All of my Favorite Conversations Are Made in the A.M.

All of my favorite conversations are made in the a.m.


A lot of notable adventures happen to me in the bufu hours of the morning... Mostly consisting of smoking too much weed. From January 2016 to July 2018 I drove for Uber and Lyft way too much for anyone's own good and had plenty of conversations with passengers.


The second day of my Lyft driving ventures I picked up a passenger from River North and drove him to Gage Park at 3:30-4:30am. This guy proceeded to tell me his life story... And pull out a chillum and some weed. For the next hour he's packing bowls and we're passing it to each other as I'm driving around Chicago at fuck o'clock am and am "working". When he gets out of my car, he thanks me and I go home because my car wreiks of weed.


Towards the end of my driving ventures, I had a 6 person Uber XL ride and all of a sudden it smells like weed vape in my car and I audibly say something. The person asks if he can smoke it in my car and I tell him, "only if you share"!

I also had a few unpleasant misadventures as well...

1. I was driving as usual at night owl o'clock on a Saturday night and I ended up picking up a drunk older man who appeared to be between 40 and 50 years old in an Uber pool at around 3:30am in the oh so lovely River North. He got into my car and looked super sloppy drunk, enough to where I thought someone his age should have his shit together more than he did. He told me his address and I proceeded to tell him I had another passenger to pick up because he requested a pool. I arrived at the second person's destination and waited for a bit. The drunk man in my car was being impatient and I ended up contacting the person I was waiting for a couple times. They didn't answer and I ended up canceling on them. I don't like canceling on people, but as I was waiting for this passenger, he fell asleep in my back seat and was snoring rather loudly. The fact this person seemed like he had a "tude" and was snoring made me feel super uncomfortable. I turned up the volume to my music and fled to his house as fast as I can without attracting cops or risking my safety. About 10 minutes later, I see his address, blaring, bold, and purple outside of his building. "Hey, I think we're outside your place now", I exclaim to him loud enough not to startle him and point to his building on Adams Street. He thinks we're on Lake Street; I pull closer to the intersection to make sure I'm not mistaken and listen to his back seat driving. A minute or two later, he realizes he was wrong and gets out of my car. How awkward...


2. I ended up on the far south side in Pullman/Roseland, then Hammond, Indiana at the Horseshoe Casino. I've never been there before and had peemergency so I figured I'd give myself a grand ol tour while I'm at it. On my last stop, I wanted to check the buffet and upstairs out and run into this beautiful floral sculpture. As I'm snapping photos to put on Instagram, a lady's glasses fall off and her man asks me how to distribute an epi pen. I was the only one around and had zero idea how to use it. Then the lady wanted an ambulance, so I made my first ever 911 call. Security shows up to the scene and I wait to make sure the lady is ok. She begins puking. Gross! The ambulance and security arrive super fast because security didn't realize I called them. Tehehehe. The lady is ok. As we're waiting the security guard begins hitting on me and asks for my number. I was tempted to give him a fake number because this dude looked 15 years older than me and I wasn't interested. At least he was being nice and respectful. He wasn't creepy. I give him my number and am not gonna answer his call. But why does being a good samaritan mean getting hit on by the head of security? Weird... At least there's faith in humanity and nice men around. When I'm ready and know it's right I'll pursue, but for now I'll go home with a gold star, pretty pics of flowers, and knowing the right man will come along who I am interested in mutually will happen at some point!


3. Oh boy, driving St. Patrick's Day weekend (the weekend Chicago dyed the river, not the actual day of St. Patrick's Day) on that Saturday. What a great idea, even though I wanted to make some money. It was about 1:30am and I had just finished taking 2 people celebrating a 21st birthday to the Mad River bar in River North who could apparently handle their liquor than the next 2 people who would come in my car. I received another request from the Mad River bar. When the men who looked to be around my age (early/mid 20s) entered my car, the "I feel like this person may get sick in my car" senses were acting like fire alarms going off in my body. I knew those people were super sloppy double dare drunk, enough to know next time to never let people that wasted in my car ever again. And instead of the usual 10 or 15 minute drive, they wanted to go from River North to Arlington Heights by Mitsuwa Marketplace. I had to get the hell out of there fast because I have a fear of people tossing their cookies in my car. I flew down the expressway as stealthy as if my car had rocket boosters. I also made sure to drive as close to the shoulder as possible so I can pull over if needed and kept my trash bag handy. A few miles down the highway, one of the passengers alarmed me I need to pull over; thankfully, I had just got my brakes replaced and froze from 80 to 0 in 4 seconds. He opened the door, tossed all of his cookies outside of my car, and we were back on the road a couple minutes later. The other passenger fell asleep. A half hour after that, I finally dropped both of the people off and called my friends to tell them what happened. Fuck that.

