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| Stop 1 |
My pickup also has a stop. Not for nothing but stops generally
stink for the driver. We make about a third of the money for waiting as we do
for moving, parking spots are not always available or legal, this does nothing
to help me complete the rides completed bonus, and so on. Not a fan. But I can’t avoid
rides with stops, at least not usually, and the total ride length estimate is within
tolerance levels. Let’s do this.
My guy is ready when I get there, which is not always the
case at this supermarket or this neighborhood, and a serious plus. He’s a high school
student, chatty, and he’s got a small bouquet of flowers from the supermarket in his hands. Aw, sweet. Maybe the stop is for his beloved. He
listens to my spiel about amenities, confirms the address, and we’re off.
I don’t recognize the address, but that’s not a big issue,
until we get to it. It’s… the cemetery.
It turns out that he comes here every week to visit the grave of his younger brother, who died after a long fight with cancer, last year.
We creep along small paths until we get close, and he hops
out of the car to have a conversation that I, mercifully, can not hear. He
takes all the time he needs. I check my email and social media, as if this was just another ride with a stop, and don’t
otherwise do anything, because the last thing I want to do is (a) hurry him
along, or (b) make him feel self-conscious. He needs a ride, not an unrequested and ham-handed attempt at therapy.
He pops back in the car after a few more minutes. I take him
to his next stop, close out the ride, and wish him well.
And go back to doing the job, having scratched off one more
unique use of ride share off my card.
With a fresh understanding that the problem of getting
enough rides to qualify for a bonus isn’t that big of a problem, really.
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