# Your silliest newbie mistakes



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

Okay, confession time. We've all been there. What were your silliest rookie mistakes as a new driver?


----------



## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

I spent 30 minutes in a 3.5x surge area waiting for requests before I noticed that I was offline.


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

First few weeks as a driver. I got a call from a pax straight after accepting, telling me he put in the wrong pick up address, and that I should go to another one further away. (In hindsight I'm wondering if he was surge dodging) Like an idiot, I acquiesced. On top of that, when I got there, I forgot to start trip.


----------



## Buck-a-mile (Nov 2, 2019)

2nd trip downtown San Diego.
Wrong way down a one way street for 10 seconds. Pax was not in the car, but was waiting and saw my mistake.
My 1st 4*.

5 years ago the app really sucked. It would put you on one way streets, the wrong way.

Pax didn't have to enter a dx.
One guy got in and said "just drive".

Buddy, this aint a cab nor are we in a movie. This car doesn't move until you enter a dx, or tell it to me so I can.

They need a place to start looking for my body.


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

2.5 years and 1800 rides later I still make them &#128522;

But things I've learned and avoid for the most part:

Tell the usual callers not to call. I dont want to completely turn off calls in case there is an emergency with my kids.
Turn off text and other pop up notification. Had some embarrassing text appear.
Play a clean playlist on spotify. Took way too long to figure that out. Surprised I didn't get a music complaint.
Follow navigation.
Turn off baby locks.
I might end up in SF so pee beforehand and between trips.
Avoid sex talk. Even if there is a instant friendly connection. You are still strangers.


----------



## ABQuber (Jan 30, 2019)

Watching 2 people help the drunk into my car thinking, well I’m doing a good thing getting them home.

*With puke dripping down my right arm* Ok, lesson learned.


----------



## GoldenGoji (Apr 30, 2018)

For me, my worst mistake during my first year was helping people from a Motel 6 or whatever you call it, transfer a BUNCH of their luggage to a motel across the street. I was "promised" a $20 "tip in the app". My car was full of luggage, I carried majority of them, even found a cockroach which I quickly blasted with Windex to make it go away and die elsewhere. The entire thing lasted around 30 minutes or so. I ended up with the minimum fare WITHOUT the promised $20 "tip in the app". I learned to NEVER trust passengers when it comes to promises of money. If they want help, PAY UP FIRST! I hope their vacation was a wreck and that cockroaches bit them at night.


----------



## Buck-a-mile (Nov 2, 2019)

GoldenGoji said:


> For me, my worst mistake during my first year was helping people from a Motel 6 or whatever you call it, transfer a BUNCH of their luggage to a motel across the street. I was "promised" a $20 "tip in the app". My car was full of luggage, I carried majority of them, even found a cockroach which I quickly blasted with Windex to make it go away and die elsewhere. The entire thing lasted around 30 minutes or so. I ended up with the minimum fare WITHOUT the promised $20 "tip in the app". I learned to NEVER trust passengers when it comes to promises of money. If they want help, PAY UP FIRST! I hope their vacation was a wreck and that cockroaches bit them at night.


Passengers that say they're going to tip, never do. It's a fact of life.


----------



## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

I was still somewhat newish, but on 4th of July, the house I picked up the pax had a circular drive on a hill. So I drove up it to park in front of the house. I didn't realize there was a car parked on the other side of the circular drive. So at night, I had to backup around the curve, going reverse down the hill to get out.

There's a bar here with the entrance in an alley. To access it, you have to enter it from a one way street that turns (by the bldg in back w/ the balconies). It's a tighter alley than the picture looks.

Well, I came in the wrong way with my pax and there were other cars coming in the correct direction. Thankfully my pax were nice, but it was still embarrassing!

I'm glad my car has s backup camera.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

Picking up my first ride


----------



## kingcorey321 (May 20, 2018)

I waited more then 2 minutes at a stop .


----------



## Ssgcraig (Jul 8, 2015)

Took XL requests on NYE forgetting they did not count towards bonus. Didn't get bonus.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

Invisible said:


> I was still somewhat newish, but on 4th of July, the house I picked up the pax had a circular drive on a hill. So I drove up it to park in front of the house. I didn't realize there was a car parked on the other side of the circular drive. So at night, I had to backup around the curve, going reverse down the hill to get out.
> 
> There's a bar here with the entrance in an alley. To access it, you have to enter it from a one way street that turns (by the bldg in back w/ the balconies). It's a tighter alley than the picture looks.
> 
> ...


you have some serious back up issues lol


----------



## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

5☆OG said:


> you have some serious back up issues lol


I didn't hit anything, anyone or drive over grass . &#128512;


----------



## LordBinky (Dec 11, 2019)

First rideshare pickup I ever did, I didn't realize that you had to swipe right to start the ride. I was pushing the Start button and nothing was happening. As the passenger was in the car, I had to start driving. Thankfully it was a short run and I dropped the girl off. But the app was still waiting for me to start. So I went all the way back to the starting point and finally figured out I had to swipe. So having now properly started the trip, I had to drive back again to the drop-off point empty in order to get my fee and complete the ride.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

LordBinky said:


> First rideshare pickup I ever did, I didn't realize that you had to swipe right to start the ride. I was pushing the Start button and nothing was happening. As the passenger was in the car, I had to start driving. Thankfully it was a short run and I dropped the girl off. But the app was still waiting for me to start. So I went all the way back to the starting point and finally figured out I had to swipe. So having now properly started the trip, I had to drive back again to the drop-off point empty in order to get my fee and complete the ride.


----------



## Buck-a-mile (Nov 2, 2019)

LordBinky said:


> First rideshare pickup I ever did, I didn't realize that you had to swipe right to start the ride. I was pushing the Start button and nothing was happening. As the passenger was in the car, I had to start driving. Thankfully it was a short run and I dropped the girl off. But the app was still waiting for me to start. So I went all the way back to the starting point and finally figured out I had to swipe. So having now properly started the trip, I had to drive back again to the drop-off point empty in order to get my fee and complete the ride.


You didn't have to do that.
The app has a TROUBLE WITH TRIP option. You select the forgot to start trip option, and they fix it pretty quick.


----------



## Coastal_Cruiser (Oct 1, 2018)

You guys gotta be kidding! You call those stories silly?? Not even close. I wrote the book on silliest newb mistakes. Example:

First month into the job I picked up three guys near a bar. I asked if "Joe" was in their midst. "Joe" immediately replies yes. They were several yards from the actual pickup point, but I let them in the car.

Three minutes into the trip the real Joe calls me wondering where I am. Damn! I got skunked by three quick thinking white punks on dope. Rather than boot them instantaneously I delivered them to the drop off (coincidentally that's where they wanted to be), then pivoted around back to the original pickup location. Completing the trip was silly #1.

But wait! There's more. Somewhere along the ride with the punks, when it was in question what I was going to do with them, I asked them to be sure to rate me 5 stars if I took them to the drop off. They said sure, they would give me 5 stars.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

Coastal_Cruiser said:


> You guys gotta be kidding! You call those stories silly?? Not even close. I wrote the book on silliest newb mistakes. Example:
> 
> First month into the job I picked up three guys near a bar. I asked if "Joe" was in their midst. "Joe" immediately replies yes. They were several yards from the actual pickup point, but I let them in the car.
> 
> ...


yeah then they one starred your simple jack ass...lol


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

Buck-a-mile said:


> You didn't have to do that.
> The app has a TROUBLE WITH TRIP option. You select the forgot to start trip option, and they fix it pretty quick.


I did pretty much the same thing as the other poster. But we are talking about newbie mistakes after all, and I was unaware back then, that a simpler fix would be to contact support and get the trip adjusted.


----------



## Coastal_Cruiser (Oct 1, 2018)

5☆OG said:


> yeah then they one starred your simple jack ass...lol


I just _knew_ you'd be hard on me dude.


----------



## Wildgoose (Feb 11, 2019)

As a newbie, I didn't find any mistake with Uber but it happened on Lyft.
Got a ping, drove to the pick up point. Saw a lady and I parked. She got in but I didn't see any thing to start the ride yet. It still was on Navigation mode. The ride was requested by her boyfriend so pick up location was inside big building. I drove heading toward building as nearest as I could make( on the drive way of that building), nothing changed. Hit the building three times, still same. Backing off to the street, made a circle turned to get another side of that building. Nothing changed. Drove on that drive way again. Still same. Finally I gave up. Dropped Off the lady where I picked her up. Cancelled the trip and apologized to that lady. As I drove off, then I could breath. ( I didn't know to hit "Exit" button to exit navigation mode.) It was truely an adventure.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

the real problem is that some of us have been doing this for so long is that a lot of us forgot that in the begining uber never taught us anything it was all trial and error. so im just having some fun on my day off. im living the life,on my day off i get to troll the UP boards lol....im living the dream lol



Coastal_Cruiser said:


> I just _knew_ you'd be hard on me dude.


im just funnin :smiles: if we cant laugh at ourselves we would probably go postal lol


----------



## Syn (Jun 30, 2017)

Here in Wisconsin we have a big music festival every year. Few years ago surges would get as high as 6-7x (or more). 
My first summer (2016.) of doing this, I was relatively new driver. I was in the high surging area of at least 5x (can't remember the exact number). Got a request near by, picked up passengers for a 15 miles trip. After I dropped them of I expected a fairly big fare - however, app showed only $17 or so. After exchanging numerous emails with Uber, I realized that I won't be paid surge. Even though passengers were at the same high surging area as me, somehow when they made a request they were charged only the regular amount.
Lesson learned. Over 10 days of this festival I received numerous similar request - people in high surging areas, but no surge attached to the request. I made sure to always see that number 4x or 5x next to the request before accepting it.



