UberPOOL Risks – Consider Who’s Going To Sit Next To You

“Mr. Uber driver, could I get out early?  I feel sick.”  One of my three UberPOOL riders clambered out.  Seconds later, the two remaining riders reacted in disgust as she vomited on the Chicago sidewalk.

As an Uber driver, I recommend potential riders think before selecting UberPOOL. Please consider a private UberX ride.  Yes, you will save a few dollars in the Pool.  But, it is basically the Uber Bus and you will add time as it meanders, picking up and dropping off others.  I’m stunned when businesspeople select UberPOOL en route to O’Hare Airport, risking missing a flight.  One young man took the UberPOOL in on the long ride from suburban Deerfield to downtown Chicago.  I sensed his anxiety as we stopped for other riders. Soon enough, I heard him phone his boss.  “Sorry, but my Uber is running 15 minutes late.  Please start the meeting without me.”

Worse yet are the late-night UberPOOLs.  Please assume everyone getting in will be drunk.  Some will make those horrible hiccup and other pre-barf sounds.  You- and the driver, too, believe me- will stare at the GPS ETA and count the seconds until we get the drunk out before he vomits on your leg.  Your drunk UberPOOL partner might fall asleep and rest his head on your shoulder and snore.  Like the smell of marijuana?  Try an UberPOOL on Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago at 2AM.  Do you prefer someone reeking of whiskey?  We can provide that most anywhere.  B.O.?  Check, and you don’t need a late night episode to enjoy the smell.

Are you a woman who enjoys random drunk males hitting on you while you’re inches away?  The UberPOOL can help.  As a driver, I will stop him if he touches you, but, I can’t stop his inane chatter in that way-too-loud drunk voice.  A lot of guy Pool riders ask the women for dates.  Four already have secured phone numbers from female Pool riders.  “How you doin?????  Where we goin’ next?”  Yet, most women don’t want random drunk male attention.

Just last night in my car, an inebriated firefighter visiting from Brooklyn asked the other UberPOOL rider if she’d come back to his hotel room and “have sex” with him. “You know we fighter-fighters practice a lot of physical activity.  I got a lot of stamina, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t do that with total strangers,” she said.

“Look at it this way.  What’ya gonna do tonight?  Hang out with your friends?  Or, you come with me; we got a bathtub full of drinks in our hotel; we can party and I’ll make you feel very good.  I’ll give you a night you won’t never ferget.”

Yes, ride UberPOOL to save two dollars and you might never ferget it.