Time to go home! No more Uber. Ever again!

Update to "Shameless Advertising"

I definitely learned a valuable lesson from all of this: don't advertise anything on your car while driving for Uber and Lyft (or any other rideshare companies). In the beginning of 2017, I had some nasty papers mailed to my parent's house (where my car was registered to). I was about to be fined $4000 dollars for "bullshit violations" of posting the blog URL and "Your Friendly Neighborhood Uber Driver" on the back of my car and had to go to court to fix everything and not get fined more than any reasonable person can afford. When I went to court, I was going to fight for my life until my mom noticed they were going to fine a Toyota Sienna instead of a Toyota Highlander like I had. When that information was presented to the judge, all of the tickets were dropped and I owed nothing (and erased everything written on the back of my car). Be careful, folks, and make sure to check all the laws and read the fine print before doing anything "risky"... #neveragain

Top 5 Reasons Not to Drive for Rideshare

Top 5 reasons why not to drive for Rideshare (from my experience):

1. The wear and tear on your car. Companies don't pay your car repairs and you're stuck fronting a bagillion dollars you don't have to keep your "business" running. As soon as they got rid of most of the "guaranteed hours" perks, especially in 2017, all of my business expenses minus my income ended up being a monetary loss. Luckily, that was good for tax return purposes, but still not worth it!

2. Not getting paid when it's dead outside. If no one is requesting rides or if you ended up in the boonies, have fun spending your gas and time to find a ping somewhere and possibly make no money!

3. Customers don't care about your car and will not take good care of it. If you want to keep your car in pristine condition, don't let strangers in your car on a "full time job" basis

4. The best times to work were at unsafe or odd hours. Some of my Uber drivers (when I was a passenger) told me stories on his they were robbed (sometimes at gun point). The unsafe hours are mostly when the drunks are out (Friday and Saturday night from 10pm-7am) and the odd hours are morning rush hour (weekday mornings 5-10am). I missed having my weekends, which were traded for epic misadventures around the city, a couple people almost throwing up in my car, and a couple passengers offering me money and/or weed to do them "special favors". Those people were banned from their respective platform after I called customer service!

5. Promotes unhealthy habits (at least for me). Wanna drive as much/long as possible? No problem, have an energy drink (or worse). Hungry? You don't want to miss a beat and run to the nearest McDs to grab a bite to eat, which you eat on the go and then go back to driving a few minutes later. Gotta pee? Good luck finding somewhere to pull over, especially with passengers in your car and having 30min left of the long drive to go before even being able to Google the nearest place with an open public bathroom on a Tuesday at 3am. I would stay up for way longer than anyone should ever stay up (1-3) and drive as much as I can until I either had an appointment or was so RIP to where my driving would have been compromised. I almost passed out from dehydration a few times, but always carried water on me and was fine. I wouldn't give myself breaks/days off very often and would burn out a lot. I gained a bunch of weight from being sedentary and poor eating habits and my wallet was still crying because all of my earnings went directly back to gas, which you had to pay for. My mental health went down the toilet. And my wallet crying turned into my wallet screaming after "using alternate sources" to pay my bills because I wasn't making enough with my large SUV (tips were scarce) and I ended up in a giant money pit of despair.

Tl;dr there are too many rideshare drivers. Don't drive for rideshare!

Tons of Money Ventures on 11-11-17

I guess 11-11 is a lucky day!

