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To Grandmother's House We Go

A Ride Share Driver's Story

By L APublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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To Grandmother's House We Go
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

As a rideshare driver, one of the most common questions I get asked is "What is the most interesting passenger you've ever had?" or perhaps "Tell me a story of the craziest rider you've had." Over my time as a driver, this list has grown and grown and grown, and I'd often joke that one day I'd make a book of these stories to which the response usually consisted of a gasp and a "You should!"

So here are some of my stories. Some are sad. Most are funny. Some show how passengers can be some of the best customers and some show how they can be the worst. Some may make you laugh and others may make you shake your head. All are true and from my personal experience. However, location and names have been altered for privacy (and because I can't remember that many people's names all the time).

"To Grandmother's House We Go"

There are certain rules with being a rideshare driver that I perhaps don't always follow as closely as perhaps I should. One of this is the "no minors" rule. Anybody under the age of eighteen has to be accompanied by an adult in the vehicle. A number of times, however, I've picked up teenagers from high school after a sporting event or driven them to school when they missed the bus or picked up passengers talking about homecoming on their way to the mall. I don't ask their age because I feel as though it's in intrusion of their privacy, but my guess is that I've had a number of 15 - 17 year old unaccompanied passengers. I use my own judgement on this in driving them around.

I do have my limits, however.

I was driving around in Pretty Safe City when I got a trip request for somebody to be picked up at Indian Grocery Store and driven about 15 minutes away. The shopping center is set up in a way that there are large parking areas but they're a bit away from the stores on the main side. Then there are more stores off to the side with no parking until you hit the back area of the shopping center with more parking. This meant that I had to pull right up against a yellow-marked curb and hope that my customer was ready since I really wasn't supposed to be stopping there.

My passenger, Indah, walks out of the store with a toddler boy in her arms perhaps three years old. She opens the back door, speaking a foreign language I do not understand and proceeds to buckle her son in. I politely try to speak up without interrupting her, assuming she's talking to her son or something, and wish to confirm her name and destination as I always do when picking up passengers just to make sure I have the right person. She glances at me, nods, repeats her own name, and then exits out of the car, shutting the door behind her.

I wait, watching Indah, as she returns to the store, trying to not judge that she just left her three-year-old in the car with a stranger. I figured perhaps she has a ton of groceries and only so many hands and was going back into Indian Grocery Store to pick them all up. I felt really awkward sitting there with her toddler in the car, silently wishing she'd move a little bit faster. I'm not dangerous or anything, being a mother myself as well, and I personally know I'd never harm a child, but that didn't mean I was comfortable with people leaving their children with me when I didn't even know them.

I wait a few more minutes, glancing back a few times at the toddler who, by the way, doesn't have a car seat and just has the seat belt around him. I tap my fingers impatiently upon the steering wheel as I glance around, also a bit on edge about the fact that my car is stopped where it's not supposed to be. I texted the lady through the app, asking if she needed help with her groceries or anything, my polite way of inquiring if she'll be returning as soon as possible. There is no answer. I debate going inside since the store is small and it shouldn't be difficult to find the lady but I couldn't just leave my car, or the toddler, sitting there, and I didn't want to pull around the building to the far side where there was proper parking and make this woman think I was kidnapping her child. Even if she had been the one to basically abandon her toddler in a child's car, I knew how the law worked: I'd be blamed.

Finally, to my great relief, the woman hurried back out of the store. I began to finally relax, mentally scolding myself for some of the thoughts that had gone through my head. Of course this woman wasn't just leaving her child with a stranger in the car. She must've left the car seat in the store as well or something and not realized how long it took her to hurry back. There was an obvious very good reason for what had happened.

As the woman approached the car, I looked at her in curiosity. She had neither grocery bags nor car seat in her arms. Perhaps she had to settle a dispute or maybe she worked there and had to bring her kid to work for some reason and then had to go back and clock out. I expected her to get into the car, unlocking the doors again, for I had locked them for safety once the child was in the car. However, Indah did not get into the car. Rather, she bent down some, knocking on the front passenger window. Curious, I rolled the window down some, expecting her to apologize for taking so long or something. Rather, she looked at me in pure confusion, saying her name again. I nodded, saying yes, I was indeed there for Indah, once more confirming the address she was heading too. She nodded, "Yes, that is his grandmother's house. That is the way."

I paused a moment as we stared at each other through the open window silently. Finally, I asked, "Is...somebody else coming?" "No, no, just my son." She then proceeded to ask me to take him to what I could only assume meant "grandmother's" house. Realizing that this woman had zero intention of getting in the vehicle with her toddler son, I stared at her some in disbelief as I replied, "Ma'am, I'm sorry but I can't just drive your toddler son around. He's a minor. I'm not allowed." "No, no, I pay," she waved her phone at me. I put on my best customer service smile, "Yes, thank you. I see that. However, by law, I cannot drive around an unaccompanied minor. He's a young child. He cannot go alone. There has to be an adult in the car." Indah nodded some, telling me that she was the adult but made no move to get into the vehicle.

I tried to not show my frustration. She spoke well enough English for me to understand what she was saying, and I was pretty sure that she understood the words I was saying. She was simply not understanding the message. It was more of a misunderstanding of how rideshare worked and the rules than a language barrier, making me wonder if she was decently new to the country or if this was the type of stuff they did naturally where she came from.

Once more, I tried to explain very clearly that without an adult or somebody who was eighteen years or older and legally responsible for the child in the vehicle with the child for the entire trip, I could not take the child to Grandmother's house. She continued to insist that it was okay, that she had paid, and was getting very irritated at me. I finally offered a solution, telling her that I could take her AND her son to Grandmother's house and then drive her BACK to Indian Grocery Store but that I could lose my job, and felt very uncomfortable, driving around her son without her mother.

Eventually, the woman did seem to understand and got in the car with her son. She was quite irritated about it, and as we took off, she got on her phone and called somebody (maybe Grandma?). While I couldn't understand what she was saying as she was speaking another language, I picked up enough words to continually hear "Uber" and my name along with a disgusted and angry tone so I'm pretty sure she was ranting about what an awful person I was.

We did go to Grandmother's house, and an older lady and a younger man were waiting outside for us. The woman didn't even get out of the car as the man took the toddler out of the car. Indah ordered me back to Indian Grocery Store and proceeded to tell me she wasn't "going to pay" for the return trip because I "made" her do it. I politely told her that if she was dissatisfied with the charges, she could absolutely contact the rideshare customer service and tell her story.

After I dropped her off, I immediately contacted Uber myself so that they'd block me from ever being matched with her again. I also informed them about how she continually insisted that a three year old ride unaccompanied and had said she wasn't going to pay the fare and may be contacting them about my refusal to drive off with the toddler.

All-in-all, I must say I'm slightly curious as to how THAT conversation went between Indah and the rideshare customer service center.

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About the Creator

L A

In 2nd grade, my teacher kept me after class. I thought I was in trouble. Rather, she told me that she wanted to publish my class assignment which was a 30 page short story. The assignment was one page. I have been writing ever since.

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