What It's Like to Drive for UberEats

On Tuesday (6-6-17), I completed my first UberEats ride. At first I didn't know what to expect, but the steps in the Uber app are less confusing than I anticipated.

First, when you're driving around and logged into the Uber Partner app, you'll see a request pop up as "meal". You accept the request the same way you accept a normal ride. You drive to the restaurant and the order is waiting for you (unless the restaurant is randomly closed). You pick up the food and denote in the app your food has been picked up. Then, you swipe the green bar to start the delivery and you drive to the person's place of dwelling. After that, you drop off the food to the person, denote in the app the food has been successfully delivered, and swipe the green bar to complete the trip. Unfortunately, unlike regular delivery drivers, Uber passengers (or users) generally don't tip, so don't expect one.

At least with UberEats, you don't have to deal with drunk people! Be careful though, a downfall is to be careful where you park or stall, because you can possibly get a ticket if you do it wrong, especially in Chicago!

Stay safe, everyone and happy Uber driving!

Driving in the Winter

Welp, it is that time again where IL likes to be cold and snowy. Thankfully I don't need to drive full-time anymore, but I still need to drive for some of my moneys. I told myself I wouldn't drive in the snow unless I really had to, but if it's too stormy, I don't drive. If it's mildly snowing, I would risk it unless the roads were bad (not plowed/salted).

I did my first driving venture in the winter season/ever and it actually wasn't too bad. I received plenty of rides, but most of them were short. I wanted to make sure to avoid the inner city as much as possible because I don't want to drive in traffic and snow simultaneously, but if I had to I had to (which I did not thankfully). The expressway I'd rather avoid in the snow due to too many people, which I was mostly able to avoid. I drove for Uber and Lyft and both gave me short rides for the majority of them; I'm sure it's because people didn't want to walk anywhere anymore. I made as much money thankfully as I would have on a normal day thanks to surge prices, but at least I got to hear my fair share of info about being a professional private chef in a niche market in the one not 10 minute or less ride I had. Sorry for talking your face off, lady! Off to more driving ventures for me. I will continue to be safe and transport all you lovely people safely to your destinations!

Uber and Lyft Chronicles: My Vlogs

What I do in Vlog form :)

Lyft - Vlog 1

Lyft Halloween - Vlog 2

Vlog 3: I Need Money

Random Haiku Poems About Driving and Money

Stuff goes here to write
I need to drive oh so bad
Help me make money!

My wallet cries hard
Driving will at least fill it,
But it hurts my knees...

Oh Uber driving
You are so evil sometimes,
And give me money!

Oh driving in snow
I had to drive for money
Otherwise I wouldn't have drove!

Adventures happen
Driving takes me everywhere
What will I see next?

You hear about life
Passengers share their stories
For life perspective

Cool Rideshare Drivers I've Had

1. I was going to an interview and ended up getting a ride from a nice man who was 57 years old and retired named Harold. I was going to a destination about 20-30 minutes away because I was running too far behind to take the train. Oops. I was super stressed from running around all day driving for Uber myself to get some money to pay off my student loan bill for school (eeeeewwww) and I had a phone interview right before I had to go into the city for an in person interview. He said I had a good attitude when I walked in the car and I thought he was being sarcastic because my stress levels were high; I was wrong because he was happy I had a positive attitude to try getting new jobs... though I did tell him I was stressed. He told me about his life ventures of owning businesses and his lady passing away of cancer :( Some major advice this man gave me was how life happens in baby steps and how taking all necessary steps to accomplish your goals won't happen overnight. I sometimes look at things from the big picture instead of smaller goals and he has helped wake me up to realizing that small wins are still integral to winning, as well as they are wins too! He kept giving me credit and telling me how well I was doing, which was much appreciated. I ended up doing well in the interview, but still no dice in job land. Oh well, it's the effort that counts! I wish I could have given him a nice tip, but I had no cash on me. Oops! He wanted to even make sure I was temperature wise comfortable in the car too. His friends told him he should do Uber because he likes talking to people. That's what makes a good Uber driver, right? But Uber should let me tip in the app! Not just for me receiving tips, but for men like him who I wanted to throw a couple dollars to! Lol!