5☆OG said:


> the real problem is that some of us have been doing this for so long is that a lot of us forgot that in the begining uber never taught us anything it was all trial and error.


Oh yeah. Newbies are shocked when I tell that I used to count on my own when 5 minutes are up because the app didn't always told us so.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

Syn said:


> Here in Wisconsin we have a big music festival every year. Few years ago surges would get as high as 6-7x (or more).
> My first summer (2016.) of doing this, I was relatively new driver. I was in the high surging area of at least 5x (can't remember the exact number). Got a request near by, picked up passengers for a 15 miles trip. After I dropped them of I expected a fairly big fare - however, app showed only $17 or so. After exchanging numerous emails with Uber, I realized that I won't be paid surge. Even though passengers were at the same high surging area as me, somehow when they made a request they were charged only the regular amount.
> Lesson learned. Over 10 days of this festival I received numerous similar request - people in high surging areas, but no surge attached to the request. I made sure to always see that number 4x or 5x next to the request before accepting it.


they probably made the request right outside the surge so they wouldent get charged


----------



## freddieman (Oct 24, 2016)

- 1st ever ride I didn’t know the operations of the app. Didn’t know i had to swipe vs push. I thought the pax was to guide me where they wanted to go. After a quarter block the pax told me to swipe on the app to start. Luckily she did rideshare before.

- 2nd or 3rd ride i got a 12 min pickup request. Didn’t know it was freeway 12 min pickup...thats some distance. Only to find out the ride is 1 mile and 3 mins. Thought long and hard how this kind of ride request didn’t make sense right away. Wrote it off as just a lesson in ubering. So i dialed it back to 10 mins pickup.....still didnt make sense. Dialed it back to 8 mins.....still didnt make sense. 6 mins?...nope. So i finally settled on 5 mins if semi-desperate. 4 mins being acceptable the acceptable mark.

-getting strung along with pax on their errand runs. This lady was shady doing some type of debit card fraud. She strung me along going from atm to atms. After the third atm, i realized she was doing something shady and i ended the ride there and just left.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

Syn said:


> Here in Wisconsin we have a big music festival every year. Few years ago surges would get as high as 6-7x (or more).
> My first summer (2016.) of doing this, I was relatively new driver. I was in the high surging area of at least 5x (can't remember the exact number). Got a request near by, picked up passengers for a 15 miles trip. After I dropped them of I expected a fairly big fare - however, app showed only $17 or so. After exchanging numerous emails with Uber, I realized that I won't be paid surge. Even though passengers were at the same high surging area as me, somehow when they made a request they were charged only the regular amount.
> Lesson learned. Over 10 days of this festival I received numerous similar request - people in high surging areas, but no surge attached to the request. I made sure to always see that number 4x or 5x next to the request before accepting it.
> 
> ...


right,thats a fairly new function


----------



## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

Syn said:


> Here in Wisconsin we have a big music festival every year. Few years ago surges would get as high as 6-7x (or more).
> My first summer (2016.) of doing this, I was relatively new driver. I was in the high surging area of at least 5x (can't remember the exact number). Got a request near by, picked up passengers for a 15 miles trip. After I dropped them of I expected a fairly big fare - however, app showed only $17 or so. After exchanging numerous emails with Uber, I realized that I won't be paid surge. Even though passengers were at the same high surging area as me, somehow when they made a request they were charged only the regular amount.
> Lesson learned. Over 10 days of this festival I received numerous similar request - people in high surging areas, but no surge attached to the request. I made sure to always see that number 4x or 5x next to the request before accepting it.
> 
> ...


Those must've been the days with 4x or 5x. This last year, Summerfest wasn't as good for me as the fair was. Both were a hassle at times, though. Have fun when the DNC happens!


----------



## Syn (Jun 30, 2017)

5☆OG said:


> they probably made the request right outside the surge so they wouldent get charged


I doubt it since I picked them up at the right place few minutes later. I think app was just glitching ...



Invisible said:


> Those must've been the days with 4x or 5x. This last year, Summerfest wasn't as good for me as the fair was. Both were a hassle at times, though. Have fun when the DNC happens!


I had a decent Summerfest last year. Not as good as the one before (daily rain didn't help), but I still made approximately $3,300 during those 10 days after expenses. State Fair is horrible with a pickup/dropoff location, it takes forever to get in and out.


----------



## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

Syn said:


> I doubt it since I picked them up at the right place few minutes later. I think app was just glitching ...
> 
> 
> I had a decent Summerfest last year. Not as good as the one before (daily rain didn't help), but I still made approximately $3,300 during those 10 days after expenses.


I worked later for the fair than Summerfest because less drunks. That's awesome on the $3300.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

Invisible said:


> Those must've been the days with 4x or 5x. This last year, Summerfest wasn't as good for me as the fair was. Both were a hassle at times, though. Have fun when the DNC happens!


in las vegas we have a ton of conventions, they have a convention here called CES it is probably the largest of the year,maybe 300/400,000 people. the first CES i would park in this one spot near the strip. i was turning down 7....8...9...surge x rides and waiting for the same in select. i was getting rides that normally pay maybe 15 bucks at that time they were 100..110...120....and ping after ping...those were the days....that first CES i was grossing 1200/1300 a day.....alas,those days are gone forever


----------



## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

5☆OG said:


> in las vegas we have a ton of conventions, they have a convention here called CES it is probably the largest of the year,maybe 300/400,000 people. the first CES i would park in this one spot near the strip. i was turning down 7....8...9...surge x rides and waiting for the same in select. i was getting rides that normally pay maybe 15 bucks at that time they were 100..110...120....and ping after ping...those were the days....that first CES i was grossing 1200/1300 a day.....alas,those days are gone forever


That's amazing!!


----------



## Syn (Jun 30, 2017)

5☆OG said:


> in las vegas we have a ton of conventions, they have a convention here called CES it is probably the largest of the year,maybe 300/400,000 people. the first CES i would park in this one spot near the strip. i was turning down 7....8...9...surge x rides and waiting for the same in select. i was getting rides that normally pay maybe 15 bucks at that time they were 100..110...120....and ping after ping...those were the days....that first CES i was grossing 1200/1300 a day.....alas,those days are gone forever


How much can you make these days?


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

Syn said:


> How much can you make these days?


well i work on days only,i very rarely work at night or on the strip. so days are like 200/300. however,if you are willing to run the guantlet of the strip and all that entails,its really skies the limit. Because,there are a lot of lucrative kickback opportunities at night near the strip that include massage parlors,strip clubs ,dispensaries,liquor stores ,gun ranges etc..i just refuse to deal with that crowd. also,driving on the strip at night is exponentially more dangerous. traffic,drunk clients,poor drivers,crowds,less visibility,stop and go conditions and speed bumps that are much more taxing on your vehicle. so ,yeh if you want to risk all that you can make 1000's potentially.


----------



## gooddolphins (Apr 5, 2018)

Signed up to drive Uber.


----------



## Buck-a-mile (Nov 2, 2019)

Invisible said:


> That's amazing!!


I went to every ComDex, and CES from 1995 to 2012. Every meal and drink paid for by a vendor.

I was invited to the Microsoft party every year (my company did $20 mill a year business with Microsoft).
Smash Mouth, and other top acts were typical shows at the party. Open bar....

Pretty damn fun.

You learned the transportation tricks right away. Cabs didn't service CES due to police harassment.

Take any one of the free buses to any hotel, and call a cab from there.

Now there is Uber.....


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

Buck-a-mile said:


> I went to every ComDex, and CES from 1995 to 2012. Every meal and drink paid for by a vendor.
> 
> I was invited to the Microsoft party every year (my company did $20 mill a year business with Microsoft).
> Smash Mouth, and other top acts were typical shows at the party. Open bar....
> ...


it was a glorious time.....


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

My newbie mistake was only driving for Uber the first couple of months and not both companies right away. My Lyft Newbie mistake was doing that first Lyft long pick-up. I did not know Lyft did not pay a long pick-up premium like Uber does. Lesson learned.

I avoided many typical mistakes new drivers make by doing a bunch of research first, or at least after my first ride that was a complete accident.


----------



## jazzapt (May 16, 2016)

Back in the old days, Uber was similar to Lyft where you had to swipe to confirm you've arrived and then swipe again to confirm you've picked up pax and to start the ride. When I first started, most times I would forget to swipe to confirm arrival. So I got in the habit of swiping twice as soon as I picked up pax, so much so that it became a reflex.

On one occasion I did remember to swipe to confirm arrival. But when pax got into the car, I reflexively swiped twice. The first swipe started the ride, and the second swipe ended it (there was no warning back then to confirm you wanted to end the ride even though you haven't moved).

This was maybe my 2nd week in and I had no idea what to do. And I felt under the gun because pax was in the car and I didn't want to inconvenience her based off my screw up. So I just logged off and drove her to her destination, the airport. Normally a good haul (25 mile/35 minute drive on the old rates plus an $8 surcharge we used to get for airport rides), but I missed out on all of it because I was clueless of how to remedy. So pax got a free ride.

