It wasn’t the most thirsty Thursday I have had, but it came close. My first ping from uber was an 18 minute trip. Then a glitch I couldn’t accept the ride. Uber says this is usually due to low networking capabilities. It’s frustrating, but it probably is my phone network provider instead of the app.
The first two guests were an elderly couple from Boston. They have lived in Bellingham for the last 35 years. The pickup was short compared to what I could have had. Oh well it’s better than nothing I thought. I proceeded to the trailer park where the pickup zone was. Nope, nowhere to be found. Gosh. Rang them, “We’re by Whole Foods”. Come on uber, when are you going to fix this problem? It’s the next property over! Ay yi yi. The old fella told me he has family in Perth. “You ever been over to Australia?” “No, just have family there”. The trip was over before I knew it. They just didn’t want to cart the groceries up the hill. I understood because I’m old now too. Hills are horrendous.
Following on from there drop off I got a ping down the hill. Two people, one male and one female, they were off to brunch. Perfect. The guy was from New Jersey, not Old Jersey. I think I told him I hadn’t met anyone from there, I honestly couldn’t remember if I had or old. Getting old ya see. Crotchety. Knees doing strange things. Weight gain. Aches in pains in back and wrists. Okay I’m 32, but archaeology has crippled me. Honestly it’s probably my diet or lack of exercise. Driving people around you’re just sitting. It’s a shame cars don’t have a bike component so you can move them muscles sitting at a light. Could be an extra hybrid component whilst waiting on long trips or drives. Anyway tangent. The lady works at Zoom Zoom coffee and the bloke works with autistic children. A rewarding job. They asked me what I do. “I eat terrible food and get fat for a living, I’m an archaeologist actually”. Questions about lost cities, far off lands and jungles came up. I responded with my coolest experiences about Cambodia etc. They loved it and thanked me for the drop off.
Then I had a CEO of a construction company. I’ll be seeing you later for potential work in Seattle. The amazing thing about Uber and Lyft is that the amount of potential clients you meet on a day to day basis. It’s extraordinary. When I was just purely an archaeologist I didn’t know the best way to approach a client unless my boss had done the hard yards for me. Now I have built up a massive client base if I ever do archaeology full time again. I have numbers, business cards, emails, and now clients know my name and my experience. Lyft and Uber has helped me from a customer service point of view. It makes me realise how important that final report really is for people. In my past I would just write it and not think about the end result as much as I should have. This whole ride share experience has been extremely important. I highly recommend it or suggest it to people who have never had a proper customer service job in their life. The only one I had prior to this was a newsagent, but that is literally just selling lottery tickets, newspapers and playboy magazines to the local perve. “G’day Arnold, same as before?” “Yeah mate check out this Sheila she’s got really big…” Anyway moving on as I was saying do ride share to boost your customer service skills.
The following customer was a refinery worker who had been laid off a day before. It apparently wasn’t a bad thing. She travels the country going to different refineries as required to be apart if a firewatch team. She fell into the industry about 10 years ago and was in Bellingham for three weeks. She was ready to go home back to the warmth of LA. Down there she can get many jobs as a firewatch inspector. Today she needed to go a bank in Bellingham from a Motel 6 in Ferndale, then go back again. That’s crazy. I guess she wanted to bank that cheque. I drove her down and told her to update her trip so I can wait for her. More money for me you see. She didn’t mind at all. On the way back to her hotel I stopped at the round about to get on the freeway. A bogan behind my vehicle honked at me. Um why? I can’t go yet. He honked again. There’s friggen cars dude! I honestly can’t go. My passenger was shocked at his behavior. Disgusting. My hand had some kind of reaction to his behaviour where my middle finger extended and pointed upward toward the sky. My passenger laughed at my reaction. I was surprisingly calm. My inner self, thought about chucking a water bottle at his car from his stupidity. It’s almost like he wanted me to tbone the oncoming traffic. Beside me was a giant campervan, so none of us could see past it. Unless he had x-ray vision, he was being a total ass. You might even say he had a few roos loose in the top bloody paddock!!
Then I got a ping at the airport. She started speaking to me in French. Really wasn’t prepared for this, even though I put French as my second language on my uber app. When doing my archaeology degree in 2005 to 2008. I needed a language to graduate. Spanish wasn’t on offer, which I really wanted to learn at the time because I love the accent and the way it is used. It’s a romantic language for sure, just like French. I picked French instead of German, Mandarin, Indonesian or Swahili. Okay Swahili wasn’t actually an option either, but you probably get the gist. I interjected, “bonjour mon ami, hang on speak slower, I said I speak French but not that good, fair dinkum”. She laughed and said ” well I’m a retired French professor who lived in France for a few years”. “Yeah I never lived there”. Might have to take French off of my uber app. I was not prepared for a lengthy conversation in French. We ended up reverting to English. I can’t think like that driving, that hurt the one brain cell that probably still has any French left in my brain. Far out brussel sprout! She was in town visiting her daughter in Lynden from Denver. I asked her about Denver and consuming alcohol at higher altitudes. She doesn’t even notice it. Probably acclimated to the conditions. The professor pointed out a good seafood place on Hannegan Rd. They have king salmon. Need to try that.
Next was a few students. One was studying law and was literally doing it for the money. Yep. Money helps.
Then finally a lady who had just had an interview for a security guard role. She had been unemployed since 2017. Wow why? She had brain surgery to remove blood clots. Oh crikey. You poor thing. It didn’t seem like she had brain surgery at all. She was a sweet lady with a chipper attitude. I hope she gets it, she said she was nervous. Hopefully they understand her predicament. She told me she can get disability payments but after you fill out all the forms it can take up to 6 months to see a dime. I said “That’s the government for ya, the tortoise not the hare is their mascot, slow and steady wins the race”.
Uber 2 trips Lyft 5 trips. Next is Fruitful Fridays. Lyft by the way emails you your comments and compliments. See below.
