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When I last checked my American Express end-of-the-year statement, I sorted it out by vendor to see where I could cut some costs. My breakdown went as follows:
2. Tex-Mex Restaurant
3. Grocery Store
It became very clear to me that an easy way for me to reduce spending was by driving myself to my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant and not drinking enough margaritas that it would be considered unsafe for me to drive home. Frankly, Uber is a luxury and my yearly spending wasn’t actually all that bad when you consider how much a DUI costs. But I never even got close to the Uber trip taken by a “19 or 20-year-old” woman who ended up going 397 miles from Williamsburg, Virginia to Brooklyn, New York.
My first reaction to this was, “She must have been hammered and thought she was just getting a ride around Brooklyn only to get swindled by a crafty driver who wanted to bank in on her rider passing out in the backseat.” But this was no accident – she took the ride to see her boyfriend who actually lived in Brooklyn.
The cost of the ride? Way fucking cheaper than you would’ve expected. Like, cheap enough that it actually kind of makes sense if you can’t afford a plane ticket over $300 for a weekend jaunt. At $294.09, this actually sounds like a pretty damn good deal to me. Sure, it took around eight hours and a flight would’ve only taken about one, but whatever. She got where she needed to go.
The driver, 64-year-old Janis Rogers, didn’t have a pee break the entire time and somewhat complained about the fact that she only made $9.00 hour after she had to make the return trip back to Virginia. While you can make the argument that she got what she signed up for, I’ll say this: I would’ve taken the financial hit and denied the ride once this chick put in the destination. I know she’s probably got bills to pay and mouths to feed, but shit, 16 hours is a long-ass time to be schlepping someone around.
In regards to her passenger, Rogers said, “She didn’t seem excited to see her boyfriend. She was kind of blasé. She looked tired.” I’m assuming she was strung out on something, trying to catch her boyfriend cheating, visiting him solely to yell at him, or just using “boyfriend” as an excuse to run away from her overbearing parents that were trying to keep her in community college.
Either way, I’m good sticking with my Ubers to Tex-Mex restaurants. Brooklyn’s Mexican food isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. .
[via Metro UK]
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Will
Will (Twitter / Instagram) is the host of The Sunday Scaries Podcast.
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After reading the title I seriously though this was TGDAG.
Yes…girl, or Girl?
What was this Uber driver thinking? Did he expect some other person would want a 400 mile drive back too?
If he set his compass south, he’d eventually get back to Virginia, where he could take a much needed shower
Thinking about how much she would have saved using uber pool, PGP
At first I thought this was an error based off of the Williamsburg neighborhood… and then I realized that Williamsburg, VA was the pickup spot.
W&M girls be crazy.
Class of ’13 here, trying to date a normal girl at W&M girl is like trying to find a decent girl to go home with when last call comes around at 3am: you’re better off staying single.
I can attest to this, W&M girls got me through a rough breakup good times
Rebounded with the same W&M volleyball player, twice.
For 300 Smack-a-roos, you could just get a new boyfriend… I respect her resolve I suppose.
Woke up late this morning, took a Lyft 2.2 miles into the office so I could get there by 8. Cost me $27. FML. Should’ve skipped work and gone to Brooklyn.
A buddy and I once paid for a Lyft (because no Uber driver would accept it) to get from Chicago to Milwaukee because we missed the last Amtrak train. We paid for the ride, ~$90, plus we filled his gas tank for the deadhead trip back.
I don’t know why I care, but what were you guys headed to?
We took the Amtrak from Milwaukee to Chicago to a Cubs game. $25 one way.
I don’t know why people are calling this the longest ride. I took someone from Scottsdale to Albuquerque by way of Flagstaff and ended up being about 460 miles. I ended making about $430 after a nice cash tip.
Well a buddy and I once paid a random dude two hundred to drive us from Tyler TX to Dallas after a storm cancelled our flight for the night.
You do know that Uber drivers can’t see the destination until they start the ride, right? And the driver needs to look at the wear and tear on the car. She didn’t actually get paid for her time.