About a month later I found this site and gained knowledge. I beat myself up for days over that one.


----------



## Timbrr (Mar 1, 2019)

Mkang14 said:


> 2.5 years and 1800 rides later I still make them &#128522;
> 
> But things I've learned and avoid for the most part:
> 
> ...


Nooo! If you like your 4 door car to actually have 4 doors, leave the child lock on the driver's side on!


----------



## goneubering (Aug 17, 2017)

reg barclay said:


> Okay, confession time. We've all been there. What were your silliest rookie mistakes as a new driver?


Refusing to accept tips. Thx TK!!


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

Timbrr said:


> Nooo! If you like your 4 door car to actually have 4 doors, leave the child lock on the driver's side on!


How would that help me keep 4 doors?


----------



## Chungyi (Jan 3, 2020)

Picked up a passenger from Fremont Bart station. Two guys walking toward my car. One guy got in first and I confirmed his name. Almost instantly, second guy opened other door and sat next to first guy. First guy said “Hmm two riders.” About one minute later, second guy got a call from his lyft driver. He said “ I don’t understand. I’m in my lyft right now.” (I drove for Uber only that day) no lyft decal. I suddently figured they were not TOGETHER. First guy told me he wondered why he sat in carpool because he ordered UberX. I told him I thought that was his buddy lol


----------



## Timbrr (Mar 1, 2019)

Mkang14 said:


> How would that help me keep 4 doors?


Keeps people from flinging the door open into traffic.


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

Timbrr said:


> Nooo! If you like your 4 door car to actually have 4 doors, leave the child lock on the driver's side on!


I think it's kind of a no win scenario. Either a driver has to be ready for pax to slam their doors, or to have pax think they're a kidnapper &#129335;‍♂.


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

Timbrr said:


> Keeps people from flinging the door open into traffic.


Oh okay I see. I do end up in SF sometimes.

But people freak the eff out when they cant get out. Not sure it's worth the trouble. I usually suggest they get out of the other side because its unsafe.



reg barclay said:


> I think it's kind of a no win scenario. Either a driver has to be ready for pax to slam their doors, or to have pax think they're a kidnapper &#129335;‍♂.


One is worse.


----------



## Timbrr (Mar 1, 2019)

reg barclay said:


> I think it's kind of a no win scenario. Either a driver has to be ready for pax to slam their door, or to have pax think they're a kidnapper &#129335;‍♂.


Might help that my child locks still allow the door to be opened from inside. I just say every time someone tries to get out that side, "pull the lock and the door handle at the same time." But 90% of drunk people can't figure it out, so they just go out the passenger side. Which is the goal anyway, so it works. Lol

I also don't really care what passengers think. I got tired of people moving the passenger seat, so I pulled the fuse. Now they sit there fiddling with the buttons for the first minute of the trip before giving up.


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

goneubering said:


> Refusing to accept tips. Thx TK!! :frown:


You just reminded me. I did that too.

I started driving way back when tips were 'included'. Before they changed the policy, and in app tipping was still a distant blip in the future. I was a fresh gung ho newbie, who had just watched the Uber video, and was determined to impress. One of my first pax, an older lady, wanted to tip me. I tried refusing and telling her it wasn't necessary, but she insisted. I implore you all to forgive me, my embarrassment is great :redface::redface::redface:.


----------



## GreatLV (Jun 16, 2019)

LordBinky said:


> First rideshare pickup I ever did, I didn't realize that you had to swipe right to start the ride. I was pushing the Start button and nothing was happening. As the passenger was in the car, I had to start driving. Thankfully it was a short run and I dropped the girl off. But the app was still waiting for me to start. So I went all the way back to the starting point and finally figured out I had to swipe. So having now properly started the trip, I had to drive back again to the drop-off point empty in order to get my fee and complete the ride.


It's actually a very funny story. :laugh:


----------



## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

Jumping into this job without researching the tricks of the trade first and anting around like an idiot for 6 months learning the ropes.. when I could have learned in a week.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

Great topic to the OP! Haha.

Yes we all have been there! The good ole WTF moment. 😂

One of my very first rides was sitting waiting on Michigan Ave/Randolph at a freaking bus stop in the middle of the night rush. Thats is so illegal here. 1000$ ticket for standing! 

Had people blasting there horns at me in confusion. Didn't understand about the rules. The lady saw me after i cancelled. Shaking her head. Well hun, its to late, order again please. Be ready next time! I might have got ya.


----------



## Mista T (Aug 16, 2017)

When I started I was driving a car that was 8 yrs old. Lyft was offering bonuses if you met certain criteria, and one criteria was that the car had to be 5 yrs old or newer. After some quick calculations over what I _would _make, I took the plunge and bought a newer vehicle, trusting that Lyft would keep paying those bonuses for quite some time.

I should consider myself lucky. Over the next 7 months I earned roughly $7,000 in bonuses before they went away (AND Lyft and Uber both cut the pay around the same time). Yes, I still owe on this vehicle. Glad I didn't buy something brand new!

Howz that for a rookie mistake?


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

5☆OG said:


> in las vegas we have a ton of conventions, they have a convention here called CES it is probably the largest of the year,maybe 300/400,000 people. the first CES i would park in this one spot near the strip. i was turning down 7....8...9...surge x rides and waiting for the same in select. i was getting rides that normally pay maybe 15 bucks at that time they were 100..110...120....and ping after ping...those were the days....that first CES i was grossing 1200/1300 a day.....alas,those days are gone forever


The CES is one of the worlds largest conventions in the whole world! I built and took down the stands. It was a incredible experience.

Talking about working hard, and play harder as a youngster. The ladies, the fortune. Had it all. Vegas never closes anyways. Great to visit and see. Don't recommend it living there though.


----------



## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

WindyCityAnt said:


> The CES is one of the worlds largest conventions in the whole world! I built and took down the stands. It was a incredible experience.
> 
> Talking about working hard, and play harder as a youngster. The ladies, the fortune. Had it all. Vegas never closes anyways. Great to visit and see. Don't recommend it living there though.


Cool experience you had to work there. My friend lives in Summerlin, a great safe suburb in Sin City. It's far enough from the strip and close to Red Rock Canyon I loved that area.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

Lived in Summerlin for a while. Hiked RRC many times. Amazing... Lake Mead is the best spot. Hands down. Youtube videos of boat launches on Lake Mead! 😂

Its like watching Uber drivers struggle to find out whats going wrong! LOL!


----------



## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

WindyCityAnt said:


> Lived in Summerlin for a while. Hiked RRC many times. Amazing... Lake Mead is the best spot. Hands down. Youtube videos of boat launches on Lake Mead! &#128514;
> 
> Its like watching Uber drivers struggle to find out whats going wrong! LOL!


I'll have to look at those videos. Did you ever go to Suncoast Casino? I could've won $3500. I hit the progressive but didn't bet the max, so won $10 or $15 instead. I was mad! Ironically I didn't gamble much for all the times I went to Vegas.


----------



## Timbrr (Mar 1, 2019)

WindyCityAnt said:


> Lived in Summerlin for a while. Hiked RRC many times. Amazing... Lake Mead is the best spot. Hands down. Youtube videos of boat launches on Lake Mead! &#128514;
> 
> Its like watching Uber drivers struggle to find out whats going wrong! LOL!


Inexperienced people launching boats is the best thing on earth! I was in Tahoe waiting for the ramp, watching these three old men trying to figure it out. First, they backed in way too far with a rwd truck, couldn't get traction to get back up the ramp, ended up halfway in the lake. Got pulled back out. One guy sat on the boat holding onto the dock while waiting for the others to park the truck. Lost his grip and went floating out into the lake. One of the guys not on the boat had the keys, so he had to swim out to the boat. They got it started and went back to the dock. Picked up the third guy and puttered away. A minute later they're bailing water out of the boat and coming back to the dock. Guy gets off and runs to get the truck, backs down the ramp all hurriedly and jack knifes the trailer. Gets it righted, they get it under the boat and pull it (at this point almost sunk) out of the lake. Turns out they never put the drain plug in. 
I think the whole thing was truly the funniest thing I've ever watched.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

Invisible said:


> I'll have to look at those videos. Did you ever go to Suncoast Casino? I could've won $3500. I hit the progressive but didn't bet the max, so won $10 or $15 instead. I was mad! Ironically I didn't gamble much for all the times I went to Vegas.


They are coast casinos. Meaning they are not in the heart of the city. Locals frequent them. They designed that way perfectly. All of them have great service, great tables, great promotional programs.

All for the locals. Yes cheap drinks too! If you wanted to take the lady on a chill date for a night out. Just do NOT bring her to the Mandalay Bay Wine room. I made that mistake. &#128518;

Thats the overpriced "strip" but an awesome experience. So cool what they have in stock ready to pour you.


----------



## Dammit Mazzacane (Dec 31, 2015)

Directional failures because of haste and inattention to the map. One time was en route to passenger but took a turn onto the Interstate onramp. Pax cancelled quickly, and I don't blame 'em! One time I had a Pax in the car and ended up on the express lanes... which skipped their offramp. I don't remember if I bluffed my way into letting them think it would get them there faster... it helped me that they were drunk pax.

