The Worst Five Star Rider Ever

A little late on a Thursday night. The ping comes to a Wal-Mart, which is usually a local trip home with groceries. Standard fare, especially during the pandemic. The ride is going a suspiciously long way away though, out into the middle of nowhere, where I'm not going to get any kind of useful ride back. Oh well, life of a hack. Let's ride.

I come up to the front because there is no traffic, and two guys are having an animated conversation. It takes a while for one of them to get in, and the other kind of guides him in. "Thanks again," says my new passenger, and off we go. No groceries or purchases. Well, maybe he works there.

Nope.

Over the next 35 minutes, I get a disjointed ramble of a story about how the passenger had guns pulled on him by police, how various debit cards and SNAP (food stamps) products have fallen through, how you need to take this road and not that road, but he don't judge no one and wow your car sure is clean and nice and just a torrent of everything. He keeps his mask on and isn't actively threatening, but everything about him just screams Meth. Fun.

Long ride. I engage sporadically, just enough so that he thinks I'm on his side, and count the minutes until I can three-star him and get on with my life...

Which is when he then needs a stop at a Wawa on the way. Well, what the hell, my night is shot anyway, and he's been just on the edge enough that the first rule of ride share (Get Home Safely) dictates that I don't piss him off. Also, he's still several miles from his final destination, and if I just drive off, it's going to be some poor Wawa guy's problem, and, likely, a second visit from the po po. 

So I'll give him a minute or two in the store, and if he doesn't come back soon, well... oh, lord. He's arguing with the counter guy. Maybe I'm about to witness a hold up?

Which is when the app pings with a text. "Everything ok? You guys have been stuck there for a while."

Because... the guy at the Wal-Mart who guided him into the car isn't the passenger. He's the guy paying for the ride, so this nutcase can go sleep at whatever he calls home, instead of jail, which was probably what was going to happen at the Wal-Mart before I got there.

And at this point, he gets back in the car. \

With a fresh charge of caffeine and what happened in the store and oh man I'm sorry I spilled my coffee on your nice clean car and I need extra time to get out of the car and... 

I got home safe. 

The car's fine. 

And I didn't rate the Samaritan as low as I wanted to...