One of my Uber Chronicles stories.
My next passenger is six minutes away. I find myself at a community college; it’s a nice-looking campus. As I approach my passenger, he thoughtfully waves his hand to identify himself to me. I appreciate this tremendously. He gets in the front seat.
He’s in his early 20s, Latino, thin and medium height. He is studying international business law and will soon move on to a four-year school where he can continue with his studies. He will add on a degree in cyber security for a double major.
After telling me about himself, he says, What about you? So I give him the short version of my life on the career and professional side of my story. He tells me he is a casual user of Uber, having taken maybe 20 rides, all told.
He asks why I do Uber, and I tell him how I had visions of getting mad surge-pricing fares after the blizzard this past winter when 26 inches of snow fell in a few days. He tells me he is from Venezuela, how he had never seen snow before the blizzard, how excited he was to stock up on food with the impending storm coming, how fascinated he was to be stuck inside for a few days and how fun it was to open his front door and stick a can of soda outside in the snow to chill it. Sometimes it’s the little things in life, eh?
His ride is short, a $4.91 trip home. We say goodnight.
Key experience: The world is new to him; it’s lovely to see things through his eyes, if even for a moment.