OH! Another one: Persistence to complete the trip. This was like the first week out: I pulled into a college campus, saw nobody, called the pax and left a voicemail, etc. and then *waited about 45 minutes* and *called about four more times to voicemail* trying to find the passenger... passenger was long gone! Didn't know I could cancel on a no-show, or didn't have the heart to.


----------



## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

WindyCityAnt said:


> They are coast casinos. Meaning they are not in the heart of the city. Locals frequent them. They designed that way perfectly. All of them have great service, great tables, great promotional programs.
> 
> All for the locals. Yes cheap drinks too! If you wanted to take the lady on a chill date for a night out. Just do NOT bring her to the Mandalay Bay Wine room. I made that mistake. &#128518;
> 
> Thats the overpriced "strip" but an awesome experience. So cool what they have in stock ready to pour you.


Yep, that I remember. We only gambled at the local casinos. Next time you're in Vegas go to Ellis Island. They have a great steak diner that includes a drink. It used to be only $6.

It was there way to bring in people to the little casino. It's anout 2 miles from the strip. A pax told me they just updated the restaurant and casino, but it's still cheap.

We used to go to Big Dogs on gameday. The bar was owned by a former WI coach, so it had a WI theme with a stand for brats on game day. Was a blast!


----------



## ABQuber (Jan 30, 2019)

GoldenGoji said:


> For me, my worst mistake during my first year was helping people from a Motel 6 or whatever you call it, transfer a BUNCH of their luggage to a motel across the street. I was "promised" a $20 "tip in the app". My car was full of luggage, I carried majority of them, even found a cockroach which I quickly blasted with Windex to make it go away and die elsewhere. The entire thing lasted around 30 minutes or so. I ended up with the minimum fare WITHOUT the promised $20 "tip in the app". I learned to NEVER trust passengers when it comes to promises of money. If they want help, PAY UP FIRST! I hope their vacation was a wreck and that cockroaches bit them at night.


Holy crap this made me laugh.

First month I did nearly the same thing. Showed up to a hotel, dude brings down a bag and puts it in the trunk. Says, My wife is coming with another bag. She'll be right down.

Over the next 45 minutes, yes 45 minutes, he slowly loads up bag after bag. Finally start the ride and we go 1 block down.

Lesson learned.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

Timbrr said:


> Inexperienced people launching boats is the best thing on earth! I was in Tahoe waiting for the ramp, watching these three old men trying to figure it out. First, they backed in way too far with a rwd truck, couldn't get traction to get back up the ramp, ended up halfway in the lake. Got pulled back out. One guy sat on the boat holding onto the dock while waiting for the others to park the truck. Lost his grip and went floating out into the lake. One of the guys not on the boat had the keys, so he had to swim out to the boat. They got it started and went back to the dock. Picked up the third guy and puttered away. A minute later they're bailing water out of the boat and coming back to the dock. Guy gets off and runs to get the truck, backs down the ramp all hurriedly and jack knifes the trailer. Gets it righted, they get it under the boat and pull it (at this point almost sunk) out of the lake. Turns out they never put the drain plug in.
> I think the whole thing was truly the funniest thing I've ever watched.


Sadly, this reminds me of @PeAceMaKer769. But he is sure doing his to be the best "competitive driver" the whole time.

Thats normal in todays world. Now hop in the captains seat and be a captain on waters!? But its ok according to state laws that he paid 50$ for.


----------



## ABQuber (Jan 30, 2019)

Buck-a-mile said:


> You didn't have to do that.
> The app has a TROUBLE WITH TRIP option. You select the forgot to start trip option, and they fix it pretty quick.


If homeslice didn't even know how to start trip, ?

You're going from 1+1 to Trigonometry lol.


----------



## massey (Jul 7, 2018)

i did not how to accept rides . instead of tapping on screen . i used to swipe it . i probably missed over 10 pings on the first day of driving .


----------



## WNYuber (Oct 5, 2019)

*Silly mistake made by teacher......*


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

I'm not sure I knew we could cancel before I visited this site. I remember driving around like a knob looking for people, way after 5 minutes.


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

reg barclay said:


> I'm not sure I knew we could cancel before I visited this site. I remember driving around like a knob looking for people, way after 5 minutes.


The more Im hearing about innocent newbie reg the funnier it gets. Not accepting tips, never canceling. &#129315;. Awww... you needed a ride share buddy to show you the ropes.


----------



## UbaBrah (Oct 25, 2019)

Oh man I made every newbie mistake you can possibly make. First guy I picked up I was nervous as hell and had no idea what to expect. He got in and I said "where ya headed?" like I was a taxi driver. I don't even know why I said that. Then I started his trip and it sort of all clicked into place. Well, almost. After I dropped him off, I couldn't figure out how to end the trip, so I drove the rest of the day with the trip still running. He got billed like $30 before I figured it out (for a 0.5 mile trip).


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

UbaBrah said:


> Oh man I made every newbie mistake you can possibly make. First guy I picked up I was nervous as hell and had no idea what to expect. He got in and I said "where ya headed?" like I was a taxi driver. I don't even know why I said that. Then I started his trip and it sort of all clicked into place. Well, almost. After I dropped him off, I couldn't figure out how to end the trip, so I drove the rest of the day with the trip still running. He got billed like $30 before I figured it out (for a 0.5 mile trip).


im dying &#129315;

I don't feel so bad about my mistakes anymore &#129315;&#129315;&#129315;


----------



## Buck-a-mile (Nov 2, 2019)

Mkang14 said:


> im dying &#129315;
> 
> I don't feel so bad about my mistakes anymore &#129315;&#129315;&#129315;


This reminds us of why many RS drivers don't make 10 rides.

99% don't make 100 rides according to former Uber service reps that post here.

It's easy to see why.
I was terrible for maybe a month, maybe more&#128526;


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

Maybe i used my brilliant, superior female brain to side step all these silly mistakes. Thanks guys I never felt better :thumbup:


----------



## Bizzy Beezus (Jun 24, 2019)

The kid proof door locks was the one for me. I’ll never forget the look of sheer terror on my male customers face as he frantically tried to escape from whatever torturous hell he was imagining that I had in mind for him. Still makes me laugh.


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

Bizzy Beezus said:


> The kid proof door locks was the one for me. I'll never forget the look of sheer terror on my male customers face as he frantically tried to escape from whatever torturous hell he was imagining that I had in mind for him. Still makes me laugh.


I would say don't feel so bad but it seems like you enjoyed it lol.

It's a instant fear response. I think in the moment they focus on not being able to get out and nothing else.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

UbaBrah said:


> Oh man I made every newbie mistake you can possibly make. First guy I picked up I was nervous as hell and had no idea what to expect. He got in and I said "where ya headed?" like I was a taxi driver. I don't even know why I said that. Then I started his trip and it sort of all clicked into place. Well, almost. After I dropped him off, I couldn't figure out how to end the trip, so I drove the rest of the day with the trip still running. He got billed like $30 before I figured it out (for a 0.5 mile trip).


Great training programs they have in place!


----------



## Bizzy Beezus (Jun 24, 2019)

Mkang14 said:


> I would say don't feel so bad but it seems like you enjoyed it lol.
> 
> It's a instant fear response. I think in the moment they focus on not being able to get out and nothing else.


It's funny now. At the time, I was horrified!


----------



## Smell My Finger (Jun 11, 2019)

Starting to drive in the first place


----------



## nutzareus (Oct 28, 2014)

Giving away free bottled water in 2014, that ended quickly.


----------



## Buck-a-mile (Nov 2, 2019)

nutzareus said:


> Giving away free bottled water in 2014, that ended quickly.


Im the summer I still do.
It's hot in the summer here. Tourists tip for a 72 degree car and a 22 cent bottle of water. Only during tourist season.


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

nutzareus said:


> Giving away free bottled water in 2014, that ended quickly.


You win &#129395;


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

nutzareus said:


> Giving away free bottled water in 2014, that ended quickly.


I did that too.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Another one for you to gloat about :cryin:&#129315;.


Mkang14 said:


> The more Im hearing about innocent newbie reg the funnier it gets. Not accepting tips, never canceling. &#129315;. Awww... you needed a ride share buddy to show you the ropes.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

Buck-a-mile said:


> Im the summer I still do.
> It's hot in the summer here. Tourists tip for a 72 degree car and a 22 cent bottle of water. Only during tourist season.


In summer here, the homeless panhandle for cases of water. While having bags of ice and a cooler ready by there side. Selling them for 1$. I admit spending the 1$ maybe 2$ for a nice pax and a cool ride.


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

reg barclay said:


> I did that too.
> 
> /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
> Another one for you to gloat about :cryin:&#129315;.


Oh my god☠☠☠☠









Reg, I've never laughed this loud at a UP comment!! &#129315;

Reg the day before you started Uber ..


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

Every once in a while they have cases of Gatorade cold only the good ones! I will pay 3$ for that. No flavor matters! But its very refreshing! Its my favorite juice, or drink. So i love it! No need to stop!


----------



## ABQuber (Jan 30, 2019)

WNYuber said:


> *Silly mistake made by teacher......*
> 
> View attachment 411751


i laughed so hard I got a cramp haha. Ty


----------



## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

5☆OG said:


> yeah then they one starred your simple jack ass...lol


Uhhh.... no.... none of them was the account holder and therefore they couldn't rate the driver. They hijacked the actual pax' ride.



reg barclay said:


> Okay, confession time. We've all been there. What were your silliest rookie mistakes as a new driver?