Today in dank money land while logged into Uber, I started driving at about 4:50pm. My first hour and a half of rides were all surged and then I got a ride to Des Plaines from the Ogalvie train station. I ended up getting an Uber Eats order that took about an hour because the restaurant messed up the order (and gave me a free soda) and I stopped for gas and to the bathroom before picking up the food. It was also almost a 15min drive each way and I got mildly lost on the way there because I had no idea where then place was and had to make an educated guess. At least they gave me a $3 tip. I then ended up at Lake Forest College/Lake Bluff. When I ended up getting to Lake Forest College a second time, I ended up getting a ride to Schaumburg with 3 football players and a female who I talked to about life for awhile. The subsequent ride after that, I went from Schaumburg to the loop for a nice long adventure. By that time I needed to pick up my roommate friend from work as it was almost 11pm. As I was about to turn my app off, I received multiple 1.7x surge pings because a concert just got out at the Chicago Theater. The very last ping ended up being a 1.7x surge fare long trip 45+min ride and I decided to take it (sorry roommate friend). The ride ended up being $52 from the loop to the Naperville train station because these young parents had to get home and not spend as much on a babysitter even though the Uber ride cost more than waiting an extra hour at Union Station. Thanks guys! That was my biggest fare in awhile! I was going to go home, but didn't want to drive home from Naperville without a passenger and turned on my destination filter. I ended up getting a ride from downtown Naperville to further east in Naperville and decided to head home with my destination filter still on. I was driving home and got a ping in Lombard. As I'm pulling up to the condo complex, I drive around twice until I find the right place. I eventually get there and wait for the passengers for awhile. As I'm contemplating canceling, 2 men walked into my car. It was one of their birthdays and I took them to a strip club in Stone Park. As I pulled into the rideshare drop off area, a nice elderly man asks me how many people I dropped off and proceeded to tell me how you receive $10 for each person you drop off. He also gave me a bunch of free coupons to get free cover for entry into the club. After receiving a $20 bill, I turned my app off at around 12:50am and got home around 1:30am. 

What a day! There were a few times Uber and Lyft were turned on simultaneously, but Uber got me a ride first. No airport rides. I drove 8 hours, almost 200 miles and 3/4 tank of gas. I ranged from Lake Forest to Naperville, received some tip money as well, and made over $250 before gas. One thing I realized driving is that I'm paying close to the amount or more in gas than my rent. What the actual fuck? Anywho, time to relax. I earned it! Until tomorrow, oh so lovely road! 

Thinking About the Epic Money Misadventures on 9-5-17

Today and yesterday were my first couple of runs with handing out my business cards. Thanks to all my passengers who took them!

This morning when I was driving rush hour, I had just finished a brief job hunting session while sitting in the O'Hare tnp lot where you wait for a ride out of the airport, drove home some passengers who didn't speak much English, and thought about my job woes. The next passenger named Tim entered my car and said he had an IT job. I asked him what job he had and he said he was a systems analyst with a bunch of certifications. I would get some certifications, but definitely can't afford those right now let alone the infinite car maintenance I'm going to need. I ended up complaining about my job woes because I have been feeling very lost in regards to my career path and am stressed out about not making enough money/barely making it by. What I gained from the conversation besides trying to make myself feel better about my current situation is I should maybe make an appointment with a career counselor. The next passenger (group of passengers because it was a family and I talked to the husband) had just finished his military service and now works as border patrol. Back when I was in college, I had random thoughts of possibly joining the military, but was not informed enough of what the military truly entails and decided to put those thoughts on the shelf. Today, they were revisited because he told me being in the military can be a lucrative career, you get paid, you get tax breaks, health benefits, you have to be in good shape, and most of all, it would get me unstuck from this sticky money situation. I began feeling even more lost about my career misadventures and almost cried in front of him (luckily I was wearing sunglasses anyway). After my conversations with this kind man, I have decided I need WAY more information about the military if I even hypothetically want to join because I don't even know which branch I'd join. He did tell me the Air Force and the Navy are the most laid back. I've thought about the National Guard too, but I have no idea. This thought is going back on the shelf once again.

