So.... 4th session of driving for Uber. Had a rather fucked up night.
First, I get a pick-up request out in some twisted residential neighborhood that's really difficult to find your way around. I wait at the pick-up for a few minutes and the guy texts me "I'm at taxi pick-up". I call him like "I don't know what you mean by taxi pick-up. I'm in front of a house?" Turns out he's at the airport, and the app has fucked up somehow. I'm like 10-15 minutes from the airport at this point, so I tell him to go ahead and cancel and maybe he'll get somebody closer. If not, I'll be on my way. A few minutes pass as I'm heading back to the airport, and I get no further requests. So I figure he must have got someone else, and I stop for gas.
After getting gas, I get like 4 requests in a row that immediately cancel on me. Before this, I'd had that happen to me one or twice in a whole night. Finally, I get my first genuine pick-up. It's also near the airport. So after dropping them off, I'm driving and looking to get back towards the airport. The airport has rather strange rules for Uber, so I decide I'm going to go ahead and find the special waiting and pick-up areas so I know what I'm doing. I don't bother to actually plug in directions or anything. Just visually looking at how the streets in the area are connected and meandering my way there, because it's not like I'm in any hurry and there's no traffic around. It's like 12:30 am at this point.
So I'm on a road that looks like it connects further up ahead to a turn I want to make. I'm cruising along about 35 mph. And it turns out this road just... ends... abruptly and without warning. My map doesn't show this. No signs. No cones. The area isn't well lit, so I couldn't see until it was under my headlights. Suddenly I'm in the grass. The road dismount wasn't too brutal. I had time to slow down, without slamming on the brakes. So I work on getting back on the road.
Of course, an officer pulls up as I'm turning around. He walks up and his first words are "You been drinkin'?" I explain what happened. Show him the map I was going by, and what I'm out doing. He seems really confused about what I'm doing, and obviously thinks I'm an idiot. I miss two pick-up requests while talking to him, but I think showing him that helps. He doesn't ask for my license or anything. Just tells me to follow him to the airport.
So I get to the airport, and in about 15 minutes, I get a ping. I pick up this middle-aged Indian guy with a thick accent. He doesn't seem at all interested in talking, so I quietly get about halfway to the drop-off, which is a good half hour away. I'm just following Google Maps directions, based on the address he plugged into his Uber app. A couple minutes after we're off the highway, he starts questioning the route I'm taking. He says he never takes that exit. I have trouble understanding his accent and have to ask him to repeat himself a couple times. He seems really annoyed, but I quickly get a handle on understanding where he wants me to go and begin following his verbal directions. As we're going, I explain how my phone's directions are contradicting his, and show him my screen. But I'm very apologetic about it. He settles down a bit, and seems to understand. Actually talks a bit about work and kids and stuff. Then about 10 minutes later, he realizes we're going the wrong way again. He has me stop and messes with his phone. Suddenly, the directions he's giving me start matching up exactly with my phone's. I think he just had his own address plugged into his device wrong the whole time. I don't make any comment on it. Just follow my phone the rest of the way to his house without issue. I drop him off and give him 5-stars, because it was a simple misunderstanding and I thought he was going to be ok about it. A few minutes later, I notice a significant hit to my driver score. That motherfucker must have given me a really low rating over his own misunderstanding.
The happy comes in, because I get home after that and find I can adjust his rating, along with providing a narrative reason. I drop his ass with a comment as to what happened. Only a few minutes later, I get an e-mail confirming the adjustment, with a special note that they're loving my work in the area. I've otherwise been top-rated, with people even taking the time to leave positive comments. Hooray for pay and vindication. Only a few more trips to the $350 reward, and I can throw my kids their birthday parties.
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Topic: [MILK] There were 12 eggs here what did you do with them? (Happy thread?!) (Read 16299411 times)