05/27/22

There is just something about driving in bad traffic that just sucks the life out of me.  I am not doing anything physical and setting in a comfortable environment and it still feel like I have been fighting for my life.

I had intended on starting earlier in the morning to catch riders leaving the hotels and heading to the airport, but I decided to catch up on a couple of hours more of sleep.  Even after I turned on the app it was over an hour before I received a request.  As always, once they start, they don't stop and not a single one to the airport.  Thats what happens when you decide to sleep a little later although it was for a good reason.

The first ride was to Howard Station.  From there I was briefly bounced around in Pflugerville until a ride took me to South Austin and my first dose of the bullshit traffic for the day.  From there I ended up in Buda after a second dose of bullshit traffic.  Then a ride to the north for a third dose of bullshit traffic.  A ride that dropped off at Burnet and 183 was close enough for me to set home as the destination and start heading that way.  After dealing with the fourth dose of bullshit traffic, I was close enough to home that I went offline and called it a day, for now.

It was very encouraging hearing a young person speak with respect and confidence.  Especially when they talk about their success in the police academy and how they are working to join the National Guard.  No sir, yes sir sounded great when compared to all of the disrespect that we have been surrounded with for the past few years.  He and his friends were all going to leave Massachusetts and come to Austin Texas.  All his friends backed out and he did it anyway, alone.  He has taken control of his life and is achieving the things that he wants to take on in life.  This was the shortest ride of the day but was by far the most impactful.

8 rides, 10 people, 101 degrees, $97, 4 hours and 48 minutes, 2 curse words (from a rider), 1 seat adjustment, $20 pit stop for a "gas and go", 7 people in right middle seat, 3 people in left middle seat, 1 hydro flask tumble, and 1 gnat smashed and the windshield. 

05/10/22

 Add San Angelo Texas to the list of cities I have driven rideshare in.  Did one ride after an early diner and then another one later so I can get out of the hotel for a moment.  A whopping $12.00 but that was part of the plan.  I was attempting to get at least $30.00 on either Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or all of them, to pay for gas back to Austin.  As it turned out, I simply did not have time to drive any more during this visit to San Angelo.

05/05/22

Lately I have been on the rider side of the Uber service.  In most cases it comes out in conversation with the driver, that I also drive.  Throughout the trip I am comparing the way other drivers do things to the way I do things.  From those comparisons I can decide whether or not I want to integrate something I experienced into the way I do things.  Also, I can make sure I don't do the things that I experience that I don't like.  Not to focus on the negative but here are some things that have irritated me.

- The air freshener in the vehicle that smells like a urinal block in the men's restroom.

- A slow driver that complains about how fast everyone is driving.  The speed limit was 65 and this guy never made it above 60.  Sure, there is pay to the driver for the amount of time that a trip takes but it is not worth getting run over by everyone else that is driving at least the speed limit.

- Comments making fun at someone's luggage.  "That must be your wife's suitcase".  (WTF and no tip for you)

- This is a big one - A driver that sends a message asking if I can cancel the ride shortly after I accepted it, without any reason.  I know the reason.  They are running Uber and Lyft at the same time and received a request for a ride on the other platform that they want to take instead of mine.  This one really gets me riled up.  First of all, I have always made myself available to 1 service, I accept all rides that come in unless I am in a tense moment navigating traffic, and I represent that service well.  In my case it has always been Uber.  Secondly, a driver should never ask the rider to cancel the ride.  The driver is attempting to hide their actions from Uber by canceling the ride and they have a chance of the rider being charged a cancelation fee that would go to driver.  I have no way of knowing why this particular driver requested me to cancel the ride but by that driver not providing a reason why, the situation is suspicious.

At first, I answered the message asking if I could cancel the ride with "No".  "But you can".  However, my phone battery was almost dead, and it kept losing connection so I went ahead and canceled the ride so I could get home.  If a rideshare driver wants to cancel a ride, they can cancel the ride themselves.  A good driver would also send a message to the rider as to why they were canceling the ride before they did so.