As the day progressed, I began spawning motivation from talking to my passengers. The very last passenger I had before ending my day was a ride to O'Hare for the fourth time and I began telling her about my rideshare storytelling blog. She made me realize how I need to take 5 minutes of my day to realize what I am thankful to have. For example, I made a pitstop at the River Road Rosemont McDonald's and saw a truck pull into the gas station with a flat tire and was thankful my car is in one functioning healthy piece. I am also thankful to have my health. She told me a story about how a lady she works with has a 2 year old son with a blood disorder where his blood doesn't produce white blood cells, had to have 2 stem cell transfusions, and has been in the hospital for 106 days straight. I'm thankful to have never been in the hospital in my adult life (or very much in general). I was then telling her about how some illnesses are induced by stress and I need to chill out and not let my stress win so I can stay healthy. I was telling her about my 2 most recent blog posts about passengers who I drove away from and laughed and how a drunk lady inspired me to stop focusing on money and bills all the time because I wouldn't ever be happy if I blew off people who really matter and to go see my parents. I will probably see them soon! Right before I dropped her off at the airport, she took a business card and went on her way.

After talking with this last lady, I decided I had driven enough and decided to go home and stay home. When I realized I had some extra time and was still pretty awake, I figured out the answer to my job woes is that I need to keep job hunting and find a job so I don't have to drive my poor grandma-aged car into the ground from rideshare driving and can have a steady paycheck again, thus, eliminating my monetary woes. When I finally had a moment to check my emails, one of the companies I applied to for a technical writer (which is the primary job I want) had responded to my application. Now is the time to solve the puzzle! Off to my job hunting ventures!

Passengers Who Get the Middle Finger From Me (As I Drive Off and Laugh)

1. Welp, I had to give someone the finger for the first time in awhile yesterday (9-3-17) and it was pretty funny. I was in a pool ride and already had 2 men in my car and was going to go yoink the 3rd passenger (a female). I've had more issues with belligerent men, but my golden rule is to respect me even if you're drunk at 8pm on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The person called me and was being pretty rude, but I was stuck in traffic and the GPS may have had me pick up other people instead of her, which is why she may have been waiting a bit even though my GPS didn't say so. I eventually pull up next to her, blocking traffic and getting honked at, and wait for a solid 3 minutes. She calls me again, yelling into the phone and I'm like, "get in the car???" She then starts yelling at herself while my current passengers tried to flag her into the car. After a bit longer of hearing her yell at herself, the men told me to drive away from her. I agreed and drove off as she yelled "what the fuck". I laughed and they high fived each other. Bye bitch! ;) ;) ;) No rude people allowed!

Misadventures of Driving in Chicago at Night as a Young Attractive Female

1. The epic misadventures of Rebs in Maywood: I picked up some dude at about 1:30am who was likely stoned out of his mind. It was a 5min Lyft line. About 2min into the ride we get stuck at a freight train. We talked for a bit and he asked to come in the front seat. I was like sure why not. Then he starts asking me questions about sex, which is a very uncomfortable subject for me. He then starts asking me questions about me and liking black dudes/black dick and I told him I don't judge on skin color, but have never dated a black guy. We eventually get to his place and he asks to do sexual stuff and smoke with me. I don't give my passengers sexual favors and hookups aren't my jam. He then pulls out his dick like 3x asking me to do stuff with it. I tell him no it makes me feel uncomfortable. He asked what if he did the favor to me and I told him I wasn't down. He asked me to touch his dick and I said no. He asks me again and I again tell him that sexual situations make me uncomfortable. He also offered me weed and I said no. Then I mentioned sexual encounters scare me, which is mostly true, and he finally left and got the message. This was after about 10-15min of sitting outside his apartment. After all of this was over, I had super peemergency (needing to pee and get to a bathroom within a few minutes or else) and in Maywood, there's nothing open 24hrs nearby. I had no choice. For the first time in several months, I had to pee in an alley. When I was putting my shorts back on, another car came up  behind me and only my underwear were on. I jumped into the car and fled immediately. As I was jumping in the car, people were coming outside. Whoops! Glad no one saw me... I hope. Needless to say, that wasn't fun and hope stupid idiots don't harass me for sexual favors anymore while I'm focused on making money. No thanks and goodbye. I gave him 1 star!

2. The saga continues and it is fucking MONDAY MORNING... I pick up some dude named Jason at about 4:30am for an Uber pool ride from Oak Lawn/Bridgeview and bring him to Burbank for a 15min ride back to his house. He has a Mercedes and his own business. Cool. He's cute. Also cool. I tell him about my broke misadventures and how it's been slow all day and have needed to work a lot. I also told him I was creeped on 3 hours prior. This fucker offers me 100 bucks to have sex with him. As desperate as I am for money, I spent about 10min finding ways to nicely tell him no, including pulling lies out of my pocket. I then said I'm not down to meet anyone right now and he got mad and left. He got 1 star too. Goodbye turd muffin I don't feel like prostituting myself. No thanks! He also was likely drunk or on drugs... I'd rather deal with 6 loud drunks calling me Becky... I need to stop driving at night...