Mixing up the piss bottle with the fresh Gatorade bottle. Now that's a mistake you only make o̶n̶c̶e̶ twice.


----------



## LyftUberFuwabolewa (Feb 7, 2019)

reg barclay said:


> First few weeks as a driver. I got a call from a pax straight after accepting, telling me he put in the wrong pick up address, and that I should go to another one further away. (In hindsight I'm wondering if he was surge dodging) Like an idiot, I acquiesced. On top of that, when I got there, I forgot to start trip.


How did you navigate if you didn't start the trip?


----------



## Uberchampion (Oct 17, 2015)

The biggest newbie mistake I made was turn the app on again after the first day I drove for uber. This gig kinda sucks


----------



## Alantc (Jun 15, 2018)

Putting 2 girls in the front seat 5 in the back. Cop walking the collage bar sean saw the 2 girls in my from seat, banged on on my window asked me how many seatbelts I had in that seat ,I said it'll never happen again , didn't get a ticket.


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

LyftUberFuwabolewa said:


> How did you navigate if you didn't start the trip?


He just told me where to go and I navigated manually. Back then, pax often didn't put the destination in the app anyway.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

Alantc said:


> Putting 2 girls in the front seat 5 in the back. Cop walking the collage bar sean saw the 2 girls in my from seat, banged on on my window asked me how many seatbelts I had in that seat ,I said it'll never happen again , didn't get a ticket.


The only 2 things cops get pissed off about with rideshare.

1: Don't ever clog the streets!

2: Never overload your car!

Besides that, they are pretty cool with everything.


----------



## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

1.5xorbust said:


> I spent 30 minutes in a 3.5x surge area waiting for requests before I noticed that I was offline.


There are times when I still fail to notice that I am OFF LINE. This happens especially on Uber Taxi. If i get a street hail or a call from Curb or my company, I turn off Uber Taxi. After I drop the customer, at times I forget to turn back on Uber Taxi.

Further, I do not always notice that it wants me to take 27 selfies again. This happens either on X or Taxi.



reg barclay said:


> I forgot to start trip.


I forget this all the time. It is no problem on Taxi, as I must key in the meter fare, anyhow. On X, it is a problem.



Buck-a-mile said:


> Pax didn't have to enter a dx. One guy got in and said "just drive".


That never bothered me because I know where I am going. It was funny, but the X customers used to complain about drivers who wanted them to put in the destinations before they moved. Instead of actually explaining it to the Rocket Scientists, I used the "Socratic Dialectic" on them:

Q: Has it been your experience that most UberX drivers do not know where they are going?

A: OH MY GOODNESS, YES! IT'S THE ONE THING I HATE ABOUT IT!

Q: They need their Jippy Yess to navigate, *correctamundo*?

A: OH YES! ...........and EVEN THEN, they're not very good at it.

Q: .......but it is better than nothing.....................?

A: Oh yes.

Q: So, if no destination is showing, they have to get one in order to figure out how to take you where you want to go?

A: OHHHHHHHHH! Hmmmmm.........I never thought of that. Should I put in the destination for you?

ME: That is up to you, Mademoiselle. I know where I am going, so it really is not necessary.

Years in this business has made me a pretty good judge of what people will do. If I thought that the customer might try to put a hustle on Uber or me, I would ask him to put in the destination. That way, he could not tell Uber that he took only a five mile trip while he got charged for twenty five.



Mkang14 said:


> :
> 
> I might end up in SF so pee beforehand and between trips.





:laugh::laugh:




Mkang14 said:


> :





Mkang14 said:


> [*]
> [*]Avoid sex talk. Even if there is a instant friendly connection. You are still strangers.




This goes double for a female driver. I will leave some things unmentioned.

[/QUOTE]


ABQuber said:


> Watching 2 people help the drunk into my car thinking, well I'm doing a good thing getting them home. *With puke dripping down my right arm* Ok, lesson learned.


I already had learned this lesson from hacking. No one has ralphed in my car Y-E-T, but, by the time that I had started TNC work, I already knew not to let anyone into my car who could not get there under his own power. Further, I already had learned not to accept dumping jobs.



GoldenGoji said:


> "promised" a $20 "tip in the app". I ended up with the minimum fare WITHOUT the promised $20 "tip in the app". I learned to NEVER trust passengers when it comes to promises of money. If they want help, PAY UP FIRST!


I had learned this in the cab business long before I started driving TNC. If I hear it now, I simply reply that I have been at this a little too long to believe it without seeing it. One of the drawbacks of this, though, is that hardly anyone carries too much cash any more. Even I do not carry too much cash these days. In the case that you cited, my experience dictates that the customers were hustling you. Often, though, especially these days, half of these customers actually do intend to tip you, it is just that once they are out of the car, their thoughts are elsewhere and you are out of sight, thus out of mind. Most customers do not bother to rate the driver. As they tip when they rate, the rating that they never give equals the tip about which they forgot. Every once in a while, one does remember, which is why some time you will see a tip from an old ride show up on your account.



kingcorey321 said:


> I waited more then 2 minutes at a stop .


.......been there.............done that...................will neither go there nor do that again............................



Buck-a-mile said:


> The app has a TROUBLE WITH TRIP option. You select the forgot to start trip option, and they fix it pretty quick.


In the early days, it did not have that option. In fact, Uber and Lyft both used to tell the drivers specifically that if the driver failed to start the trip, they could not help him. It also did not have the short meter cancellation option. In my early days on X, if I realised that I had forgotten to start the trip, I would simply start it and end it immediately, thus I would get paid _something_. On Uber Taxi, it did not matter, as you key in the metered fare at the end. If I forget to start an Uber Taxi trip, I can start it, end it and key in the fare. You do not get the short meter message on Uber Taxi that you now get on X or other levels of Uber.



Coastal_Cruiser said:


> First month into the job I picked up three guys near a bar. I asked if "Joe" was in their midst. "Joe" immediately replies yes. They were several yards from the actual pickup point, but I let them in the car.


In the radio cab business, we used to tell the drivers to make the customer give his name.

DRIVER: Is your name George?

SAM: (it is _now_) Yup, George, that's me!

The funny thing was, though, that even that could go south once in a while. I can remember more than one time when as a dispatcher, I gave a driver a name of "George" and told the driver that it was going to National Airport. Ten minutes later, I get George on the telephone wondering where his cab is. I used to call the driver and ask if he got a job. I then asked him where he was going; yup, National Airport. I then asked him his customer's name. Some times, the customer could hear it and I could hear his saying "George". Yup, the driver got George going to National Airport, allright; he just got the incorrect "George" going to National Airport.



jazzapt said:


> Back in the old days, Uber was similar to Lyft where you had to swipe to confirm you've arrived and then swipe again to confirm you've picked up pax and to start the ride.


I was around both for Taxi and X when that was how it worked. It does persist on Lyft. It did not matter if you did that on Taxi once Uber got rid of it, as you simply let the "enter meter fare" screen sit there until you had completed the trip. If you did it on X, though, you were dry reamed.



WindyCityAnt said:


> The only 2 things cops get pissed off about with rideshare. Besides that, they are pretty cool with everything.


That may be what happens in Chicago, but here, one of the few things that we cab drivers like about the arrival of the TNCs is that the police and harassmen-ER-uh-HACK inspectors bother cab drivers much less and bother TNC drivers all the time. When a Nationals game breaks, you will see cabs and TNC cars on one street that passes Nationals Park as they are trying to get their customers. You can watch a police car as it runs the TNC drivers out of there, drives around the cab and does not bother the driver, then continues to shoo the TNC cars.

Even the government understands that the City Council really reamed the cab drivers when it allowed UberX.


----------



## Coastal_Cruiser (Oct 1, 2018)

Another Uber Driver said:


> In the radio cab business, we used to tell the drivers to make the customer give his name.
> 
> DRIVER: Is your name George?
> SAM: (it is _now_) Yup, George, that's me!


OK. Another Uber Driver gets the award for the most quotes used in a post.

Speaking of George, every once in a while I am sitting at In-n-Out Burger waiting for my order. It is not at all unusual for an employee to shout out the same ticket number several times. "#69! ... #69!! ... #69? ...". The food sits on the counter. I am so tempted to walk over and claim that order.

They don't check your ticket number there!


----------



## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

Coastal_Cruiser said:


> Speaking of George, every once in a while I am sitting at In-n-Out Burger waiting for my order. It is not at all unusual for an employee to shout out the same ticket number several times. "#69! ... #69!! ... #69? ...". The food sits on the counter. I am so tempted to walk over and claim that order. They don't check your ticket number there!


We do not have In-n-Out here, but, we have other places that do not check it. I actually have seen homeless people get free meals this way. They will sit in a joint, watch the numbers get called, and, if no one comes for it, after a while, they go up and snatch it. Eventually the person shows up, confusion reigns and they must do the order again.

There is this one burger joint where the french fry guy will on occasion slip me a free order of french fries. If the wrong boss is watching, some times he just walks up with the bag, calls out "NUMBER 61!" and shoves it at me. I simply reply "_Merci bien!_" (he is from Morocco, so he is a Francophone) and take the french fries. I do not get them every time, nor do I expect them. If I get them, I say "thank you". Every once in a while I will actually order and pay for them, as well.


