Always Tip Your Driver

Trip length: 18 minutes. Trip distance: 4.4 miles. Fare: $16.78  Year: 2018. Song of the trip:  “Rain Street” by The Pogues So I told you that last story to tell you this one. Normally on Saint Paddy's Day, I turn on my phone to a playlist of Irish music that I like (The Pogues, Black-47, The Chieftains, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, etc.) and I'm stuck ferrying people who are so blisteringly drunk they have trouble finding the door handle to get out of the car. I figured I'd get at least one good story to tell you, but this wasn't the one I was expecting. There were  loads of drunks, but they weren't the most entertaining fare I had on St. Drunkard's Day. One of the most common things that happens when people get in the car is they want to hear a story. "Tell me about the craziest thing that's ever happened in here." "Have you ever been threatened?" "Has someone thrown up in your car?" "Has anyone tried to hav...

Trip length: 18 minutes. Trip distance: 3.4  miles. Fare: $11.14. Year: 2015.  Song of the trip:  “Happy When It Rains” by The Jesus & Mary Chain So this is a flashback trip, and it's a short little one, but it's worth telling, I think. While the several year long drought in California ended in 2017, in 2016, we had one day of insane, unbelievable rain in January that felt like it was going to overwhelm the South Bay, and it very nearly did. Because the greater San Jose area had gone without rain for so long, many of the drains hadn't been flushed out, and leaves and detritus had been accumulating in them for years. Sure sure, they were supposed  to be kept up, but when it seems like the rain will never come again, people tend to slip or forget. All of that resulted in a single night in January where any Uber driver who'd never seen rain was tested, and those of us who grew up in rain got to see exactly how bad it was for an entire generation of driver...