It was another momentous day for the rideshare industry yesterday in Austin, because NIT Stu was on the streets. In a 2014 Jeep Compass with a lot of dust on it (haven’t had a good storm in a while here) and a big dent from that big drunk dude who tripped into the quarter panel this summer (it was a funny prank, albeit an unintentional one), I ferried 16 sets of passengers to their respective destinations (kind of a slow day). Here were the memorable ones:
A Remarkable Feat
I’ve taken a lot of rideshare rides out of airports as a passenger. Perhaps you have too, dear reader. Do you share my impression that it’s really hard to set a pickup location anywhere but the designated rideshare pickup area? I can’t hear your answer right now, so I’m going to assume you do, indeed, share that impression.
This woman pulled it off.
Somehow, a woman who, from the one-square-centimeter picture she’d chosen to represent her account, appeared to be 68 years old, managed to set a pickup location at departures. I have no idea how she did it. But I went there to try to pick her up.
Of course, she wasn’t there. I tried calling and she didn’t answer. She was likely in the midst of a tormenting bout with technology, and hopefully she got herself a ride in the end. But hopefully she also knows that she accomplished something very impressive in the process.
Purple Belt
One of my last rides of the night (after this ride, I thought I saw that New Hampshire ‘Old Man in the Mountain’ in my passenger-side mirror, prompting me to head towards home) was a guy with a mustache. I knew this ahead of time because in his picture, he had a mustache.
Mustaches are exciting. I hope you share this view, dear reader. As a driver, it’s impossible for a mustachioed passenger to be boring (editor’s note: had to change this from ‘it’s impossible for a mustache ride to be boring’ but don’t want Stu to get away with having tried to write that online). Even if they’re silent, there’s a certain thrill to knowing that a mustache is sitting in your back seat.
In this case, the man wasn’t silent. He was having a great night. He’d just gotten his purple belt in jiu-jitsu, and he hadn’t expected to get it last night, and he was so darn excited. I’m excited too. It sounds like he’s worked really hard for it, and he said martial arts have been a huge positive in his life. Cool that he shared all that excitement with me. Congratulations, guy.
Herb
Normally I don’t want to share passengers’ names (because I’m assuming there’s a rule against that), but it’s worth noting that I started this ride by pronouncing “Herb” like the plant instead of the name. I didn’t say the H. Hopefully, in the midst of the car door opening and closing, Herb didn’t notice.
Anyway, Herb seemed like he was having a bad day.
“How’s your day going?”
“Well, I made it through, and tomorrow’s Friday, so I’ve almost made it through the week.”
*Puts headphones in and slumps*
Hope Herb’s night got a bit better from there. At least it’s Friday.
New Job
I picked up a woman from her I’m-leaving-my-job happy hour. Sounds like it was a good time, based on her saying, “Yeah, it was time for me to get out of there.” There being the happy hour, not the old job.
She’s a marketer, and she’s going to go work for a bigger, older company than she’s used to, and she doesn’t like their product, but she thinks maybe that will help her be more objective? She was nice. Doesn’t think she’ll have kids because Austin’s getting too expensive (this was unprompted, I swear I don’t go around asking professional women whether or not they’ll have kids).
Bad Luck
It was a ride to the airport (the one that preceded the older lady’s duel with technology), and the app tried to take me through a completely-closed-off street that looks like it’s been completely-closed-off for a while. Since I then got stuck at a light trying to turn around, the passenger cancelled on me. Then, five minutes later, I got a request from the same passenger who had just paid me five dollars because she was in a hurry and I’d messed up. Poor woman. We acknowledged it. I said the wrong airline when asking where she was being dropped off. She corrected me. I hustled to the airport.
Spies?
They were a young couple with European accents who just moved to Austin. They said they’d been in Germany, but the government moved them back here. Back was their word, not mine. I was confused. I’ve had another person I thought was a spy. Wish I remembered those details. Hopefully they didn’t bug my car. Either way, they were also very nice. Told me to go visit Germany. A lot of my ancestors are from there. There, and The Internet™.
Bartender/Photographer
I was taking this guy to work, and I asked how this specific bar he works at is to work at, and he said it was pretty good but that he’s thinking about leaving. We talked about side hustles for a bit (common topic in rideshares), and he mentioned his photography business has been growing. He’s been photographing bands.
When this guy was a kid, he wanted to be photographer. At some point, though, he gave up on the dream. Then, he came back to it with an internship in an adjacent field. Left it again after that, though. Now, he’s back at it, and it’s starting to pay off.
Excited for him.
Hiccupping Woman
I’ve been terrified of someone vomiting in my car since I started doing this. It hasn’t happened yet. I’m mostly scared because I feel like I’ll mess up the reporting process and not get the money to get the car cleaned. They don’t really teach you what to do when these things happen, which is why they refused to pay for the dent that guy this summer put in the quarter panel with his inebriated heft.
Last night was, I think, the closest I’ve come, because a woman I picked up on South Lamar slurred her words, hiccupped loudly the whole trip to her home on the East Side, and dropped her phone at one point, which prompted her to do the thing where you reach too far down and kind of fall forward even though you’re sitting.
We made it, though. Still clean.
On the inside.
Outside’s dusty.