More coming soon :)

Father's Day Airport Ventures to Lesson Land

It was Father's Day 2016 and I've been contemplating the meaning of forgiveness for quite some time. I also needed to do some Uber driving due to needing money as usual. This day had caused me a large amount of anxiety due to being apprehensive about seeing my parents. A few hours before dinner time, I was still stuck in an indecision about how to spend my father’s day.

At about 3pm, after a long and traffic-filled adventure to O'Hare Airport, I was curious about picking up passengers from the airport (as opposed to just transporting them there) since the queue line didn't seem to be a ridiculous wait this time. I texted my friend who also drives for Uber to ask him about what you're supposed to do procedure-wise to pick people up from the airport. Before I could finish my text, I received a ride request. Of course, I had already passed the "pick up area" and just tried to chill with my flashers on while avoiding getting shooed away by security. Most of my passengers I seem to drive are in their 20s or 30s, but the man who walked into my car was a bit older (50s). I had no idea what to expect besides a trip to the suburbs. Meanwhile, I’m still contemplating whether or not I want to stop at my parental unit’s house or go to my sword fighting practice.

I began a normal conversation with this man and asked him if he’s celebrating father’s day since he looked like he was old enough to have kids. The response I received was rather shocking and eye opening. He told me he hasn’t been able to have a good relationship with his 2 teenage daughters due to a divorce where the wife brainwashes the kids. I was able to relate because the same thing happened to my uncle. He also mentioned his daughters hadn’t wished him a happy father’s day; shortly after the ride began, his older daughter texted him. 

After some further conversation asking about his kids, he begins to tell me how his relationship with his parents was pretty rocky and how his dad passed away at age 62. He mentioned xyz crappy thing his parents did to him, but he was still somehow able to let go of ALL of it and forgive his parents. In my quest to find forgiveness towards my parents, I felt like there was a “certain mind  needed to do” involving a mind process in order to “adequately forgive someone”. He indicated to me how you need to put the past behind you and shared a few bible verses (not in a religious manner). I even almost cried twice. In order to properly put the past in storage, you need to tell yourself, “hey, so this, this, and this happened, it was pretty awful, will probably never happen again, have accepted these events occurring, and am ready to move on now”. Doing so properly feels like you’re removing a giant burden from yourself.

Once the lightbulbs in my head went off and I dropped the man off at his house, I did another quick ride and turned my Uber app off. I figured at that point, I was closer to my parent’s house than I was my own apartment and didn’t have my sword fighting gear on me. The spirit guides told me to go to my parent’s house; I stopped at the nearest Walgreens to buy a card and drove 30 minutes from where I was to my parent’s house. The last time I waited to rekindle an important relationship with a friend, he ended up passing away suddenly before I got the chance to do so. I would not like to make the same mistake again.

Random Uber And Lyft Acrostic Poems

Random poems that spell out "Uber and Lyft" just for fun!

U
Better
Expect
Ridiculousness

Let
Your
Fearlessness
Triumph

Safety as a Rideshare Driver for Uber and Lyft

Is it safe to be a rideshare driver? Is it safe to drive in Chicago?

Overall, I haven't experienced any major safety concerns, except for taxi drivers being jerk faces and feeling like traffic is going to kill me sometimes. The more you drive, the more you risk being in a car accident and the more you have to deal with idiot drivers. You just need to have patience.

I often get asked if I've been creeped on by men or had people "toss their cookies" in my car. The answer to being creeped on is no, SOMEHOW. I am usually the prime target to get creeped on, but I feel like people are more interested in talking to me. I just try to avoid the stupid drunks. I've had a few people tell me I'm cute or something, but nothing to elicit me being uncomfortable. I suggest carrying a mace and/or pepper spray just in case. I also have my keys to use as a weapon, and my martial arts skills. It's always handy to know self-defense. In terms of people being sick in my car, I now drive away from and cancel on people who look to be "sloppy" and now am going to avoid driving for major drunk events. It may be extra money, but I had a near-tragic incident on St. Patrick's day. Never again. No one has stolen from me or tried to commit a crime, but I feel like people don't really have regard for the condition of my car. Chicago also has a lot of pot holes and stupid cameras that give you tickets.

