Driving For Uber
I am poor.
Like, I seriously get concerned around the end of the month, because I look at my bank account and see a number so low that if they were to give me my entire balance in pennies I could hold them all in one hand. So with this knowledge, I start to think about how my life choices over the past month brought me to that point, and I wonder how the hell I’m going to pay the evil people who want my money. I suppose I could stop smoking. That would save me a good chunk of change right there. (It’s on the agenda. I’m gonna quit.) Or I could quit eating out and actually cook my own damn meals. That would certainly help. Or sometimes, I even consider giving up my pesky acting addiction, in hopes that I could find a career that would actually pay a livable wage. –Because you know, it’s totally the theatre companies themselves that don’t want to pay their artists. It’s definitely not a societal issue of people undervaluing the arts and therefore not providing them funding and support.(SARCASM)– But month after month I keep finding myself reaching for a cigarette, stoping by Wendy’s, and showing up to rehearsal.
So what does this mean for my finances? Well I certainly won’t be giving up acting; so it means that I (sooner rather than later) really need to quit smoking, really need to eat out less, and just really need to be better about maintaining a budget overall. But, it also means that I need to turn to alternate means of making a living.
So where do I turn?
UBER.
Uber is where I turn.
So just in case you’ve been living under a rock, I’ll briefly explain what Uber is. Uber is basically a service where people call for a car to pick them up using an app on their phone. Then, whichever driver happens to be closest to them, will pick the passenger up and take them to their destination.
Now I will say that as a general rule, I think it’s bat-shit-crazy to willingly let a stranger or group of strangers into your car, especially in a major city like Atlanta. But you know…desperate times and all. And, I have been assured that driving for Uber is incredibly safe, often fun, and most importantly, lucrative. So I decided to give it a try. And once I had pretty much convinced myself that no one would try to kill me, rob me, beat me up, or otherwise destroy me, I filled out the application, the background check consent form, all the other information, and I waited. And waited. And WAITED. Until finally (after badgering them for weeks) I got the green light that I could start driving.
And I’ve gotta say after my first day of driving, I was very happy with my decision to work for Uber. I was only “on the clock” for about 4 hours that first day and after Uber took out their cut and after taxes, I had made almost $50! And to top it off, no one tried to kill me. So I’m calling that a win! Since then, I’ve only driven maybe 4 or 5 other days, but other than the asshole who decided to give me a two star rating because he, “don’t think nobody deserves a 5 Star rating. I don’t care how good you are”, I’ve enjoyed driving for Uber, so far!
I’m telling myself that each time I pick up a new passenger that it’s really just a one on one character study.
And let me tell you. There have been some characters.
