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The Uber Summer



295 trips. A small sample of the people who make up Philadelphia and it’s suburbs, but 295 trips can really teach an Uber driver about the beauty of stranger interaction. Before I talk about the lessons learned driving for Uber, I must admit that the job itself wasn’t even slightly pretty. Dents and potholes and wrong turns and near-empty gas tanks all hindered my joy rides through the city. The amount of fast food I consumed in the last three months was out of desperation, not choice. Let’s just say Burger King’s 10-piece $1.49 nugget combo was part of a calming, therapeutic ritual, otherwise known as a dinner break.

The road rage was real, the pay was shitty, and the tickets subtracted too much my earnings. Okay the tickets were mostly my fault, resulting from parking at an unfed meter for 20 minutes or zooming through an E-Z pass lane. I also feel like people driving on congested roads are only capable of two emotions; neutral and angry. This was unsettling to deal with. Traffic brings out the ugly in all of us. Is it because we all don’t trust each others driving skills? Are we constantly scared that some idiot might cause a wreck? Maybe, but thankfully I wasn’t one of those idiots. I was just yelled at for driving too slow, which was fine with me because it led to a 4.9 rating and more time for friendly chit-chat with passengers. When I wasn’t having random discussions with strangers, my internal mindfulness practice led to the summer motto of 2019; “Let em’ honk”.

 It wasn’t pretty, but the pure randomness was undoubtedly beautiful. After accepting a call, I had no idea who I would be picking up, where I would be driving them, or what we would be discussing. It is true that no two people are alike, but in the moments when an absolute stranger entered my car, I knew we had to find common ground somehow. Often times it was just a simple greeting followed by a dull car ride with a classic 90’s song playing in the background. Other times discussions led to expressions of soulful emotion. These were my favorite, the rides when both the passenger and I were talking openly about anything and everything. It was like both of us trusted one another enough to pour our opinions into the car, free of judgement. I drove one guy home from his shift at Whole Foods and all we talked about was how excited he was to cook the swordfish he just bought. I picked up another lady from Abington Hospital and she told me about her 55 year-long marriage that was now in it’s final chapter. The beautiful thing about driving for Uber was that these two radically different conversations could take place within the same half hour. Uber drivers have to listen, sympathize, and find common ground. Chameleons of conversation while providing a transportation service to society.
My motivation for driving passengers for hours each day stemmed from the belief that I would soon be a passenger myself, on my way to Japan. It is with great satisfaction that I can now say that I am writing this from Kakamigahara. After four airports, three planes, two hotels, and one train, I made it safely. It is now my passion to bring knowledge and instruction to the people of this town, people who have already given me warmth ever since I arrived. I hope to speak the truth and bring value to the students of the Kensington English School. I hope to play a positive role in this town, this country, and this world. To whoever is reading this, I wish you peace of mind as you continue to play your part, as you continue to participate in what can be thought of as the greatest show on Earth.
Until next time,

 J.S

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