Sometime during the pandemic Uber sent me a notice congratulating me on my 1,000th ride. Yikes, I thought. A thousand rides, I could have bought a car. But the truth is that I don’t want a car. I love the efficiency of a few clicks on an app and I’m picked up, and the freedom of being dropped off without circling the block looking for a parking space.
But mostly, it’s talking to Uber drivers. You can know quite a lot about a person’s story spending 10 to 45 minutes sitting with them in a car. I don’t always make conversation, but most of the time I do and always feel uplifted afterwards, and hope they do too.
Thu Feb 27, home from LAX
My driver was from Turkey, so of course I shared my tales of Istanbul. He won the visa lotto and came here to start a business with a friend. He doesn’t love America, wants to buy a big camper van, then travel around to other countries. Hates Erdogan. He said he liked my energy. “How you say, aura?” Yes, aura, I confirmed. He thinks Los Angeles is an ugly city.
Wed Feb 26, to LAX to visit Mum
Driver had a Ukrainian flag on his hat and a little plastic flag inside the car, although his name was Jake. Of course we hit it off and spent the hour’s drive sharing stories. His mother and sister were in Bucha, where they went into hiding, and he returned after the war to help relocate them to Kyiv. He studied at a seminary in Kyiv because he knew it was easier for ministers to get visas to come to the U.S. Three of his classmates are dead. How? I asked. From the war. He remembers when the country got its independence on Aug 24, 1991, because they issued currency, the hryvnia. He reveres Zelensky.
Fri. Feb 21, home from HODG
Since it was 8ish on a Friday night, I asked my friendly young driver if he was doing the drunken club girl circuit that evening. He laughed and said yes. I asked if he’d ever had any bad experiences with drunk people in his car (fighting, vomiting, etc). He said no, they’re just jolly, wanting the music turned up so they can sing along. What a nice guy. Must be new in town.
Sat. Feb 8, to and from Healing Hands on Larchmont
Driver said she was in the area because she was going to see her mother in a facility in Hollywood. I asked if her mother was ill, and she said, “just old”: 83! She visits every day, but then said she was going to have to move home and it would be hard to care for her. Short ride.
I saw the driver’s name was McKay, so thought, “probably a Mormon,” but then I got in to find a large Black man. Hmm…Maybe not? You have an interesting name, I said, is it a family name? Turns out, yes, it’s his mother’s maiden name. I told him about Brighton, my Mum’s maiden name that so many in the family now use as a first or middle name.
Mon. Feb 3, to Clutch in Venice for CryptoMondays
Felt a cell phone when I sat down, told the driver. She was annoyed. It’s a hassle for her to return a phone, they don’t get paid, and sometimes riders don’t compensate them. One time she delivered a left-behind phone and the rider gave her some cookies. She monologued for a long time, I wasn’t really listening, something about how she needs to exercise and has been gaining weight. I got out and soon realized that no one was there because I had the wrong date. I ordered a pale ale, called an Uber, and sat in silence the whole way home, frustrated that I had wasted over $80 and two hours, and that I would not be able to attend the actual meeting due to a conflict with the ACNL Conference.
Sat. Feb 1, home from Larchmont
I usually walk, but today was loaded down with my laptop and packages. The driver arrived in a lime green Kia and I asked my usual, “are you from LA?” Turns out she’s from Iran, been here 14 years. Interestingly, she misses Iran and says her cousins and friends back there have a better life. I asked about the oppression of women, and she says women can do everything in Iran that men can, that the media portrays the country as a police state but it’s not true. She says it’s much safer in Iran than in Los Angeles. I was sad the ride ended so quickly because I had so much more to ask.
Monday, Jan 20, home from dinner at Hannah’s
Driver came to L.A. from Florida to work in TV production. Worked on a couple of series but augmented downtime with Hallmark or Lifetime movies, which often wrap filming in just a week to 10 days. I told him my theory of Rom-Coms vs Hallmark movies: Rom-Coms are about young women going to New York to pursue high-powered glam jobs in fashion or publishing, and are at the center of where it’s all happening. Hallmark movies are about young women with high-powered jobs in New York who are sent on a work assignment to a small town — an impossibly charming, quaint little hamlet — where they have an epiphany about the emptiness of their former glam world and decide to stay in the small town. The Uber driver liked my insight. He said what was fun about working on those movies is how predictable they are. The crew would play a game: Without seeing the script, with only the title and shooting locations, they would place bets on who could derive the plot.