----------



## mch (Nov 22, 2018)

Off the top of my head, my biggest was letting some family cram (and I mean cram) an entire apartment worth of furnishings into my car at a Walmart pickup. It was a husband, a wife and 4 kids, two were car seat age. I couldn't see out of the back of my car. 4 or 5 carts worth. There was crap covering the guy's wife and kids who were sitting in the back. It was packed all the way to the roof. To the point where I couldn't even see the wife and kids sitting in the back. It took forever to load and unload all of the shit.

To top it off the a-hole gave me a bad rating. I don't remember what it was.

So in one ride I made 4

1. Wallmart pickup - going in the first place
2. Little kids with no car seat
3. Overloading my car with people - 6 people
4. Not driving away when I saw them and their caravan of shit in front of the Walmart. I wouldnt attempt to fit even half of what they had in my car now.

These MFers turned my Jeep Compass into their own personal U-haul


----------



## AnointedOne (Apr 11, 2018)

reg barclay said:


> Okay, confession time. We've all been there. What were your silliest rookie mistakes as a new driver?


My first ever Uber ride to the airport 5 years ago, I was fairly new to Uber and the city. Drove the pax around the airport in circles on the side road for literally 7-8 miles early in the morning. Did not know how to get into the airport I was sticking to Uber gps directions. Nice guy but was visibly frustrated (don't blame him). Eventually entered the airport 45 mins before his flight. To my surprise I got 5* and $5 tip but with a cheeky comment about turning 3 miles trip into an airport tour. :roflmao:


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

mch said:


> Off the top of my head, my biggest was letting some family cram (and I mean cram) an entire apartment worth of furnishings into my car at a Walmart pickup. It was a husband, a wife and 4 kids, two were car seat age. I couldn't see out of the back of my car. 4 or 5 carts worth. There was crap covering the guy's wife and kids who were sitting in the back. It was packed all the way to the roof. To the point where I couldn't even see the wife and kids sitting in the back. It took forever to load and unload all of the shit.
> 
> To top it off the a-hole gave me a bad rating. I don't remember what it was.
> 
> ...


I also crammed my car once as a newbie. 5 pax going to a wedding. "It's just down the road yadda yada". "We'll give you a big tip yadda yada". The 'big tip' turned out to be a big fat goose egg :biggrin:.

Now I'm gonna go hide before @Mkang14 comes and taunts me a second time :thumbdown:&#129315;.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

mch said:


> Off the top of my head, my biggest was letting some family cram (and I mean cram) an entire apartment worth of furnishings into my car at a Walmart pickup. It was a husband, a wife and 4 kids, two were car seat age. I couldn't see out of the back of my car. 4 or 5 carts worth. There was crap covering the guy's wife and kids who were sitting in the back. It was packed all the way to the roof. To the point where I couldn't even see the wife and kids sitting in the back. It took forever to load and unload all of the shit.
> 
> To top it off the a-hole gave me a bad rating. I don't remember what it was.
> 
> ...


awesome lol


----------



## mch (Nov 22, 2018)

reg barclay said:


> I also crammed my car once as a newbie. 5 pax going to a wedding. "It's just down the road yadda yada". "We'll give you a big tip yadda yada". The 'big tip' turned out to be a big fat goose egg :biggrin:.
> 
> Now I'm gonna go hide before @Mkang14 comes and taunts me a second time :thumbdown:&#129315;.


You driving around looking for pax after the 5 min expired is pretty hilarious &#128514; . The fact you were all stocked up with water makes it even funnier.


----------



## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

mch said:


> You driving around looking for pax after the 5 min expired is pretty hilarious &#128514; . The fact you were all stocked up with water makes it even funnier.


loaded and ready to be abused....


----------



## Jay Dean (Apr 3, 2015)

Rented an IPhone through UBER 2014 when I first started, didn’t drive for months had a 10mnth bill..owed them 60 bucks and didn’t even use the phone...


----------



## Universal Driver (Dec 1, 2018)

My 2 recorded ride on Uber when I started driving in 2016..... I pick up an Indian family visiting the city... I immediately Start driving before all 4 door are shut and everyone is secured in the vehicle **FACE-PALM**


----------



## Cableguynoe (Feb 14, 2017)

Went to Uberpeople.net looking for actual help and advice.


----------



## everydayimubering (Aug 5, 2017)

5☆OG said:


> you have some serious back up issues lol


Good thing he ain't a cop...


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

One of my rookie mistakes was asking the PAX to put her shit back on after she got in the front seat and took it off. She eventually did put it back on. Boy did I not realize how bumpy that road was until that display. Can you say distracted driving. I immediately ordered a dash cam after that.


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

reg barclay said:


> I also crammed my car once as a newbie. 5 pax going to a wedding. "It's just down the road yadda yada". "We'll give you a big tip yadda yada". The 'big tip' turned out to be a big fat goose egg :biggrin:.
> 
> Now I'm gonna go hide before @Mkang14 comes and taunts me a second time :thumbdown:&#129315;.


I now assume you've made every newbie error in the book, unless told otherwise &#128533;.


----------



## Coachman (Sep 22, 2015)

1.5xorbust said:


> I spent 30 minutes in a 3.5x surge area waiting for requests before I noticed that I was offline.


I drove for an hour once before I realized I was offline. I was muttering to myself how crappy Uber is and felt pretty stupid when I realized what I'd done.


----------



## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Coachman said:


> I drove for an hour once before I realized I was offline. I was muttering to myself how crappy Uber is and felt pretty stupid when I realized what I'd done.


I was out last night offline for about 15 minutes thanks to one of those wonderful network error messages. Saw it flash up, toggled my phone to airport mode on and off and the message went away. Did not notice it kicked me off line.


----------



## June132017 (Jun 13, 2017)

FLKeys said:


> One of my rookie mistakes was asking the PAX to put her shit back on after she got in the front seat and took it off. She eventually did put it back on. Boy did I not realize how bumpy that road was until that display. Can you say distracted driving. I immediately ordered a dash cam after that.


But was it a good sight, or cringy awful sight?


----------



## Greenfox (Sep 12, 2019)

Buck-a-mile said:


> 2nd trip downtown San Diego.
> Wrong way down a one way street for 10 seconds. Pax was not in the car, but was waiting and saw my mistake.
> My 1st 4*.
> 
> ...


I did that in San Jose after dropping off a lyft pax after a 45 min ride from Marin... tell you what that ride almost paid me 100.00



Mkang14 said:


> 2.5 years and 1800 rides later I still make them &#128522;
> 
> But things I've learned and avoid for the most part:
> 
> ...


I peed in SF once. I honestly don't care. If it's good enough for the homeless Tweakers... well good enough for me,

Ha.


----------



## ANThonyBoreDaneCook (Oct 7, 2019)

I had a df set for the airport. 
A ride got me close and I noticed that the queue was only 25 cars so I booked it over to the ant lot.
The queue was moving a little slow but whatever, no big deal.
Unfortunately I forgot to remove the df and after it alerted me that it was "time to go" I panicked and tapped "GO" instead of "Remove"
I was sent right to the back of the line, 135 cars ahead of me.

I left, went home and got blackout drunk.
IDIOT!












Mkang14 said:


> I might end up in SF so pee beforehand and between trips.


Ummm from what I've read I don't think SF would have a problem with you dropping a brisket or urinating in the streets.


----------



## Jay Dean (Apr 3, 2015)

Whoops sorry was out of it when posted I meant 10 a week for 6 weeks and it was 6 months after I started driving the rate cuts started..what I meant to say lol


----------



## rideshareapphero (Mar 30, 2018)

I wanted to keep 100% ar thinking I was going to keep receiving more rides if I did until I joined this site.


----------



## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)

Reading this forum before driving
Not knowing a pax could add stops (didn't even know that as a pax) almost drove away with my first one; if pax hadn't alerted me.....
Knowing a 3rd party could request a ride
Thinking rolling while online was a thing
Maintaining 100% AR
Forgetting I needed gas and of course getting a long ping. Had to get gas with pax. oops 
Reading this forum. Oh repeat....


----------



## ANT 7 (Oct 14, 2018)

My silliest newbie mistake was having some feelings for the pax.


----------



## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)

reg barclay said:


> What were your silliest rookie mistakes as a new driver?


Accidentally leaving my Lyft app on while shopping at Walmart.


----------



## cumonohito (Feb 13, 2018)

Can we stop at convenient store, need to buy ........
Going directly to a different spot to pick up passenger on express pool.


----------



## Uber's Guber (Oct 22, 2017)

GoldenGoji said:


> my worst mistake during my first year was helping people from a Motel 6 or whatever you call it, transfer a BUNCH of their luggage to a motel across the street. I was "promised" a $20 "tip in the app". I hope their *vacation* was a wreck and that cockroaches bit them at night.


Vacationers don't stay at the Motel 6. You were dealing with somebody who was one step above total homelessness.


----------



## ubergrind (May 23, 2017)

Biggest mistake I made was thinking either of these companies cared about my well being and actually had souls ... once I realized this is a bottom line business and my objectives are to maximize profitability, minimize expenses , and get home safely my entire paradigm shifted.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

Another Uber Driver said:


> There are times when I still fail to notice that I am OFF LINE. This happens especially on Uber Taxi. If i get a street hail or a call from Curb or my company, I turn off Uber Taxi. After I drop the customer, at times I forget to turn back on Uber Taxi.
> 
> Further, I do not always notice that it wants me to take 27 selfies again. This happens either on X or Taxi.
> 
> ...


