A Tale of Two Uber Rides

Yesterday both BW and I had eye doctor appointments an hour apart from each other and considering that we both might be in no shape to drive to and from we decided taking an Uber would be the best.

I don't take a lot of Ubers because I drive Uber. But today I was a passenger two times and it was an eye-opening experience!

Ride Number One

First, the cost: $33.00 to go on a 15 minute trip. I know for a fact that my driver might have seen about 12 bucks - at most, for this trip as it was a reserved ride because we wanted to get there and they usually pay a bit more.

The driver showed up in a Big Blue RAM 1500 Pickup Truck. Average mileage of 15MPG from my googling skills.

Now, it was a nice ride in a very roomy nice truck driven by a retired nurse so we have no complaints about the truck or the ride. It was nice, we tipped at the end of the ride.

But I wonder how she was making any money? I'm guessing that it cost her $2.00 just in gas for the 15 minute trip. If she's paying that much for gas for a fifteen minute trip it could cost her $8.00 an hour just in gas to work for Uber.

Maybe it's to pay for the truck payment and it's just a part time thing? I dunno but I doubt that we were very profitable for her.

Ride Number 2

I have to preface this with the fact that I just got out of the ophthalmologist office after having a needle in my eye so my mood was not the best and as luck would have it, I am pretty sure we got the dirtiest Uber in the area.

This car was filthy. I don't think the interior was cleaned in years. But that's what the Uber gods decided was an acceptable ride and I just wanted to get home so whatever.

This poor clapped out and rusty Jeep Renegade could not have passed inspection in the past decade legally if I had to guess. It was rough. And then to make matters worse he takes the longer way home. I dunno if this was a technique to rack up the mileage but whatever, I just wanted to get home and liedown because I just had a needle in my eye.

The driving was fine and the driver was nice enough and so everybody gets five stars but holy that was an uber experience I don't want to have again.

If nothing else, this makes me feel better about the current state of my car. The mats are a little salty and need a good power wash but otherwise I keep the car clean. I've had compliments, and I didn't think my car was that clean.

Now I know how low the bar can get.

I really don't know how people can take Ubers on the regular and afford it. It may have been cheap at the start but not so anymore.

And here I am thinking eggs were expensive.

PS. When she saw the leprechaun surprise of the day this morning she took one look at it and said:

That's quite impressive!