I’m a pretty introverted guy, but I always try to chat with drivers. And in fact, when looking through wire and stock photos to illustrate this post, almost all of them showed passengers engrossed in their phones. Another driver mentioned it to me a few years ago. People get in the car, and they just look down at their phone the whole time.” We had an easy and wide-ranging conversation, with topics including the American dream as lived by guys like him.Ĭlosing in on the airport, he thanked me for the conversation. ![]() ![]() Much of what he earns he sends back to Liberia to help support his family, and he is saving up to fly back for a visit someday - he hasn’t been back home since he left five years ago. He spends about $200 on gas per week out of the $1,000 or so that he grosses, which says nothing of other car maintenance costs. He enjoys driving for Uber and puts in a young man’s long hours he had chauffeured people the night before, then caught a few hours of sleep before starting out again early. He was polite, personable, and spoke perfect English, given it is Liberia’s official language. ![]() Dropping my bag in the trunk and masking up, I climbed in and greeted the driver, who was apparently the only other guy awake at that hour.Īs we drove, we talked. But on a recent trip to the airport for the first time since lockdown, it took awhile for someone to show. Before the pandemic, rideshares swarmed the roads 24/7, and it was easy to catch an Uber at 5 a.m.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |