Last night's adventures in rideshare land...
Before I hit the road, I stopped at QT. A nice Native woman complimented me on my hair (why do I always get the most compliments when I'm desperately in need of a touch up?) and we started chatting. Turns out we're almost exactly the same age, born in the same month in the same year, and she's also an Uber driver. I friended her on Facebook and told her I'd hook her up with some of the other services that I do like FARE and Postmates.
I started out with a FARE ride, those are always welcome because they pay more. Super nice gay guy, we actually had a really heartfelt conversation about Orlando, he even thanked me for it afterwards. I decided that I wanted to stay in the gayborhood so I headed over towards Charlie's since it was getting close to 2 am. I didn't even get very far in that direction when I got an Uber ping...from Charlie's. :) Took a couple of other gay guys home, then ended up getting called over to a strip club on the West side that I actually wasn't familiar with called Jaguar's (doing rideshare in the middle of the night means you visit strip clubs quite often, so I've gotten familiar with a lot of them, especially on the East side). I picked up two guys from NY who were staying in Scottsdale. Once I was in Scottsdale, I ended up picking up a really drunk guy who wanted me to take him to a "cash point" (apparently a Big Lebowski reference that went over my head even though I've seen it) and then to a convenience store to get more mixers, but after we found a bank, he decided he didn't want the mixers and just wanted to go home. After I dropped him off and drove off, I got about a mile away and got called back to the same exact address, but with a different name. I drove back, and just as I was pulling up, they cancelled. Ooookay.
Then I picked up three younger people, two girls and a guy, from what looked like a mansion party. One of the girls asked me if I smoked and I said not when I was working, then she offered me a hit of her dab pen, I politely demurred, then she asked if she could smoke in the car, I asked her to please not, because the last thing I need is my car smelling like pot. She just kept saying "Well, at least I asked!" like that was supposed to give her brownie points. Sigh.
Then the other girl, who was on the phone, handed it to me and told me that someone wanted to talk to me. Some guy was on the phone and he said that the guy that was with them shouldn't have been, that he had just gotten into these girls' Uber. Phone Guy said that I should stop my car and make Car Guy get out. I told Phone Guy I wasn't going to just kick Car Guy out and abandon him on the side of the road at 4 am in the morning, and I was already on the freeway anyway. Phone Guy got aggressive and was all like "I don't want him knowing where they live" but Car Guy seemed harmless, whereas the Phone Guy sounded like a jerk. One of the girls said just to drop them off at the 5 & Diner nearby instead, and that would solve it. I told the Phone Guy that, and he accepted that solution. When we got to the restaurant, the girls left but Car Guy still needed a ride home, so I took him to Gilbert. We chatted on the way, he was only 18 and a basically a nice kid. I told him what Phone Guy had said, and Car Guy said that Phone Guy was another friend of theirs who was still at the party. Phone Guy had brought the girls to the party and was hoping to score with them, and was jealous that Car Guy had left with them instead. Car Guy was just like "I wasn't even interested in them, I'm just really drunk and I want to go home and eat my spinach and kale."
I did a couple more short rides which luckily were headed in a generally homeward direction. I was hoping to get an airport run, but no such luck. I finished up the morning with a Postmates run, which turned out to be a new vegan place I hadn't heard of called Urban Beans. (I'm not vegan, but I do eat that way sometimes, and lots of my friends are.) It looked pretty yummy, I'm hoping to check it out sometime.
I started out with a FARE ride, those are always welcome because they pay more. Super nice gay guy, we actually had a really heartfelt conversation about Orlando, he even thanked me for it afterwards. I decided that I wanted to stay in the gayborhood so I headed over towards Charlie's since it was getting close to 2 am. I didn't even get very far in that direction when I got an Uber ping...from Charlie's. :) Took a couple of other gay guys home, then ended up getting called over to a strip club on the West side that I actually wasn't familiar with called Jaguar's (doing rideshare in the middle of the night means you visit strip clubs quite often, so I've gotten familiar with a lot of them, especially on the East side). I picked up two guys from NY who were staying in Scottsdale. Once I was in Scottsdale, I ended up picking up a really drunk guy who wanted me to take him to a "cash point" (apparently a Big Lebowski reference that went over my head even though I've seen it) and then to a convenience store to get more mixers, but after we found a bank, he decided he didn't want the mixers and just wanted to go home. After I dropped him off and drove off, I got about a mile away and got called back to the same exact address, but with a different name. I drove back, and just as I was pulling up, they cancelled. Ooookay.
Then I picked up three younger people, two girls and a guy, from what looked like a mansion party. One of the girls asked me if I smoked and I said not when I was working, then she offered me a hit of her dab pen, I politely demurred, then she asked if she could smoke in the car, I asked her to please not, because the last thing I need is my car smelling like pot. She just kept saying "Well, at least I asked!" like that was supposed to give her brownie points. Sigh.
Then the other girl, who was on the phone, handed it to me and told me that someone wanted to talk to me. Some guy was on the phone and he said that the guy that was with them shouldn't have been, that he had just gotten into these girls' Uber. Phone Guy said that I should stop my car and make Car Guy get out. I told Phone Guy I wasn't going to just kick Car Guy out and abandon him on the side of the road at 4 am in the morning, and I was already on the freeway anyway. Phone Guy got aggressive and was all like "I don't want him knowing where they live" but Car Guy seemed harmless, whereas the Phone Guy sounded like a jerk. One of the girls said just to drop them off at the 5 & Diner nearby instead, and that would solve it. I told the Phone Guy that, and he accepted that solution. When we got to the restaurant, the girls left but Car Guy still needed a ride home, so I took him to Gilbert. We chatted on the way, he was only 18 and a basically a nice kid. I told him what Phone Guy had said, and Car Guy said that Phone Guy was another friend of theirs who was still at the party. Phone Guy had brought the girls to the party and was hoping to score with them, and was jealous that Car Guy had left with them instead. Car Guy was just like "I wasn't even interested in them, I'm just really drunk and I want to go home and eat my spinach and kale."
I did a couple more short rides which luckily were headed in a generally homeward direction. I was hoping to get an airport run, but no such luck. I finished up the morning with a Postmates run, which turned out to be a new vegan place I hadn't heard of called Urban Beans. (I'm not vegan, but I do eat that way sometimes, and lots of my friends are.) It looked pretty yummy, I'm hoping to check it out sometime.