Suber Stories: My Rideshare Journey (eBook)

S. E. Pacheco (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
152 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-5627-6 (ISBN)

Infos

'Suber Stories' shares the remarkable journey of one woman's experience leaving her career as an educator to become an Uber driver. This ultimately leads to her becoming a compassionate caregiver to one of her Uber riders, which prepares her for life's next unexpected turn.

Susan worked as an educator and administrator in her New England hometown for over fifteen years. After leaving her career in education behind, she began her journey into the unknown world of the transportation industry, which led her to become a compassionate caregiver for one of her Uber riders. Her journey inspired her to become an independent author.

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"e;Suber Stories"e; shares the remarkable journey of one woman's experience leaving her career as an educator to become an Uber driver. This ultimately leads to her becoming a compassionate caregiver to one of her Uber riders, which prepares her for life's next unexpected turn. "e;Suber Stories"e; begins by providing readers with some basic Uber education for both drivers and riders alike. It goes on to share the top ten Suber stories as well as accomplishments earned along the way. Finally, the book shares Susan Pacheco's personal journey of Uber driver to caregiver and how that prepared her for what came next in life.

Textauszug

Suber Stories are inspired by true events. However, certain characters, names, incidents, locations, and events have been changed to protect individual privacy.

Story 1: Shopping Plaza Pickup

Once Uber had cleared me to become a partner, it was time to hit the road! It was a warm sunny day in late August of 2016, and I was driving around my city with the Uber driver app on, eagerly waiting for my first alert. Within fifteen minutes, my phone received an alert, and I was excited! I swiped the screen to accept the trip, and my Uber app immediately gave me the rider’s pickup location, a local shopping center just three miles away. When I arrived there, I was unsure of the exact pickup location because the shopping center had seven stores within the plaza. As I slowly drove past each store, searching for someone who looked like he was waiting for a ride, my phone rang, and it was the man who requested the trip. At first, I was confused because although the person on the phone requested the ride, it was not for him. The ride was for his son. By the tone of the caller’s voice, I could sense that he was clearly upset and worried. The caller believed his son was lost and was unsure of his whereabouts. At that point, I assumed I was sent to pick up a lost teenager, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. When I found the man’s son, he turned out to be an elderly gentleman in his mid-sixties named Logan.

As I drove closer to the pickup location, I saw Logan standing in the middle of the parking lot near the thrift store. Logan had a neon green mountain bike leaning on his left side and a shopping cart overflowing with bags on his right side. He was a portly man with sandy gray hair and a perfect physique for playing Santa Claus. Logan was dressed in a worn gray business suit with a stained mismatched button-down shirt hanging from his pants. When I pulled my truck closer to him and rolled the window down, I asked if he was waiting for an Uber, and Logan confirmed that he was.

It was a good thing that I was driving a truck because I had to load Logan’s bike, carriage, and belongings. When Logan entered the vehicle’s front passenger seat, I introduced myself and greeted him with a smile. Still wearing his neon orange bike helmet, Logan turned to look at me and smiled back. I swiped the screen on my phone to start our trip, and away we went. The destination was a local motel approximately twenty minutes from the pickup location. During the drive, I learned a great deal about Logan. He was originally from Boston but had recently relocated to the South Coast and lived at a motel. While on the trip, Logan told me about his father, Robert, who he felt had treated him poorly his entire life and said he had moved to my area to escape his dad. This was confusing to me because if it was true that his father had treated him so poorly, then why was he paying for his transportation? Logan told me about how his father had sold all his tools and a house he owned without his permission. It seemed that, in Logan’s mind, his father was a horrible man; at least, that was how he portrayed him at the time. I immediately knew that something was off with Logan. It seemed he had some mental illness based on his paranoia of the world being against him. As our conversation continued, I did my best to be supportive of him so that he would feel as comfortable as I did during our twenty-minute ride together.

