber request, it's loud!  Even tonight when I was only logged into Lyft and it was up on my screen I caught a request in the last second - had I not looked down I would have missed it...   I like to park and people watch while waiting, and the audio is streamed to my Bluetooth headset, like I said I cant miss an uber request...   I sent an email to Lyft support to see if there is an enhanced notification setting like the Uber app has...   Enough of that!

So I shaved, did my hair and dressed up tonight, washed the Avalon, stopped by Albertsons, bought some candy canes, waters and some Kleenex (Was requested last night, all I had was a fast food napkin)..   I also pulled the sub out of my truck and installed it to replace the blown sub in the Avalon, music sounds more rich now...   So the night started about 8:00...   Unfortunately Lyft is about 2 days behind where uber's dashboard is immediate so I have to do this from memory..

Ride 1 - Lyft - Picked up a young lady in YL needing a ride to Rite Aid...   I asked her if she wanted me to simply drop her off or wait...   She said drivers never wait, I said it's only 8, it's slow and I'll be more than happy to wait, it's $.18 per minute, she said I'm just getting Ice cream to take to my friends...  I waited 2 minutes, she got back in with a redbull for me :)   She then totally ran up her bill as she didnt know how to get to her friends house from there, she took us about 5 miles way out of the way to where she knew how to get there, basically from her house...   I could have gotten her to her friends house in under 2 miles had she given me the address or even told me it was in Eastlake, not Black Gold - oh well!   She arrived safe and the Ice cream didnt melt :)   She tipped me 5 from the app, on top of the $3 redbull....   Thank You!

Drove back home online to get a jacket - no pings so started slowly making my way to CSUF and got a ping off princeton...

Ride 2 - Lyft - Waze took me up Yale and I instantly recognized where I was, it's the street where they use clear cups to create big hanging balls of light, it's beautiful, I drove slow forgetting I was on a call and enjoyed it for a bit...   turned down Princeton and they too now have lights up, Using my Tac light I identified the house/party my rider was at...  I hear a lady yell "Jeff?" and up walks this gorgeous young lady, she hops into the passenger seat and we're on our way...   She says it's a short trip but it felt like hours...   Good hours...   we discussed the history of the lights, recent terror events and what not...  Unfortunately we arrived at her house way too fast...   She asked if she could ask a question, I obliged, she said she noticed the ring dent but my color was equal, she said you havnt worn a ring in a while...  I said no, it's been a while...   She said are you open to dating?  I said depends...  She grabbed my phone, ended the ride, gave herself 5 stars and proceeded to add herself as a contact and called her phone...  she said "Ill be in touch" a quick grab of my hand and she was out the door...   God I hope so!  :)

Ride 3 - Uber - I was close to DTF and full of happiness so I went down towards the fray - grabbed a cool guy (Kevin) headed to the Orange Circle - he said DTF was dead and his friends were claiming the Circle was the hotspot - we were there in a few minutes, he hopped out and I went offline to go grab some dinner...  

So, as I'm in the drive through I see some flashing lights in the floorboard of my passenger seat - it's an iPhone  - oh boy, my first lost item in my car...  I reached down and answered the call - fortunately it was kevin, but did wish it was Jayme's (Rider 2)...   I drove back to the bar and he gave me $5 for my inconvenience...   much appreciated...

Sat in the parking lot while I scarfed my hot dogs from Weinerschnitzel...    Got a ping for a couple right around the corner...

Ride 4 - Lyft - a nice college aged couple heading just up the street...   Pretty sure they both majored in debate, as thats all they did from the time I picked them up until I dropped them off...   She was very fond of the fact I had Cherry candy canes and kept betting him her strawberry candy that she was right...   They had been drinking double IPA's all night...  the guy asked my opinion and I said does that mean double the "Moobs?"  (Man Boobs, IPA has been known to increase breast size in men) - I'm lucky she didnt pee in my car she was laughing so hard...  Dropped them off safely and they gave me a $5 tip electronically - highest so far! thanks!

Was close to the Anaiheim arena and the Ducks had a game, quick ping...

Ride 5 - Lyft - Kings Fishouse...   very cool couple informed me the Ducks lost 5-1 (BUMMER) - they were headed to Jamboree in north Tustin...   Nice couple who's profile showed 2 cute kids... They were out for date night, a game and some dinner...   Had a bad Uber experience on the way there - as she put it, the car smelled like pee, the driver was smoking (she smokes too but wasn't fond) and he drove erratically so she downloaded Lyft for her ride home...   she saw I had both Uber and Lyft up and asked about how it works...   About a mile later I explained it and apologized for her experience...   she gave him a 3 star rating, I explained how it works and she wished she had done 1 star...   At this point Tony began snoring...   I told her while he wasnt the first to fall asleep, he was the first to snore loudly...   She said he'll be proud of that!   Arrived at their house and again a $5 electronic tip!   Thanks guys!

I headed back up Jamboree to go over the hill towards the Fox Fire and got pinged on Lyft again...

Ride 6 - Poor couple...,   Not poor but I felt bad, I had to have passed them while they were searching for service, neither Uber nor Lyft would come up for them at the house they were at...  they literally walked 3/4 of a mile before Lyft went online - I headed back to them and picked them up on a dark street by an equestrian center - it was *45 out...   cranked the heat for them and headed to their home...   She said we live in the poor part of orange hills...   Pulled into her gated community and up to a 3000+ sqft home - I wasn't about to debate poor as there was a Bentley in the driveway to the right and a Tesla in the drive to the left...     So this was her first time on Lyft, she asked me to help close out the ride, meanwhile the husband/boyfriend handed me a $5 tip...  she yells at him, he picked us up in God knows where and you only give him $5?!?    I assured her I got paid for the ride too but she wasn't having it, I got to the tip screen and was going to hit $0 and she hits the $10...   OK...   I wish them well and get an instant ping, from the same neighborhood...   It was her again, they were inside by now so I called her and asked if she needed another ride, she said no, I just wanted you to get more, do what you need to do to complete the ride - drive wherever and close it, I'll tip again...   I drove 1 block to be able to close the ride, $4 + another $10 tip...   I sent a message to Lyft that it was a double and should be credited back, they responded no, she confirmed both trips and tips...   thank you for trying to be nice but we consider this a valid fare...   15min, 4.5 miles, $15 in fares, $20 in electronic tips and $5 cash...  Thanks!

Went offline to get back north and find a place to pee...   My phone gets a text - it's Jayme :)  "Brunch tomorrow, my treat?"   - my response, "I'll pick you up tomorrow at 9:45, Lazy dog?" he response was priceless...  "Crap I forgot you know where I live already, please dont be a creeper!"   I dont have time to be creepy...  

PING - Uber by the In and Out off Imperial and La Palma...

Ride 7 - Uber - Picked up Devin who just got a tattoo, works for the aerospace industry and manages a pizza place...   pulled a barf bag just in case and gave him 2 waters...   Nice ride, no puke...   gave him 2 driver codes as he was considering driving and my $50 lyft code as he had never heard of it...

Devin's drop was right by DTF so I camped and chatted with a new uber driver - it was 1:30+ and I wasnt getting any hits, he said he was there for 30min and finally got one...   with fears of puke in my car I bailed...   I needed some sleep - forgot I left Lyft on...

Ride 8 - Lyft - Thank God Shawna needed to go from campus to the Barn - less than a quarter of a mile...

Turned everything off

3:00 - Jayme, "Are you still working"...   Text ignored until tomorrow morning...   Is that bad?

Uber/Lyft on!

Jeff