Another thing that happens sometimes is having to go to rather uncomfortable parts of the south side... sometimes at night. I do have a fear of getting shot in the south side more than I do getting robbed/hurt/sexually assaulted while driving. I once had to go to Englewood at 1:30am (on a Friday Night/Saturday Morning) and I was scared when I saw a herd of people and hoped it wasn't a gang on the streets (it wasn't thankfully). There were TONS of cops and I feel like there's worse looking areas than Englewood. I don't think Englewood forsure is under patrolled at night because I felt like I saw a cop on every corner or every other corner. Thanks for trying your best down there, cops!

Either way, I feel pretty safe, so no worries, especially for a female. None of my friends who drive have had anything happen to them either!

Why I'm Never Driving During a Drunk Holiday EVER Again

Well, I'm sure many of you are wondering how it was driving for St. Patrick's Day (weekend); and the answer to that question is money and drunk people riffic. I did not drive the exact day of St. Patrick's Day; I drove the weekend Chicago turned the river green... and probably never doing it again. At least that's what I tell myself right now.

It all started when the bars opened as early as 7 or 8am for people's day drinking muses. If I remember correctly, *every single one* of my passengers was intoxicated. I probably started around 11 am because I wanted super extra heavy duty money and surge was very high. It all started when I got stuck driving down Michigan Avenue and was moving about 2 inches every 5 minutes. I was lucky to not get canceled on though. Now, I wonder how bartenders consistently deal with drunk people and even belligerent people. I can deal with a couple of drunk people a night, but it gets to a point where I even become worn out from talking to and dealing with these people.

Most people were well behaved, but I don't want anyone to throw up in my car. Plus I sometimes wonder how bartenders deal with drunk people on a daily basis. Then I end up doing it myself plenty of the time. It builds character, that's forsure. I also feel like there's a larger likelihood of having to drive to the suburbs. I did almost have a casualty, but was able to pull over in time to avoid grossness going in my car. 

Traffic was awful all day. I even saw a taxi hit an Uber driver, but at least the accident was small. I ended up driving a few more sloppy people subsequently after that and eventually threw in the towel when I had enough of dealing with people for one day. This misadventure made the #1 for the most sloppy passenger I had to deal with. Next time, I'll just find other days to go out and go out and have fun while I'm young, single, and can! At least I made 300 dollars that weekend! No regrets, but never again! Nopity Nopity Nopity NOPE!

3-2-16 Uber Ventures: Post Leap Day Lessons

What an adventure it’s been! I’ve been doing lots of driving either in the afternoon or night owl/drunk people o’clock. At least I’ve been getting more consistent with “going out to drive period”, but I still need to set a schedule like I had for my 9-5 job (even though I didn’t really follow a schedule for that either). I need to unlearn all of these poor habits and reverse my once broken professional confidence (due to almost 3 years of complete professional failure and almost zero success). I ended up at a gloving event Saturday, which helped my gloving level up, but further threw my schedule off. By the time I got back to Chicago, it was past 11pm and I was exhausted from driving from Chicago to Aurora while trying to Uber after. I am ready to conquer the world, but need to take my time and keep moving forward!

I have also been gradually coming to terms with the fact that there is no more money fairy spilling money into my wallet anymore just for “sitting there looking pretty” and doing a few things here and there. I was making more money than my parents and now I have no more automatic salary. The good news is I still have my tax return to gather and I got some birthday money and my Lyft 50 ride bonus. I am a quarter of a century old and got to stuff my face with Hibachi Grill food. RIP diet! Not only is there no more money fairy, but when I took my car in to get its oil change a couple weeks ago, I found out my car needed to be fixed. I was given a 3500 dollar estimate and thought they were trying to make money off of me. About 2 weeks after this, I noticed my front brakes were acting funny. A few more days later, I feel like I’m tugging on a rubber band when hitting my brakes. I’ve had brake lines snap on me before (I was 18 years old… not fun, but at least I was safe that time) and feared it happening again. As soon as it started to snow, as much as I wanted money, I was afraid it was going to snow very badly and felt nervous taking my car on the express way. I immediately stopped Ubering and took my car to Sears Auto (in Portage Park Six Corners). There ended up being a lot less problems than on the first estimate with my car, but I definitely needed new front brakes. At the end of the day, I walked away with my car about 5 hours after I asked for an estimate and was still able to make it to my karate class at night, only having to pay less than 1050 dollars. Phew! RIP money, but at least it’s not a super detrimental blow.