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!

Fares Over 50 Dollars

1. I drove a couple home from Alinea to Johnsburg and they gave me 20 dollars as a tip. This was also a 75 dollar and my longest and largest fare! They also just spent 1750 dollars between the two of them! The woman talked about relationships with me and the man fell asleep in my back seat from his wine. It was also 1:30am on a Friday night! This happened August 2016!

2. My 48 dollar ride was a ride from the south loop to Markham, IL and the person ordered an Uber XL for themselves! This happened sometime around November 2016!

3 (and 4). I took a nap when I had planned on driving and started at 2:30am. Whoops! My first ride ended up being from the Belmont Red Line all the way to the Pingree Grove Metra Station in Crystal Lake on a 1.1 surge 55 minute Uber ride. Thanks for the 54 dollar ride right off the bat. Two rides later, back to Midway Airport from Crystal Lake for 73 dollars plus a 10 dollar tip for about an hour Lyft ride! It's 4:40am Saturday morning now and I don't have to go back empty. Sweetness! :D This happened on May 27, 2017!

5. After I went from Schaumburg to the loop for a nice long adventure, by that time I needed to pick up my roommate friend from work as it was almost 11pm. As I was about to turn my app off, I received multiple 1.7x surge pings because a concert just got out at the Chicago Theater. The very last ping ended up being a 1.7x surge fare long trip 45+min ride and I decided to take it (sorry roommate friend). The ride ended up being $52 from the loop to the Naperville train station because these young parents had to get home and not spend as much on a babysitter even though the Uber ride cost more than waiting an extra hour at Union Station. Thanks guys! That was my biggest fare in awhile! This happened on November 11, 2017! 

Chicago Tourist Places and Adventures to Recommend to Passengers

*Go on an architectural boat tour
*Go a walk down the mag mile
*Go to the Bean and Millennium Park
*Go get some deep dish pizza (from Lou Malnatis, Pequods, Parlor etc.)
*Go to the Green Mill and listen to some jazz
*Go to the Rosemont outlet mall and go shopping
*Go on a bus tour
*Go to Chinatown
*Go to Navy Pier

My View on Tipping Your Uber of Lyft Driver

When you get into a taxi or go to a restaurant, there's some kind of hidden expectation to where you should tip your service staff. The receipt for a restaurant bill has a tip line and in a taxi ride when you swipe to pay it displays amounts you can tip. Although Uber and Lyft drivers don't live off tips, it's always appreciated due to providing a service for others to enjoy. With Lyft, you can at least tip in the app and with Uber, I sometimes get handed cash tips (there should be an option to be able to tip in the Uber app too, many have complained to me). We the drivers drive our butts off in order to get our passengers to their destination safely. I'd say managing someone's safety directly and providing an experience is tip worthy. You don't "have" to by any means, but it would make someone feel appreciated if you handed them a couple extra dollars and said "thank you". Something like that would keep me motivated, that's forsure!

Tips 20 Dollars or Greater

1. I drove a couple home from Alinea to Johnsburg and they gave me 20 dollars. This was also a 75 dollar and my longest and largest fare! They also just spent 1750 dollars between the two of them! The woman talked about relationships with me and the man fell asleep in my back seat from his wine. It was also 1:30am on a Friday night! This happened August 2016!

2. I drove a girl from Crystal Lake to Hoffman Estates and her friend who requested the ride gave me 20 dollars for delivering her safely. This was a few rides after my trip to Johnsburg too! This happened August 2016 at around 3am on a Friday night!

3. A drunk dude gave me 27 dollars (in several increments of handing me money) because I waited for him and took him to Popeyes for drunk food! I'm sorry you and your girlfriend were fighting that night! This happened April 2017 at around 1am on a Saturday night!

4. This wasn't really a tip, but I was at the gas station getting gas and caffeine and a random person came up to me and asked for a ride under the table from the Irving Park and Pulaski Mobil station to a bowling alley less than 10 minutes away on Foster and Northwest Highway and gave me 30 dollars for my patronage. This happened April 2017 at around 9pm on a Sunday night!

