Uber Life Stories Part 1

Uber allows driver and passenger to know each other by name even before they meet. The app shows the name of the driver and the brand and model of his vehicle. He’she calls when one minute away and says “hello Annie”. I respond by calling the driver by his/her first name and this also helps validate if I am riding on the vehicle that’s really picked by the Uber app.

When you’re on first name basis, what do I do during the trip? Of course there’s an intimacy or a bond between the driver and I, this leads to long conversations about life which do not end even after we have reached my destination. A few times the driver parked for an extra 10 minutes so he could finish his life story.

Here are a few stories I could still remember:

Driver 1— Nov 8, 2016
Sixty six years old, a sagittarius, and a retired school teacher. Did not get married till he was 50 years old. He met his wife under a starry night. He and his wife enjoy just sitting under a dark sky and watching the constellation.

Driver 2—Brittany, a 23 pretty black girl who moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas with her boyfriend because they found good jobs as medical assistants. She has a full time job and only drives Uber on weekends and holidays.

Driver 3— Maria, 60+ a Latina from Mexico City. She and her family moved to Las Vegas because of the low cost of living and better life for them. She drives Uber for 4 hours a day and stops before it gets dark. She hates Trump and is worried about the new president’s treatment of Mexicans.

Driver 4—

For the first few days all the Uber guys I chanced upon were of foreign descent. I was beginning to conclude that there are no white Uber drivers until this particular morning. My appointment was at 9 am and he was there waiting at the Uber pick up spot even before I clicked uberx. He said he started early and was actually thinking of going home to have breakfast. Perfect timing, the office I am going to is in Southwest, the same area as his residence.

The pink water jug belongs to his daughter.

Driver 5— Nov 12, 2016
His name is Abdullah and he speaks a good amount of Tagalog words. He greeted me kumusta ka mabuti. He has many Filipino friends. He worked for several years with Filipinos onboard a cruise ship in Miami. He said Filipinos are fun loving and they like to joke around. He said “they joke on you and if you get mad the more they will tease you nonstop.
He said his Filipino workmates like karaoke. “They eat and drink too”.

Abdullah moved to Boston from Miami in 2008. Then left for Utah, then moved to Las Vegas because of the sunny weather and low cost of living.

Driver 6—- A black guy who is very articulate in English, he comes across as someone educated. He did not vote for Trump and was disgusted that he won. He is worried about Trump’s being racist and not sincere according to him. He said Uber advised them to be apolitical but he said he is just worried what will happen for the next 4 years under Trump.

Driver 7— A Vietnamese who used to drive Uber in Philadelphia. He and his wife always vacationed in Las Vegas when they were still living in the east coast. They liked the dry sunny weather in Vegas which according to him is good for his son’s asthma and his skin allergies. They sold everything in Philadelphia and opened a Vietnamese restaurant in Las Vegas. The monthly rent was $4,500 plus utilities. He lost money. After 15 months of operation, he closed the restaurant and has been driving Uber ever since. He also sells shrimps to restaurants. He takes their orders then he goes to the supplier, picks up the crates of shrimps and deliver to his customers. He said he would like to increase his number of customers to 50 so that he could earn $5,000 / month extra, aside from his earnings from Uber. His wife works in a beauty salon as manicurista. He advised me to go to Chinatown to get a foot massage for $29 plus $20 tip. I asked why the tip is too high. He said the foot massage feels good. He said he massages his wife’s neck and shoulder to make her feel relaxed but he cannot do feet massage so they just go to Chinatown once a month to get a foot massage.