Tonight is about the Rite of passage, the right hand turn and the Writing of a ticket.... You can make 3 right hand turns to make a left, seems silly however sometimes it faster - while that wasn't the right hand turn I was referring to, it kinda describes my day today, a bit silly to say the least... Before I proceed, I finally got approved for advertising - I haven't seen it yet, but please let me know if it seems too invasive - speaking of advertising, I have new codes as well for both new riders and new drivers... let me know if you're interested in either....
So without further ado, drum roll please....
Fare 1 - Uber - An elder Indian lady (was going to say Dot, not Bow and Arrow, but that would sound racist I think) from Southern India visiting her engineering grad student daughter at CSUF. Nice lady, very kind but we had a bit of a language barrier - she said "Music?" I turned on KEarth 101 and she started jamming to Phil Collins... the 30 Min drive to south Irvine was nice but very quiet... We arrived and she placed her hand on my shoulder and said something I couldn't understand, she was full of smiles and it felt like a good thing so I said thank you and headed out...
This was my rite of passage moment... first time I couldn't really communicate with a rider but was still able to get her to her destination and feel as if she was thanking me for a safe ride home... She could have been saying "you drive like crap" but I prefer the former...
Many of you are familiar with the Irvine area, I was close to the Sand Canyon / Alton Pkwy exit on my last drop - Alton is a wide street with a 50 MPH Speed limit, I was in the number 1 lane (farthest to the left) - I dont recall the cross street but I had Uber ping #2 up so I was close to Jamboree and all of a sudden this Porsche Cayenne decides to make a right turn and go to the far lane in front of me... Should I have been in my truck there would have been damage, but the Avalon is a very nimble car - I jumped 2 lanes to the right and controlled an over steer skid that scared the crap out of me... Fortunately there wasn't much oncoming traffic so I had some time to correct the direction of the car... The Cayenne actually pulled over thinking I hit the curb... I pulled along side and the driver asked me if I was OK, very courteous, I said aside from scaring me to death it worked out OK - no damage, no problem... He apologized profusely as he didn't see me... My guess is he was on his cell phone....
Fare 2 - Uber - Jon - Pickup from the most ridiculously designed strip malls in Irvine - took us 10 minutes to get out - quick run to UCI - he and his friends had their faces glued to their phones the entire ride home, so not much to say... the back passenger did hand me a $1 tip however which was a nice gesture...
I forgot to mention earlier, I had stopped to grab a redbull and saw a Carolina Panther's hat on sale so I grabbed it and was wearing it all night... I was pretty amazed at how many Bronco fans there are.... LOL
Fare 3 - Lyft - Picked up a nice couple just off back bay - they got in and she began to tell him that she was having sharp pains in her abdomen... He had her describe everything and it surely sounded to me like appendicitis... I was an EMT for 3 years, a Wilderness Emergency care tech and am currently member of local CERT teams so I start to go into emergency mode and offer a ride over to Hoag... He said, dont stress it, she gets like this every time she drinks... I asked what she was drinking and he said Coors Light... I then thought back to my family, I have 3 people that I know are Gluten intolerant - mentioned that and he said "Good diagnosis, Dr., I've been telling her that since we met but she wont buy it, maybe hearing your second opinion now will make her listen" turns out he was a 3rd year med student over at UCI.... Upon dropping them off he shook my hand with a $5 bill and said - "I'm impressed".... Not sure how to take that from a 25 year old but the tip was appreciated... Oh, he also said GO PANTHERS... LOL
Fare 4 - Uber - Mary, Such a sweet lady, a widower at 62, her husband recently passed away from pancreatic cancer... F\/(k Cancer!!!!! He was a F14 pilot and flew thousands of sorties, yet cancer took him from her, not the Jet she feared... The ride was a short one, right by the pier in Newport - she exited the car and said go Cardinals..., she was a bit tipsy but I understood...
I headed to the pier to chill for a moment and honestly mentally re-coop from that ride... I love it when riders share their stories but some hit very close to home - I cant even begin to think of how cancer has injected it's poison into my life, 2 moms and a father in law... again F\/(k Cancer!!!!!
As I chilled on the pier I watched a father and son pull in a sculpin... The son reached in to grab the fish bare handed and the father slapped his had away - the father did this out of fear and love, (Or the desire to not have to go to the ER) - the sculpin has a spiny fin that will easially pierce the flesh of a hand and will inflict a large amount of pain and suffering... He dropped the fish to the ground and hugged his son - it was a nice moment to see... Actually I needed to see that due to the mood I was in!
After a while I picked back up where I left off - Grabbed a corn dog and a lemonade and got an Uber Ping...
Fare 5 - Uber - Kim, All the way down by "The Wedge" I picked up Kim - she was a sweetheart, dressed to the 9's not wanting to go out but her friends from college were in town... a quick run up to Staggs...
Fare 6 - Uber - 2 couples, they offered me a doughnut... I love doughnuts so took them up... YUMMMMMM... A quick run up superior and dropped them off in the same complex I used to live in....
I was starting to get a bit tired and I actually have good plans for tomorrow seeing some family so I figured I'd head home... As I bee-lined to Fullerton I saw my area was in a 3x surge so I went online, sure enough I found a 5x rider going from Brea to Anaheim... Way too good to pass up...
Fare 7 - Uber - Daniel, picked him and his friend up near the Mall - they were headed to the Ultra Lounge... I did this run last night so I knew the back way in... Really long story short we headed out, I turned right on Randolph right by the PD, as we passed the mall I got lit up by a patrol officer. He came to my window and asked if I knew why he stopped me... normally I would but in this instance I couldn't figure it out so I said "I honestly don't know", it was then things got funky - he said I made an illegal U turn, however I had not made any... I informed him I had a fare and was online - he expeditiously took my cards and came back with a ticket... Daniel, good dude tried to talk the officer down, stating our exact route but it wasn't happening... Once the arguing began I shut it down - "I'm online and need to get my fare to their destination, if there is nothing further you need from me I ask if I am free to go" The officer said yes so I followed up with, "If you'd like this to hold up please join me in court, Uber logs my entire trip from request to drop-off, I will have evidence that proves I did not do a u-turn..." He said see you in court... The rest of the trip was Daniel being upset by the ticket and his friend trying to calm him down... He gave me his number and said, "Dude, I'll be a witness" - I told him I didn't need it, technology will prove my innocence - we're in a day and age that not only was Uber tracking me, my dash cam was recording everything - it's a slam dunk! I pulled up on the backside of the Ultra Lounge and pointed them in the right direction - he gave me his card and let me know he had my back, I appreciated it... He then handed me a $20 to say for the gas to court... I refused it but it was in my back seat as I pulled away...
I was pretty much over driving at this point, I mean really how many rights do I need to take in one night... Tomorrow I plan on enjoying the game, maybe I'll drive, maybe I'll uber myself home...
GO PANTHERS!
#UberOn #RideDrunk #NoRightTurns
Jeff
See the entire blog here: http://uberjeff.blogspot.com/
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