This shift was a whopper, but I’ll try and narrow it down to the highlights. Including one of my first passengers who wanted to work in forensics. She told me that Washington State was a hub for mass murderers including Ted Bundy, one of the Hillside Stranglers, and even Jack the Ripper. Now two of the claims I believe, but Jack the Ripper? That’s a totally different country for starters and why would he go all the way to White Chapel on a boat to kill a bunch of prossies? Doesn’t seem to make much sense to me anyway. Now Ted Bundy and one of the hillside stranglers did come and hang out at a bar in Bellingham known as the Lighthouse Bar. Now we don’t have any conclusive evidence the exact identity of Jack the Ripper, but I’m confident it wasn’t an American let alone a Washingtonian. They would have stood out with an accent and a new face in town would have been just blatantly obvious. Just no!
Next I had a passenger who works at Norco, I was going to work for them, but I never heard back from them. As it turns out it can take up to three months to hear back from them. How annoying. Norco is a medical delivery company that delivers oxygen tanks and other medical equipment. With the onset of the coronavirus, many companies just stopped hiring. It’s frustrating whenever I get close to something steady besides the gig economy I get shafted. Maybe it’s the universe saying to me Go Back to Australia or I have to start a multi million dollar company that’s different. My blog is yet to see a payout of revenue. Even with all the ads I have. Google adsense shuts off my ads when I get more people on my page than normal. The other ones haven’t even reached a dollar between them. The American dream can seem like a nightmare from time to time. I am thankful for the gig economy though otherwise I would have been homeless a long time ago. It pays the bills and some weeks you get more money than others.
Trying to sell cruises and vacations in a crazy time like now is just bad. When I signed up to Expedia I thought doing uber or Lyft is a great way to build a client base. It was in a way. New riders would fill out a business card to win a free cruise and airfare for two, to the Caribbean! I had several entries. Then the virus happened. Such beautiful timing. 🙄😒
Various passengers that graced my car that evening include Canadian business men, an athlete trainer, an employee from Herbs Cider, a graphic designer, and bloke who told me to go the Seattle Science Center. His dad used to run it. Another lady included a masseur who locked her keys in her car. We discussed immigration and how the border smugglers who deal in human trafficking are called coyotes. They find ways under and through the border to get people from point A to point B. They could be from central, south America or even China. Trying to find ways into the USA. I told her about boat smuggling in Australia. How people in Indonesia promise a better life for asylum seekers in Australia, whilst charging them an exorbitant fee. The boats are leaking and are unsafe. Nine times out of ten they’re intercepted by the Australian navy and sent to an Island for offshore processing or deportation.
Following on I spoke with two employees at a health insurance company who told me there needs to be a better public health system. This shocked me, but they agreed that the current American healthcare system is broken. Even they can’t stand the anger and unrest from people. They even told me how one of their mothers had to refinance their home to have a hysterectomy. The other mentioned her friend needed a new kidney and started a go fund me account. The total amount was still 10% shy of the required amount. Shocking really. They weren’t worried about losing their jobs if it meant a better life for all. Most likely their jobs could be absorbed by the government anyway.
Pedestrians with death wishes almost hit my car. Including one who ran out in front of my car and stood in my way. I had two passengers in my car at the time who were a little scared of the drugged up skin head head. He eventually turned away and I drove around him when he wasn’t looking. In my mirror I could see him acting stranger than ever. Has the coronavirus started the zombie apocalypse? Or is it the meth apocalypse? Probably the latter.
One lady who I picked up next was a marijuana store manager. She was very keen to know more about cruises and even told me about her one experience about cruises. When she was six years old, she went with her family up to Alaska. On the way there the ship hit an iceberg! I couldn’t help but laugh at this. The ship was fine but it rocked to one side dramatically and made her experience, extremely scary. She wants to go on a different cruise as an adult. Somewhere like the Caribbean. No icebergs there.
After the iceberg lady I had a bloke who was an American, but loves the word bloke! He used it in several sentences which cracked me up! He even left me a review on Uber!
Finally I had more students. A dumpling chef, a painter, and a civil construction engineer.
Final tally 15 trips Lyft and 9 rides uber. Next up a Tuesday.