When we arrived at the motel, I quickly helped Logan unload his belongings. As I was about to swipe my phone to complete the trip, he asked me to wait for him to secure his things in his room, so I did. After twenty minutes, Logan finally returned to my truck and asked, “would you mind driving me to my storage unit? It’s just down the road,” he said. Without hesitation, I agreed. When we arrived at the unit, he asked me to wait for him to gather some items to bring back to the motel. At this point, I assumed he only needed to grab a few items quickly, so I remained in my vehicle, playing games on my phone, expecting he would be back sooner rather than later. My thoughts began to wander. I kept thinking, This cannot be a typical trip for riders, but because it was my first trip I really had no idea what to expect—and nothing to compare it to either. Time seemed to pass quickly, as it is easy to get lost in the moment while playing games on my phone. After an hour had passed though, I found myself still waiting for him to return. From my vehicle, I was unable to see what Logan was doing inside his storage unit, so I decided to stretch my legs and take a walk to find out if he was close to finding what he needed in the hope that our time together would end soon, and I could be on my way. As I walked closer to the storage unit, I noticed that even though Logan had moved several boxes to the pavement outside the unit, there still seemed to be countless boxes of various sizes inside. It reminded me of a plate of Chinese food for some reason. No matter how much you eat, the food on the plate never seems to disappear. The endless bottomless pit. The storage unit was packed so tightly from floor to ceiling that it appeared as though nothing had been taken out of the unit at all.

“Are the boxes on the pavement going back to the motel?” I asked.

“No. I had to move those boxes to be able to reach what I needed at the back of the storage unit,” Logan said. “Once I locate what I am looking for, I will let you know,” he continued. I decided to stay close, hoping this would motivate Logan to work faster at gathering his belongings.

Finally, after an hour of watching Logan move items in and out of his unit, he seemed to have located the items he needed. We both made several trips back and forth to load his boxes into the truck. Once Logan confirmed he had gathered everything he needed, I then proceeded to bring him back to his motel. Upon arrival, I helped Logan unload his items and carry the boxes to his motel room.

Once we finished, I said, “Thank you for allowing me to be your driver today. Here is my phone number. Please feel free to call me in advance to schedule any future trips that you may need.”

With a sad puppy dog-like face and big brown eyes, Logan thanked me as he walked toward his motel room door. As I drove away from the motel, I felt sad for Logan and the challenges he faced relocating to a city where he didn’t know anyone. Choosing to live at a motel has its own trials, but having no family close by to help creates additional challenges.

I didn’t know if he would reach out in the future or if this would be our last encounter, but I was happy to have been able to assist him on his trip. Either way, I will always remember Logan as my first Uber rider as he definitely left an impression during our time together.

Story 2: The DJ Dude

It was 11:30 p.m. on a Friday in October, and I had accepted a request to pick up four riders in Rhode Island. When I arrived at the pickup location, four men in their mid-twenties were hanging outside in front of the house. Their pre-party had already begun, as three of the four men were drinking cups of alcohol that they thought they would be allowed to bring into my truck. As three of the four riders attempted to enter the vehicle’s back seat with their booze, I immediately stopped them.

I said, “If it’s against the law to drink alcohol when driving your vehicle or in a taxi, why would you think it’s okay to drink while riding in an Uber?” I then told them that they were not allowed to bring any alcohol into the vehicle and would have to finish their drinks before getting in because I was not willing to jeopardize my license for anyone. To this day, I still do not understand why some people think it’s okay to drink open containers of alcohol in an Uber.

The boys quickly finished their drinks, and three hopped into the back seat while the fourth joined me in the front. While en route to the club, the three riders in the back seat were conversing. I could hear them planning their wingman strategies for the night ahead while the rider in the front passenger seat was making his best play to get me to join him at the club. I told him he must be drunk already because I was old enough to be his mother and had three sons close to his age. He laughed at that and told me that I was a total MILF, and that I would have the best night of my life. I laughed back at him and respectfully declined his invitation, of course. What the hell is a MILF, anyway? I wondered.

The front seat rider told me he was a radio DJ and how easy it was for him to pick up girls at the club because once he tells women he’s a DJ, they all want to go home with him. I couldn’t help but laugh in his face. Obviously, his ego was way too big for what he had to offer, both physically and intellectually, but good for him for living a life of his own delusion. I couldn’t wait to arrive at the club, but we still had a few miles to go, so I figured I would humor myself. I asked, out of curiosity, why he was hitting on me if it was so easy for him to pick up girls. He said he was an old soul and was more attracted to older women. He continued complimenting me on how beautiful and sexy he thought I was and how my eyes were so alluring that he couldn’t help himself. I wondered if I should vomit in his face to wake him up from his fantasies or continue to listen to the...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 20.5.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-5627-6 / 9798350956276