I already had learned this lesson from hacking. No one has ralphed in my car Y-E-T, but, by the time that I had started TNC work, I already knew not to let anyone into my car who could not get there under his own power. Further, I already had learned not to accept dumping jobs.

I had learned this in the cab business long before I started driving TNC. If I hear it now, I simply reply that I have been at this a little too long to believe it without seeing it. One of the drawbacks of this, though, is that hardly anyone carries too much cash any more. Even I do not carry too much cash these days. In the case that you cited, my experience dictates that the customers were hustling you. Often, though, especially these days, half of these customers actually do intend to tip you, it is just that once they are out of the car, their thoughts are elsewhere and you are out of sight, thus out of mind. Most customers do not bother to rate the driver. As they tip when they rate, the rating that they never give equals the tip about which they forgot. Every once in a while, one does remember, which is why some time you will see a tip from an old ride show up on your account.

.......been there.............done that...................will neither go there nor do that again............................

In the early days, it did not have that option. In fact, Uber and Lyft both used to tell the drivers specifically that if the driver failed to start the trip, they could not help him. It also did not have the short meter cancellation option. In my early days on X, if I realised that I had forgotten to start the trip, I would simply start it and end it immediately, thus I would get paid _something_. On Uber Taxi, it did not matter, as you key in the metered fare at the end. If I forget to start an Uber Taxi trip, I can start it, end it and key in the fare. You do not get the short meter message on Uber Taxi that you now get on X or other levels of Uber.

In the radio cab business, we used to tell the drivers to make the customer give his name.

DRIVER: Is your name George?

SAM: (it is _now_) Yup, George, that's me!

The funny thing was, though, that even that could go south once in a while. I can remember more than one time when as a dispatcher, I gave a driver a name of "George" and told the driver that it was going to National Airport. Ten minutes later, I get George on the telephone wondering where his cab is. I used to call the driver and ask if he got a job. I then asked him where he was going; yup, National Airport. I then asked him his customer's name. Some times, the customer could hear it and I could hear his saying "George". Yup, the driver got George going to National Airport, allright; he just got the incorrect "George" going to National Airport.

I was around both for Taxi and X when that was how it worked. It does persist on Lyft. It did not matter if you did that on Taxi once Uber got rid of it, as you simply let the "enter meter fare" screen sit there until you had completed the trip. If you did it on X, though, you were dry reamed.

That may be what happens in Chicago, but here, one of the few things that we cab drivers like about the arrival of the TNCs is that the police and harassmen-ER-uh-HACK inspectors bother cab drivers much less and bother TNC drivers all the time. When a Nationals game breaks, you will see cabs and TNC cars on one street that passes Nationals Park as they are trying to get their customers. You can watch a police car as it runs the TNC drivers out of there, drives around the cab and does not bother the driver, then continues to shoo the TNC cars.

Even the government understands that the City Council really reamed the cab drivers when it allowed UberX.
[/QUOTE]


----------



## UberWeev (Jan 31, 2020)

LordBinky said:


> First rideshare pickup I ever did, I didn't realize that you had to swipe right to start the ride. I was pushing the Start button and nothing was happening. As the passenger was in the car, I had to start driving. Thankfully it was a short run and I dropped the girl off. But the app was still waiting for me to start. So I went all the way back to the starting point and finally figured out I had to swipe. So having now properly started the trip, I had to drive back again to the drop-off point empty in order to get my fee and complete the ride.


The pax told me to swipe right. It was a bonding moment.


----------



## BillC (Mar 5, 2017)

I didn't realize I could let a ping expire to decline a ride for several months after I started (until I found out about UP and before they added the Decline button), so I accepted every single ping that came my way, no matter how far away and no matter what the rating. I accepted one at 1:15am on a Friday night that was to pickup at a bar 18 miles away (2AM bar close on Fri and Sat nights in MN). I arrived at 1:40, waited the 5 minutes, waited a few more, then called the pax. She drunkenly said she didn't order an Uber. I told her that I had a ride request with her name, and I called her phone, so yes she did. She hung up on me. I cancelled the ride as a no show and accepted my $3.60 for 30+ minutes of work, which also put me far away from the busy sections of town. It was about 10 minutes heading back before I got another ping.


----------



## Clarity (Sep 20, 2018)

I tracked everything except my mileage in my first year of rideshare. I ended up owing about $300 in taxes. Had I tracked it, I would have actually gotten money back. I paid it off quickly and have kept a mileage tracking app on ever since.

When I used to accept shared rides, I once played a sexually explicit 90s hit when I had a male and female pax sharing a ride. I thought because it was a hit they would appreciate it. When I got to the female's destination, she ignored me when I thanked her and she slammed the door on the way out. It's possible she did that because she felt uncomfortable, but I'm not too sure. Regardless, I am more selective with the songs I choose and I don't do shared and pool rides anymore.

During my first week, I used to let the ping notifications play through the car speakers while I left both Uber and Lyft on. So while I was completing a ride on Uber, Lyft would ping several times. I didn't think to just turn the app off. I'm sure all those noises playing over the music annoyed pax.

I used to drive around with my doors unlocked. It was a new car I didn't think I had a button that automatically unlocked all the doors. I was able to lock them simultaneously but I didn't know how to unlock them simultaneously. I thought I had to unlock each door individually. So I drove through some dangerous areas with those doors unlocked. I think it took me 2-3 months to finally discover the button that locks all the doors. I was so used to my previous car since the button was in a different location.

A few people mentioned screwing up with the buttons when accepting and starting a ride especially on Lyft. Yep I've done that too.


----------



## delaynomore (Jan 29, 2018)

first time doing pool request, i said have a nice night to my passenger but i stopped to pick up instead of letting off.


----------



## mch (Nov 22, 2018)

delaynomore said:


> first time doing pool request, i said have a nice night to my passenger but i stopped to pick up instead of letting off.


Haha I did that one night on a late night surge pool. I had some kid in my car and had a mental lapse and thought I was dropping off instead of picking up, I pull up in the middle of the hood and tell him "Ok man, this is you" the kid starts looking all around terrified and says it's not his house. My response was "Well this is the address you put in". Finally the dude we were picking up showed up and I realized what I had done. I apologized to the kid and he was relieved.


----------



## Legalizeit0 (Jul 26, 2017)

"I might end up in SF so pee beforehand and between trips."

well, you're in luck, it's legal to Pee on the street in San Francisco now.


----------



## DanHalen (Apr 23, 2018)

Believing "I'll tip you in the app"


----------



## peteyvavs (Nov 18, 2015)

reg barclay said:


> Okay, confession time. We've all been there. What were your silliest rookie mistakes as a new driver?


Believing Uber and Lyft were reputable companies.


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

mch said:


> Haha I did that one night on a late night surge pool. I had some kid in my car and had a mental lapse and thought I was dropping off instead of picking up, I pull up in the middle of the hood and tell him "Ok man, this is you" the kid starts looking all around terrified and says it's not his house. My response was "Well this is the address you put in". Finally the dude we were picking up showed up and I realized what I had done. I apologized to the kid and he was relieved.


Finally one I never did. Read and weep @Mkang14 .


----------



## Mkang14 (Jun 29, 2019)

reg barclay said:


> Finally one I never did. Read and weep @Mkang14 .


But I have &#128586;


----------



## Juggalo9er (Dec 7, 2017)

Accepting every Lyft ping until I found this site..... ended up doing trips from Indianapolis airport to Champaign Illinois, Louisville, Cincinnati..... and would accept pings 20 minutes away


----------



## Cableguynoe (Feb 14, 2017)

Juggalo9er said:


> Accepting every Lyft ping until I found this site..... ended up doing trips from Indianapolis airport to Champaign Illinois, Louisville, Cincinnati..... and would accept pings 20 minutes away


I saved your a..


----------



## Juggalo9er (Dec 7, 2017)

Cableguynoe said:


> I saved your a..


Amongst other things you did back there


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

Mkang14 said:


> But I have &#128586;


----------



## rideshareapphero (Mar 30, 2018)

Juggalo9er said:


> Accepting every Lyft ping until I found this site..... ended up doing trips from Indianapolis airport to Champaign Illinois, Louisville, Cincinnati..... and would accept pings 20 minutes away


I would also accept long pings, my worst day once I accepted a long ping only to be cancelled half way there then another yet again cancelled, I ended up turning off the app and dead mile back at least 40 minutes away.


----------



## Dice Man (May 21, 2018)

I use to drive to surge areas.
Not any more.


----------



## Cableguynoe (Feb 14, 2017)

Dice Man said:


> I use to drive to surge areas.
> Not any more.


Sometimes you gotta roll the dice

See what I did there?


----------



## May H. (Mar 20, 2018)

I forgot to end the ride.:roflmao:


----------



## Zorro_wrangler (Dec 26, 2015)

Drove X miles to PAX's homes to return items left behind and taking pictures of everything and uploading it to the trip history under "Found item in car" option. One item I recall was a lip gloss some drunk chick left behind. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️👎. Never recieved a tip ever...
...and yes, I turned off the app between trips to drive out of my way to return them...
...drove without a phone mount/ holder and wondered why I didn't get 5*'s.


