My short career as a Uber driver has come to an end. I decided last week to try it and maybe make some extra money. Signed up last Saturday (it was amazingly simple) and took my first drive on Monday of this week. First day I had three trips. Second day, five trips. Nothing unusual, just people wanting to go somewhere. Laid off on Wednesday but Thursday was the day that did me in.
My first trip was to pick up a guy at Bogies, a hamburger joint/bar a few blocks from our home. As I dropped him off I got another to pick up someone at a Kroger shopping center in the far reaches of Sugar Land. (Actually I think it was in Houston where I'm not supposed to pick up because I don't have my TNC license.) Anyway his destination was off highway 90 and Fondren area but the Uber GPS led me twice as far as necessary (typical) to get him there. After I dropped him off and was headed home, I got another trip which was to pick up someone named "Chante" in Sienna Plantation, a part of Missouri City. Travel time to the pickup was noted as 15 minutes. It took most of that and more to get there and when I arrived I found that it was a house with a major fence and gate around it. After calling via the security console at the gate, I was let in to pick up "Chante". Turned out "Chante" was actually a young black guy. Uber rules allow a driver to cancel after waiting 5 minutes which I did and more but, after driving all that distance to pickup I just waited. Anyway, I let the kid in and the first request he had was to pickup his friend. The second request was to let him connect to my blue tooth so he could play music through my radio. The third was to smoke in the car which I denied. After driving a couple of miles to his friends house he got out while I waited and he and his friend smoked for a few minutes. I suspect they were smoking pot but they didn't smell of it when they got back in the car. After a few attempts to connect to my blue tooth, he finally gave up and just asked to listen to 97.9, one of the filthiest radio stations on the air. I gave in and let them listen as we headed for what he called the Gallo i.e. Houston Galleria. So, listening to him and his friend talk and laugh about niggas and hos and the sounds of horribly profane rap music, I fought my way through rush hour traffic to the Galleria. After another stop at a gas station to let "Chante" pee I finally dropped them off across the street from Neiman Marcus.
Incidentally, while "Chante" was taking a leak, his friend called a girl and they had a long conversation about a party which was supposed to take place at her house during the coming weekend. They openly discussed getting drunk and high. These are teenagers in high school and it's unbelievable that something like this can actually go on. What kind of home life do these kids have that allows this kind of behavior? What kind of environment are they subject to from adults that points to nothing but eventual destruction in their lives? And how totally hypocritical is it that black kids can use nigger in their conversation yet if I used it, I would be subjected to abuse and called a racist? How is it that they can think of their girl friends a hos?
So, in short, I refuse to lower myself to serving people like this. I won't subject myself to subtle abuse such as this. I was insulted by their behavior but had not choice other than to listen and drive.
I'm done. Goodbye Uber.
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