Although it doesn’t happen nearly as frequently as it used to, one of the questions I get asked the most is “so, you got any crazy stories? What’s the craziest thing that’s happened when you’re giving somebody a ride?” And the honest truth is, nothing terribly crazy has happened in my car in my 3+ years of driving.
I usually porcupine that question back to them nowadays and ask them, “well, what do you consider crazy? You’re obviously thinking of one or two things and wondering if it happened in here. What’s your idea of crazy?” Because I know where that question comes from. They either had watched or had heard of the old HBO show Taxi Cab Confessions. Or maybe it was on Showtime, heck I don’t remember. What I remind people is that show took place in New York and Las Vegas and that 45 to 50 minutes that they saw probably came from thousands of hours recorded in multiple cabs. I guess what I’m saying is in Tulsa we just don’t have a significant percentage of crazy ass people doing crazy ass things with zero inhibition.
The crazy that happens in my car is not what I see or what happens, it tends to be what I hear. People may be reserved to “do” scandalous things, but a lot of people have no problem saying whatever when they’re three feet from me or even in conversation with me. I am pretty sure this is yet another product of social media today. People just type whatever they want whenever they want and it’s bleeding over into their own lives to where even if they don’t know you, they’ll just be unguarded and share things about themselves. That has surprised me.
What all have I heard, you ask? You name it and I probably have.
A woman talk about her hysterectomy? Yep.
A couple discussing how to get their next “fix’ and from whom? Yes.
A woman screaming into her phone because she lost custody and blaming it on her ex and saying he’s on drugs and has a temper all while she reeks of weed and booze and im driving her to a bar. Oh yeah.
A drunk woman dissing her husband for being an a-hole and cheating and the only reason she’s still married is something specific and sexual in nature. Awkwardly, uh huh.
Guys calling their significant other to alibi the rest of their night? Frequently.
Couples bicker over something small, then drunkenly apologize and mumble “I love you though”, only to bring back up that mundane item over and over before I can get them home. More often than I care to count.
I’d much rather hear crazy than see crazy. It is entertaining and not threatening in any way. Because really, at the end of the day, the doers and the sayers of crazy are still just like everybody else. They are just trying to get from point A to point B, they just evidently have little or no guard and don’t mind sharing. One of the things that keep it fun.
And as always, I’ll end this on a warm note. My favorites have become the warm & fuzzy moments. The Saturday before Mothers Day, I pulled up to some Section 8 apartments and out walked a 19 or 20 year old male and he tells me his mom is coming, she’s just slow in getting ready. A few minutes later she walks out and is dressed in her best, dangling earrings and her best necklace (I’m guessing). He opens the door for her and after they get settled, she boasts that he will be out of town working his new job on Mothers Day, so he’s taking her out for Mothers Day dinner tonight. She seemed so proud and excited.
Another reminder to me that it doesn’t matter where you live or how you live, you must find enjoyment in life and appreciate what and who you have.
Uber & Lyft: Everyone Has A Story 