5. I was waiting at O'hare for 20 min waiting for a ride, left, and picked up 3 drunk guys in a Lyft Plus and drove them towards Irving Park road and Milwaukee. I talked to them a bunch and one of the guys handed me 20 bucks. They also asked me to hang out with them too, but I said no! It was almost 4am on a Thursday night! This happened on 5-19-17!

6. On 8-4-17 I was doing a late night short drive and gave a lady named April a ride from Norridge to like 15min away elsewhere in Chicago. We were talking about jobs at O'hare and told her I was in between jobs and needed more than 11.50 to survive. She told me to apply to Aerotek, but no luck on my end because I've already applied. Then, the ride was over and she was like "I hope this helps" and randomly gave me 20 bucks for a ride that felt super short. I almost cried, especially after 2 bad days in a row and having a bill due tomorrow that I'm scraping money for. Thanks lady!

7. Epicness hath happened today (9-13-17). I was outside of Christina's bar by my apartment about to do my first Lyft ride of the day. I get there and wait for about 5 minutes when the person who requested the ride said he got it for his friend who's drunk and not wanting to leave. He goes back in and tries to get his drunk friend to leave. Five minutes later he comes back out, says his friend isn't gonna come out, and hands me a 20. That made me happy indeed. Thanks dude!

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!

Please Save Uber and Lyft in Chicago

To whom it may concern,

A little birdie told me there's a possibility of removing ridesharing from Chicago. Here is why I feel like ridesharing is a necessary feat. Even though you can't hail an Uber or Lyft driver, we are all just people wanting to provide a quality service to those in need of a ride home. What if someone was intoxicated and needed a ride and didn't know where in their wallet their money was? Well, not a problem because everything is done on an online system that takes care of the money transactions for you. That way, you don't have anyone being like "oops I can't pay sorry byeeeeee" and not paying the fare at all. The online system avoids those types discrepancies, as well as fumbling and possibly dropping your money; it also makes the transaction faster. It also avoids the possibility of a whacko person trying to steal your money. I have heard some stories about taxi drivers being nasty to passengers and driving like jerk faces. One time, a girl in high school who didn't own a debit card told me she once handed a taxi driver a 20 dollar bill and needed change and the driver told her to "get out of the car or he'd beat the shit out of her". Thanks to ridesharing, the number of drunk/intoxicated drivers has decreased as well. Us rideshare drivers need to keep the road safe too!

Also, Uber and Lyft are very handy for those needing more flexible schedules. This is applicable for people such as performers and parents who may never have a static schedule. This is also helpful for people like me who are in between careers and trying to make more than minimum wage (aka a liveable wage). Someone I was driving around once told me that Uber and Lyft are the next generation waiters and waitresses for artists needing to make a living. I myself am an artist and this service has not left me fearing paying my bills. If this service were gone, some people would be running around in circles with their arms up freaking out about how to earn money, especially because all "regular jobs" are very competitive and sometimes very difficult to attain. What if a mentally disabled veteran needed something to do and couldn't hold a regular job? I also am a blogger and am using my experiences of driving to enhance my career.

Another thing I might add is how there may be "horror stories" of Uber and Lyft drivers doing things as extreme as killing another person (while not on duty). No matter what job and industry you are in, there are bad eggs. There are also murderers. An Uber or Lyft driver is not a murderer; a murderer is a murderer.

There is also a petition to sign for saving Uber at least: https://action.uber.org/illinois/ - PLEASE SIGN IT! And share this post to show why Uber and Lyft are necessary feats in Chicago!

Thank you very much!

Signed, Your Friendly Neighborhood Uber Driver!

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!

Humans of Rideshare Drivers

Me:

I sometimes feel insecure when telling people I do Uber (and Lyft) driving full time vs. my shiny "professional" desk job. I had a job as a Web Developer which I landed right out of college. It ended up not working out and I decided I ultimately want to be a writer and performer. I couldn't find another job in time and was basically left to either quit or get fired. I chose to quit because I wanted to leave on my terms and not have my morale be crushed. One of my friends who I live with suggested rideshare driving to me because I already had a car. I had always wanted to be self-employed, but ended up having to do so sooner than planned. Anything you do, you have to act professional no matter what, but I shouldn't feel ashamed because I'm setting out to make something for myself; at least doing something to make me money. Plus I have this blog to share my stories. Web Developer and Uber driver are just titles. I need to keep telling myself this!