A lot of people seem to like to travel. Even though most of my travel ventures have consisted of Belegarth and amusement parks lately, My time will come soon! I haven’t exactly had the most social crowd talk to me, but I’d sometimes talk about family (as in ask how theirs is), one kind lady was talking to me about following dreams, and when I took an Uber to pick up my car, this adult Asian man was very professional and kind and I told him I had to get my car before my karate class. I think he was impressed when I told him I was a black belt, but he also had martial arts experience. Doing these types of things will make me rate you 5 stars. I also feel bad whenever I end up pulling in the alley and I have no idea where to pick up the person. I also feel bad whenever oncoming traffic is evil and I feel like people are going to kill me. I know I need to work on not vocalizing my fear when I’ve had moments of “almost dying”. I want my own 5 star ratings. In the meantime, here’s what NOT to do in my car:

*Open the front door and make my purse fall in the mud (and not act remorseful about it… accidents happen and my purse is easily washable)… I guess I should keep my crap off the front seat and take my back seat down for making trunk space. I leave my karate bag in my trunk to ensure I don’t forget it before class, but it is definitely awkward watching people open my trunk and see all my stuff. Oops! I guess I should also take my stuff out of my car too!

*Keep the drama llama OUT of my car! Worsely, no couples arguing in my car allowed. I've been through that way too much and I felt like I heard a slapping noise somewhere but wasn't sure if it was hitting a leg or hitting someone else, but either way, keep your drama out of my car please!

*Be a belligerent drunk person: I was waiting outside for someone at a bar called "Parliament" in River North. I chilled outside by the herd of taxis for awhile. No one showed up. Since there was no sign at the bar, I was worried I passed it. I turn the corner and go to the street corner by the crosswalk (since the bar was at the end of the street) and sat openly with my flashers on. No one showed up. Then I turned around and went on the opposite side of the street, wanting to avoid the taxi herd and I had no idea where this bar was. The Uber GPS isn't great either and I'm still learning to navigate through Chicago. I’ve had to pull into alleys before and I hope that doesn’t adversely affect my ratings. Anyways, I was about to contact the passenger and this man, very rudely, calls me twice and starts yelling at me. He was probably drunk too. Since I don't tolerate yelling, I was about to cancel him until 2 young ladies walked into my car. What a relief. The ladies apologized to me for his behavior and told me he looked like he was about to start a bar fight somewhere X.X Moral of the story is, if you're rude to me before you get into my car, your ass is getting canceled!

With that, I am off to go take my business and life lessons to my yoga class, keep improving my customer service skills, and go on more driving ventures! Have a smiley faced day!

Note: I snapped this photo on Ashland and Foster while at a red light hunting for passengers. We should all recognize how beautiful we are instead of dwelling on life's negativity! I've seen several of these signs all over Chicago. Where else have you seen these?

2-26-16 Lyft Ventures: I FINALLY Hit 50 Rides

Well, that took forever, but after some hard work and determination, I finally attained my 50 rides. During the cold, passengers weren't as talkative as I would have expected. A lot of people seemed to be going home from band practice. One of these people going home from band practice was in a Japanese Taiko Drumming group. I feel it's ironic because I did a project during my sophomore year of college in a general education music class where we had to do a presentation on a cultural music concept. The other person I had to drive from Roscoe Village/Logan Square area to 87th and S. Chicago Street. I made a lot of money from that trip, but feared my safety. It definitely didn't look as bad as Englewood, but I'd rather not be that far not the south side of Chicago. Also, when I'm super tired and am reaching a point where I'm questioning going to sleep, I should probably listen to that instinct, especially when I drink too many energy drinks for my own good. Energy drinks are naughty; try to avoid them if possible!

