Living in the city gives for a copious amount of opportunities to take a Lyft or an Uber. For me, this has allowed me to get to my destination safer but it also has allowed me to be in contact with many strange drivers. Here are some stories that I compiled over the months.
Funny Animal Vines Guy
The other week, I came in from a flight that got delayed and did not land into O’Hare until 1 a.m. I decided to take a Lyft back to my apartment, which was about a 30-minute drive. I get in the car, and my driver begins by making conversation about the weather, and how he is planning to move to Dallas to escape winter. I explained that I just came from visiting a friend in Dallas. We continued talking and I asked if he does anything else for a living besides being an Uber driver. He told about how he is a computer programmer, but wait that’s not it. He also is trying to make money from his YouTube videos. He started explaining that he claims the only reason he cannot make money off of them is because he does not show his face. This intrigued me and I asked what kind of videos he makes. He apparently makes compilations of funny animal vines, and he was sad that he only has four views. This was not even the weirdest part. He told me the name of his YouTube and I wrote it in my notes app planning to never look at it. He asked if I got and I replied that I had found his channel. I guess this was not enough for him, and he pulled up his YouTube on his phone. Let me repeat that because I’m dramatic. He pulled up his YouTube on his phone. He proceeded to have me watch his videos, and he kept asking me, “Wasn’t that cool?” I just kept nodding my head hoping he would click off the video. He then asked if I had Instagram or YouTube, and I said I was doing a social media cleanse to avoid the question. It was a wild 30-minute ride.
Guy Who’s Wife I called
I used to work at the Chicago Theatre, and one night I got out extremely late from working a double show. I called an Uber to take me home, and we struck up a pleasant conversation. He asked what the best show that I have seen recently because he just bought a Firestick and he and his wife like to watch shows on it. I told him that Conan O’Brien was probably the latest cool show I got to watch. He kept repeating that and asking me how to spell it. I spelled out his name and before I could finish, he interrupted me and was like do you mind if I call my wife? I was confused and said no I don’t mind, he explained he wanted to tell her to pull up Conan O’Brien. He was speaking to his wife in his native language, and suddenly he hands me the phone. He told me to tell her what I told him, so I said Conan O’Brien. She said she loved him and that he was so funny, to which I agreed. I handed the phone back to my driver and he hung up on his wife. He was a sweetheart, just a weird occurrence.
This are my favorite two stories, I am sure I have more but I just cannot think of them right now. I am positive though just from living in Chicago I will accumulate more over the years.