My dad always said to me when I was young the people on A Current Affair are “Battlers”. They’re the ones that have been been through hardship from an external force. For instance I’ll give you an example. Jo Blo down the road had been fired from his boss and was accused of stealing. Jo Blo decides to sue him and take his story to the media. Inevitably forcing an out of court pay of an undisclosed payment so the matter doesn’t go to court. Generally we hear both sides of the story and 90% of the time we’re on the side of the “battler”. This is one of many examples of the Aussie battler. Other examples include farmers in drought and dodgy door knockers than swindle old ladies out of their money. The list literally goes on. It’s a name and shame show that does see some resolution to the matter at hand.
My first passenger was not a battler though she works for 3D printing company. Their major client is Boeing and requires orders on a regular basis. She didn’t go into great specifics, but one client her company used to service was called Fostex International. They usually deal with audio equipment like speakers and headphones, but one day they requested that the company she worked at build gun triggers. It went against everything they stood for and was most likely illegal without a specific license. What would an audio company do with a bunch of gun triggers? This could mean that many other manufacturing companies are making gun parts on the side. It’s one thing to pride yourself on your industry like Smith & Wesson they’re a gun company they sell guns. No hidden agenda there. Whereas an audio company what on are they doing? I honestly get surprises like this every day.
After I dropped her off I got one lady whose story was somewhat different from your average one. Here we have what my dad would describe as a battler. I picked this lady up at Maccas in Ferndale. She took her time and barreled through the doors of the McDonald’s franchise. Traveling Bags over her shoulder, two big brown paper bags full of burgers and fries, with a massive drink the size of my head. I yelled her name through the window, “yeah that’s me” she answered. She attempted to opened the rear right passenger door, almost dropping her soft drink all over my car seat. I saw it in slow motion tipping. “Your drink!” I yelled. She caught it in the nick of time! “Crikey crumbs, do you need a hand?” “No I’m good, just sorting out my sh#%”. She abruptly answered. She plonked her bags on the backseat in an aggressive manner, but with a smile on her face. Put her food bags on her bags and moved to the front seat to finally sit down. This took a good 5 minutes. Then I asked the stupidest question I ever could have asked someone. “How is your day going?” The response that followed was the most dramatic story I ever did hear. Strap yourself in reader, you’re in for a bumpy ride. Whether you believe it or not that’s up to you, but I was definitely shocked after what she told me. “My day has been awful, we’re going to go get my impounded car at the towing facility in Ferndale, they told me my car was at the wrong one, they dumped me here after they impounded my car” “Why did they impound your car?” I asked. “Well Friday night I was asleep in my car near Lake Whatcom and a tow truck company knocked on my window and said I couldn’t park there. My ex lived nearby, but he has a restraining order on me for another three months. The cops showed up and smelled weed in my car. I work at a weed dispensary and had a lot of product was in my car, they went through all my products and ruined $500 worth it. The Police said I could have cleaned all the spliffs before they arrived and arrested me. They drove me to jail, but on the way there I told them I was diabetic and needed insulin. I wanted them to stop, so I could get some juice, but they wouldn’t. They said no and turned me around and put a needle in my butt. They said it was insulin, but who knows?” I dropped her off at the tow truck place and she said “can you just wait for me?” I replied with “are you going to order me again? You didn’t put a multistop in the app” “yeah I will”. Shocked about the first part of the story, I wasn’t sure what else was going to happen, but she has definitely had a rough few days”. She came back, “looks like my car is at the other tow place after all. Please take me there”. I said “sure thing, please put it in your phone and we’ll head out”. “I’ll do it on the way she said”. I punched in the address on Uber just in case she tried to swindle me. “Do you have the address?” I asked. “No I don’t, just head south on the I5 and I’ll find out.” Her phone died, but lucky I have multiple phone chargers in my car. She plugged her phone and eventually got juice in her phone. She went to order an uber and got another driver, even though she was in my car. She rang and confirmed the address. I punched it in to the uber app and kept heading south. My passenger told me how she spent three days in jail and was ridiculed by the cops. They held her on a DUI charge over the use of weed, even though she was asleep in her car and not driving anywhere. They used the argument, “she could have driven after use”. They released her after not getting enough evidence to hold her. Her car was going to cost $1800 to get out of the towing lot. She told me she would pay me cash on arrival, which she didn’t, she also said Venmo or PayPal, but all her accounts were frozen. Oh and she couldn’t even find her wallet. She had 10 minutes to head into the tow truck office before closing time, so I said “look I’ll sort it out”. She apologised and got all her stuff out of my car. I got a ping from another person immediately. I was obviously mad at possibly losing money here, but I thought I will ring Uber and see what they can do.
I picked up a man who teaches choir and was really in need of printing some pamphlets and flyers. The place I picked him up at ran out of ink. He was in a rush, but I managed to get him to a Kwik and Copy before it closed. Eventually I got to ring Uber about the battler. They reimbursed me immediately. I essentially told them it was a multi trip that she failed to input in the app. Told them she tried to order me again, but it went to another driver even though she was in my car. Uber was very understanding and billed her card, so I can get paid.
My final passenger, was a bloke who works at Pepsi and a fencing company. He wanted to go in the draw to win a cruise for two to the Caribbean since I do Expedia on the side. The draw is in November, so hopefully COVID-19 is over by then. 😓
Two rides Lyft, Three rides Uber. Next up is a Thursday…