Another nuance about driving for Lyft or Uber is that you have to be ok with using public bathrooms while "pretending" to be a paying customer. You also need to not have anything on your front seat because some passengers think it's "customary" to sit in the front seat. My purse and bottle of air freshener tumbled into the mud. This particular lady proceeded to tell me about her travel experiences; it made me yearn travel ventures since the farthest west I've been to recently is St. Louis, Missouri.

On another note, I am a RIDESHARING service, NOT a furniture moving service. First a small couch, then a 65 inch TV. At least I made decent money from those trips, but I feel it's absurd to ask for such a thing. I felt like Squidward in the "Spongebob Hotel" episode when there was a plaque saying "we shall never deny a guest, even the most ridiculous request". I told myself, "not the customer service", as I took the furniture into my car with a smile. During the "blizzard-pocalypse" of 2016, I actually continued to reinforce the belief of attaining more passengers past 8pm than during rush hour. The good news is, thanks to the cold and lazy people who requested for my Lyft services, I was able to tell them about my blog and nab the 50 rides I needed for attaining my bonus. Now my roommates can have money to pay for their cat's surgery...

In the meantime, I plan on never going down Michigan and Chicago Ave. again during rush hour traffic. I feel sorry for the poor lady who was in the car with me when I feared other cars were going to crash into me. It's very difficult to contain your outward expressions when you fear for your life. I'm also sorry to all of the people I drove right past in the Loop or River North. If someone tells me they're "flagging me down" while I'm trying not to get into an accident, I feel like I'm playing Where's Waldo while playing drunk Mario Kart at the same time. However, it's quite nice to pass an Ugg boot store, an Aston Martin car dealership, and a Rolls Royce car dealership. Oh the loveliness you pass through your drive. I definitely feel a lot more of Chicago now that I'm driving all over the city. More city ventures shall be happening on my journey to chasing paper and making it big. I'll see if Uber can make me some more money than Lyft. After 70 rides combined Uber and Lyft, the very last ride I did before wanting to go home to hanging with my roommates was a lady who worked in Bottle Service at the Mid. I am not too knowledgeable about the nightlife industry and most people would assume the worst about these types of people. This lady had lived in Vegas and attended major EDM festivals, works for React Presents, attended Burning Man, met major artists, and is studying Biomedical Engineering in a PHD program. Smart people be smart! Happy Weekend! Stay safe and have tons of fun!

2-13-16 Lyft Ventures: Country Bars are Bad!

Last night was definitely an interesting night. I’m still feeling shaken up over Friday night and had trouble getting myself to go drive because it’s been causing me very much anxiety. I woke up to meet with a lady for a brand ambassador gig to serve samples at Whole Foods and I think I got it, so that makes me happy! I need to be able to organize myself and create a schedule, otherwise it will be very difficult to go out and get the hours I need.

I met with the lady at like 1:30pm and ran some errands; it took me until almost 8pm with all factors considered to go drive. I still feel like I run into a lot of Columbia college or Depaul students. I at first headed towards the Aragon Ballroom because I knew STS9 (an EDM artist I like) to try getting some money there. I definitely picked up people from their friend’s houses to go home or to go a bar. The first lady I picked up was at the Emporium in Logan Square and lost her jacket after a friend’s birthday party. I don’t think I picked up any couples going on dates at all. The next person I picked up was a female surgeon who was spending time in “cute boy land” (as she put it, as would I) and wanted to go home and be with her dogs. She was telling me how Facebook was toxic and she barely uses it because it causes a lot of anxiety. She was also telling me about the Cardiovascular surgery field (because that’s what she does for a living) and I had never talked to a surgeon (especially a female surgeon) before. Go women in surgery! I then picked up a guy from his house to go meet with his friends in Wrigleyille. He invited me to go hang out and I felt like it would be cool and gave it a chance. I somehow found free parking too next to Wrigley Field, legal parking mind you. We went to Merkle’s, which was a country bar. I don’t like country bars and they bring up bad memories. I also don’t like country music. That was strike 1. The guy bought me a bud light. Then his friends started reminding me of my high school bullies, claiming they do “drag”. They didn’t show me pictures. That was strike 2. His friends seemed to have an attitude and my internal signals were telling me I needed to go drive. My roommate texted me wondering where I was because he wanted to chill with me for a little bit while I’d come home to eat dinner. That woke me up to wonder what I was doing. I then texted one of my dear friends who lives in Dubuque after the guy went to the bathroom. He suggested I leave. Both of those forces together prompted me to go chug the beer (Bud Light), probably a very expensive beer, and I disappeared like a ninja. Poof. Gone I was. Thanks dear Brandon and Noah! I don’t know what I’d do without you two!