Uber Vs. Lyft

*Uber gets more quantity of rides and Lyft gets more quality of rides, plus you're able to give tips through the Lyft app (lately they've been about even in terms of ride quantity, but usually Uber gives more rides)

*Uber you can instant pay at any dollar amount and Lyft you need $50 dollars

*Uber and Lyft's fares are very similar (in Chicago)

*In driver mode, on the map showing where you are, Lyft gives you an arrow of which way you're going and Uber uses a small dot on the map

*Lyft now has a color changing activator to show when you're picking up passengers and Uber does not

*Lyft rates you on your last 100 rides and Uber rates you on your last 500

*Lyft has a picture of what the passenger looks like when you're picking them up and Uber does not

*Lyft has a feature where you can push a button when you arrive instead of Uber where it automatically notifies the passenger

*Lyft has a 5 minute countdown (for a regular Lyft) for the passenger's arrival time and it counts in your fare and Uber doesn't have that

*Uber you can text your passenger as well as call them and with Lyft you can only call them

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!

The Super Sloppy Drunk People Misadventures

At this point in my uber and lyft ventures, here are my top 3 misadventures with super sloppy drunk passengers... which like to happen in River North or Wrigleyville most of the time.

1. I was driving as usual at night owl o'clock on a Saturday night and I ended up picking up a drunk older man who appeared to be between 40 and 50 years old in an Uber pool at around 3:30am in the oh so lovely River North. He got into my car and looked super sloppy drunk, enough to where I thought someone his age should have his shit together more than he did. He told me his address and I proceeded to tell him I had another passenger to pick up because he requested a pool. I arrived at the second person's destination and waited for a bit. The drunk man in my car was being impatient and I ended up contacting the person I was waiting for a couple times. They didn't answer and I ended up canceling on them. I don't like canceling on people, but as I was waiting for this passenger, he fell asleep in my back seat and was snoring rather loudly. The fact this person seemed like he had a "tude" and was snoring made me feel super uncomfortable. I turned up the volume to my music and fled to his house as fast as I can without attracting cops or risking my safety. About 10 minutes later, I see his address, blaring, bold, and purple outside of his building. "Hey, I think we're outside your place now", I exclaim to him loud enough not to startle him and point to his building on Adams Street. He thinks we're on Lake Street; I pull closer to the intersection to make sure I'm not mistaken and listen to his back seat driving. A minute or two later, he realizes he was wrong and gets out of my car. How awkward...

2. I had driven so far into the night owl hours it had already become daylight and apparently people were still drunkity drunk. It had already reached about 6:30 in the morning. I had just driven 2 people to the airport and figured all of the drunk people were home by now... I guess not. I anxiously arrived at the front of the Taco Burrito King on Harlem and Higgins by the expressway. Someone called me and told me they were in the back of the building. A few minutes later, 3 men who looked to be about my age (early/mid 20s) walked into my car and warned me they weren't sober. For some reason, I ended up driving towards the home of the person who requested the ride. I shortly after realized that was an awful idea, but I had already committed to this endeavor. I eventually arrived at the first person's place and dropped him off at his apartment. After that, the fun really began; I was driving towards the second person's place and realized he had been hiccuping the entire ride. My "I feel like this person may get sick in my car" senses began to tingle. The third person and me were keeping an eye on him, but at least I felt like I'd get notified if I had to pull over. Since the drive wasn't too long, I drove as fast as I can without being unsafe and eventually arrived at the second person's place. His feeling of nausea vanished and he handed me 5 dollars. As I'm on my way to the third person's place, which is less than 5 minutes away, the first person ended up canceling the ride. I end up notifying him his friend canceled. He wondered if that meant I would get screwed over and I told him it would. I arrived at his place and he pulls out 21 dollars and tells me it's all he has in his wallet and he hopes it's enough to cover the fare. I told him he was good to go while I thought to myself at least I got my money's worth and then some!

3. Oh boy, driving St. Patrick's Day weekend (the weekend Chicago dyed the river, not the actual day of St. Patrick's Day) on that Saturday. What a great idea, even though I wanted to make some money. It was about 1:30am and I had just finished taking 2 people celebrating a 21st birthday to the Mad River bar in River North who could apparently handle their liquor than the next 2 people who would come in my car. I received another request from the Mad River bar. When the men who looked to be around my age (early/mid 20s) entered my car, the "I feel like this person may get sick in my car" senses were acting like fire alarms going off in my body. I knew those people were super sloppy double dare drunk, enough to know next time to never let people that wasted in my car ever again. And instead of the usual 10 or 15 minute drive, they wanted to go from River North to Arlington Heights by Mitsuwa Marketplace. I had to get the hell out of there fast because I have a fear of people tossing their cookies in my car. I flew down the expressway as stealthy as if my car had rocket boosters. I also made sure to drive as close to the shoulder as possible so I can pull over if needed and kept my trash bag handy. A few miles down the highway, one of the passengers alarmed me I need to pull over; thankfully, I had just got my brakes replaced and froze from 80 to 0 in 4 seconds. He opened the door, tossed all of his cookies outside of my car, and we were back on the road a couple minutes later. The other passenger fell asleep. A half hour after that, I finally dropped both of the people off and called my friends to tell them what happened. Next time people look as schwaysted as these two gentleman were, I'm just going to drive off and cancel the ride.

Hopefully, I won't find another story to top any of these!

13 Experiences About Being An Uber Driver

In no particular order...

*You have to learn more “adult-isms”, such as how to file a 1099 vs a W2, how to look for insurance, how to manage money, your time, etc. You're on your own!

*You’re your own boss. There is no manager down your throat telling you about your shortcomings. However, in order to make money, you have to drive (especially during surge hours aka rush hour and drunk people o’clock).

*You have to use your own car. Unless you have a plan and your own car and are in a situation where you desperately need something and have no other viable options, don’t quit your job to drive for Uber. It works for now and is definitely a good side gig for those who already have a job!

*The GPS enjoys having an attitude of its own and likes to take you down alleys or in circles. Make sure you have a backup GPS if yours likes to have spaz attacks in the super downtown area where GPS signal is scarce!

*You have to deal with city rush hour traffic (stop and go, moving 2 feet in 10 minutes, etc.). Patience is definitely a virtue.

*You may have to venture to the suburbs, over 3 hours away, or even to unsafe areas in the South Side of Chicago at midnight or later. Stay safe everyone!

*There are lots of overhead fees associated with being a "contractor"; there's an extra employment tax you have to cover yourself and tips are seldom, but better than being super depressed due to fearing getting fired from the job you have already. Be careful about your ratings, though. If you drop below a 4, your driver account could get closed. If your rating is below a 4.5, people could even think you’re a “dirty foreigner”.

*You are also responsible for all repairs on your car! The time and money spent fixing *your* car is time when you’re not making money!

*Beware of the drunk people. These lovely fellows can range from acting like my high school bullies, to being fun social butterflies and telling me stories, to falling asleep, to sometimes failing at finding me while super drunk and proceeding to be rude to me over the phone.

*Beware of the people who have crossed the line of drunk and act sloppy, to a point of almost puking in my car. None of my other friends I know who drive for ridesharing have had someone almost puke in their car; my guess is it’s a lot more rare than one would think. I am however asked that question quite frequently.

*Driving on St. Patrick’s Day or any big “drinking fest” holiday can enable you to rake in some major cash if you don’t feel like going out to party. I drove about 20-25 hours during St. Patrick’s Day weekend and made a little over $500 dollars. Not too shabby!

*You can make a living from being a ridesharing driver. You just have to actually get out there and drive. You definitely learn a lot about life, especially when talking to other passengers and hearing their stories. It gives me a ton of stories to share, which are all posted on the "Your Friendly Neighborhood Uber Driver" (rebsuberdriver.blogspot.com) blog.

*Even though the money fairy from my corporate job has flown away, as long as you can pay your bills, find yourself, be happy, be motivated, and make time to have fun, that’s all that matters in the end! If you are still able to sustain yourself independently, you’re doing the right thing!

Here's me sharing how I feel about being a ridesharing driver at an Open Mic Nite (at the Heartland Cafe's In One Ear Open Mic series)!