I later went home to go chill with my roommates to come home to loveliness and the Fairly Oddparents waiting for me. I guess I was a lot more tired than I thought and fell asleep on the couch. This was around 11pm. At around 2:30pm I realized I needed some more hours and went driving until about 6:30am, where my bathroom senses were tingling way too much. The first ride after I went back out, I picked up two people going to Garcia’s (one of my favorite Mexican Restaurants in Chicago Lincoln Square). They invited me to hang out with them and I told myself “nooooooo not again” and politely declined. They were also probably drunk. I ended up in Skokie (a girl coming home from her birthday celebration at her friend’s house and telling me about her dreams to move to LA and be a film producer and she had graduated from Columbia), Oak Park (taking 2 girls home from the bar where they were hilariously telling me about their friend’s boyfriend who’s a jerk), and Maywood (a cute Italian man was telling me about his drone and friend’s viral youtube career). I also was telling some people about the storytelling scene who didn’t know anything (I told him about “Do Not Submit” and some of Scott Whitehair’s endeavors, which is actually where I had my first feature performance ever), and some Depaul freshman about choosing careers and what can happen in jobs once you graduate. I also have a 7 seater SUV and was thrown off guard to have to use my back seat twice. I had rarely used my 3rd row seat until recently. Now it can help me make some moneys. On my very last ride, I took a man from Albany Park to Edgewater for working at a restaurant and he handed me 5 dollars. That was my first tip in 50 rides (excluding being offered food like 3 times). After that, it was 6:30 in the morning and since my car doesn’t have a bathroom, a 24 hour Walgreens down the street it was! I wasn’t a paying customer that time (was contemplating buying something when I went in there), but it was either or #2 in my pants. Sorry I’m not sorry grumpy cashier lady! Uber/Lyft drivers need bathrooms and I don’t look shady (lol). After my Walgreens ventures, it was almost 7am, I was out of my amino energy drink, and I was starting to feel like I could fall asleep at the wheel. The end! Adventure complete! Onto the next one! Happy Valentine’s Day! The sunrise was beautiful this morning!

First Free Food!

As "Your Friendly Neighborhood Uber Driver", I definitely was on an adventure in order to attain this food. I was in Rogers Park on Wednesday night telling a story to get some more open mic practice (Heartland Cafe). After the open mic, I was walking back to my car and spotted a couple people smoking a cigarette outside of a bar. I was curious what was still open at about 1am and it was the Red Line Tap. I didn't know that bar was located next to the Heartland Cafe and I'm telling a story there on Monday for the Lifeline Storytelling Project (in Chicago). I decided to check out the venue after talking to one of the men standing outside with a cigarette. It was definitely nice, that's forsure. We ended up talking for a bit and he told me he needed a ride home because his friend who was going to drive him home flaked out on him. I told him I drove for Lyft and gave him a ride. It was almost 2am at that point and he was hungry. He offered me food and asked me if I wanted American or Indian food, which I of course wanted Indian Food, and I was quite humbled he did this for me. I was once offered McDonald's, but I'm not much for fast food and wasn't hungry that time. He got me some chicken curry and jasmine rice dish from a place on Devon and Leavitt street that started with a "G". It was quite tasty (and all gone). Thanks kind man! My stomach and heart were happy :D