----------



## 90Days2Perfection (Nov 26, 2018)

Buck-a-mile said:


> You didn't have to do that.
> The app has a TROUBLE WITH TRIP option. You select the forgot to start trip option, and they fix it pretty quick.


The dude didn't even know to swipe right to start the ride! But you expect him to use the "TROUBLE WITH TRIP" option.
Classic.


----------



## melusine3 (Jun 20, 2016)

Dekero said:


> Jumping into this job without researching the tricks of the trade first and anting around like an idiot for 6 months learning the ropes.. when I could have learned in a week.


I relied on that rideshare guy, which was useless. He got a bonus from my signing up for Lyft through him though.


----------



## WindyCityAnt (Feb 24, 2019)

May H. said:


> I forgot to end the ride.:roflmao:


I had a trip one time where the aux cable didn't work correctly. They asked for it very respectfully.

The 2 ladies were going across the city too the Hamilton show on a work trip from out of town. Just to have a night out. That play is like 130$ per seat.

My phone died in the middle of the trip. With out me seeing it because gps is useless( my phone is face down in my lap at all times)

Took like 40 mins later to find a parking spot run into a store. Then finally i could turn it back on while charging the thing I never had a complaint from it. All is good.


----------



## Halfmybrain (Mar 3, 2018)

5☆OG said:


> yeah then they one starred your simple jack ass...lol


I'm sure others caught this, but who's the Full dumbtard? The druggies could not "star" anyone. Only the real Joe could do that (and maybe did).



Mkang14 said:


> Maybe i used my brilliant, superior female brain to side step all these silly mistakes. Thanks guys I never felt better :thumbup:


I avoided lots of "real" mistakes because a buddy became a rideshare driver and relayed his mistakes over time. When I started, I also had him as a resource for advice.

= = =

My first pickup was in my own quiet little town, from Jewel on the Monday before Thanksgiving. A Korean granny, mom, and tike in a carseat--with TWO CARTS worth of groceries. They did most of the loading. Dropoff was less than 2 miles away. I helped bring stuff in--"stuff" included the baby since the ladies both grabbed groceries and I would not leave a child unattended. Minimal English spoken but I understood the $10 cash tip!

I don't mind a single thing above. My mistake was assuming that many future riders would tip (although, lower tips for less service).


----------



## MissAnne (Aug 9, 2017)

First day driving, second trip, picked up a girl at the University of Utah, drunk off her ass and I was taking her to work at a strip club on State Street. We get to her destination and I, of course, being a newbie, end the trip right away and gave her five stars. She then became belligerent and would not leave my car, Stating it was her car and that I needed to get out, yeah right. I asked her nicely at least a half a dozen times to get out of my car, she wouldn’t so I called the cops and had her arrested for trespassing, drunken disorderly, and causing a public nuisance. That was probably her most expensive Uber ride ever


----------



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

MissAnne said:


> First day driving, second trip, picked up a girl at the University of Utah, drunk off her ass and I was taking her to work at a strip club on State Street. We get to her destination and I, of course, being a newbie, end the trip right away and gave her five stars. She then became belligerent and would not leave my car, Stating it was her car and that I needed to get out, yeah right. I asked her nicely at least a half a dozen times to get out of my car, she wouldn't so I called the cops and had her arrested for trespassing, drunken disorderly, and causing a public nuisance. That was probably her most expensive Uber ride ever


Cool story. But I don't think you did much wrong there TBH. Okay, maybe you should have waited to the trip till after she got out. But it sounds like it was quite an unusual and unexpected situation.


----------



## Ubertool (Jan 24, 2020)

Took all the rides when I first started. I gave all demographics a try. Let em use my car charger gave them an extra drink of mine when they where obviously thirsty like any normal human would do for another , but then I caught one stealing my charger when I got out to unload their friends luggage . That made me understand not to be so naive anymore.


----------



## NorCalPhil (Aug 19, 2016)

I took 6 girls 25 miles into the city in my Mirage. 3+1 in the back, 2 in the passenger seat. Just dumb, but they were all cute.


----------



## Cableguynoe (Feb 14, 2017)

I’ve told this one before but here’s this thread again so here we go. 
So I had only been driving a few weeks and I pick up a girl at a very popular restaurant that I have been to many times. She was a waitress there. Late 20’s maybe. Bubbly type.

It’s about a 25 minute ride up in the mountains to her house at midnight or so.

The whole ride we’re talking about the restaurant, best things on the menu, best days to go, their happy hour, etc etc.
She’s sitting up front. Totally friendly and a little touchy on my arm, but I’m as professional as a new driver can be. 

Totally having a great conversation and somewhere in there she apologizes for making me wait so long and I said something like I just wish I had used the restroom there while I was waiting for you.

We get to her house and after I park in her driveway we keep talking for a few minutes. It’s all her at this point, I stopped and unlocked doors.
As she’s getting out she asks if I want to use her restroom.

I realize now what a big no no that is, especially at that time of night But I come from an industry where I’m in customers home all the time.

So I agreed. Once I’m in there it hits me the position I’m in. I’m wondering if she’s gonna be waiting for me in her birthday suit when I come out or something like that. (Did I mention she had a few drinks before leaving the restaurant?)

Anyway I come out and I’m not so lucky. She’s still clothed. 
The weak man in me was considering making some kind of move as she continued being super friendly, but she was talking quietly so I knew someone was asleep in the house. 
That scared me a bit. 

She even offered to make me coffee for the road. 
the more I think back to it the more it seems like she was giving me reasons to stay and waiting for my move.

But I’m a chicken shit.

Now after all the Uber stories about perv drivers I know to never enter a pax’s house.

But if only that mistake had lasted a little longer.


----------



## rushbudgie (Nov 7, 2016)

After 4 years doing this you'd think I know already. Pax walking towards me in the heavy rain waving his arms about like its the end of the world. Should have cancelled or drove off. Trip ended, it was a 4min trip, he 1* me. I've learnt my lesson.


----------



## G8TRHATER (Aug 11, 2019)

Waited 30 minutes while pax stopped to shop at wal-mart. I know, dumb move by me, but it was my 3rd or 4th ride and I didnt know I could leave. No tip


----------



## Sconnie (Apr 3, 2018)

For the first couple months I offered bottled water to pax because I erroneously believed it would increase my tips. I ended up drinking most of them myself and eventually stopped offering them to pax. I haven’t noticed any difference in tips since then. I still keep a couple bottles in the car for myself.


----------



## CLEVE_MAC (Jan 5, 2016)

1.5xorbust said:


> I spent 30 minutes in a 3.5x surge area waiting for requests before I noticed that I was offline.


"what the hell is a 3.5x surge area?"

-- any new driver from past year


----------



## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

CLEVE_MAC said:


> "what the hell is a 3.5x surge area?"
> 
> -- any new driver from past year


Four years ago.


----------



## Benjamin M (Jul 17, 2018)

reg barclay said:


> I forgot to start trip


I was trying to think of a good one - that would be it!

Driving in an area that I'd never been to before, was already stressed trying to find the pax in a strip mall.

I was using an app that automatically accepted pings (with parameters) and switched between Uber and Lyft. Received a ping on each at the exact same time, it accepted both.

When I finally found the pax, got a Lyft call asking where I was and then getting bent out of shape, all while my Uber pax was climbing in. In the confusion, I thought I'd already started the trip. It looked like the pax had entered the same address for the destination as the pickup.

Fiddled with his phone, thinking he was just an idiot (old guy), finally figured it was a glitch on the app and manually entered the address.

Pulled up, switched back to Uber to complete the trip, "ahhh crap". &#128514; Fortunately, it was a short trip and the app either figured out what happened or I was just paid the minimum. He even tipped. 

Deleted the auto switching app right after..

Oh! Just remembered another time that I forgot to start the trip.

Immediately got one of those "I'm here" messages, still several minutes away. Love those, where's "here" and don't you see the big map showing you that I'm on my way?

Then she starts calling me, HORRIBLE reception, barely spoke English. Pulled up, she seemed to be confused about the address. Put it in Maps to see if it looked right to her, she said yes, so I hit Navigate.

Long trip, got there, once again - never started the trip.

Called "support", more time dealing with someone that barely spoke English &#128530;. Finally got him to understand the situation and he gave me a "fair fare" - gotta take his word on that. But at least I was paid, despite me screwing up.


----------



## Cvillegordo (Oct 30, 2019)

Took a trip to a winery (Carters Mountain) that has a long, steep road to the top which is often a 45 minute traffic jam. The drop off address was on the highway at the bottom, so the length of trip did not show the time to the top. Obviously the friends my pax was going to meet had warned him. We arrived at the bottom, I immediately saw the huge traffic jam, the pax says "oh, I put the address in wrong " and updated to the top. Eight minute ride turns into a one hour ride, plus another half hour to get back down. What a sneaky bastard, and what an idiot I was to fall for it.


----------



## I_Overshare (Feb 29, 2020)

reg barclay said:


> I did pretty much the same thing as the other poster. But we are talking about newbie mistakes after all, and I was unaware back then, that a simpler fix would be to contact support and get the trip adjusted.


I actually thought it was pretty clever to re-do the ride without the passenger (assuming a short ride.) I don't necessarily think that quickly, so I just wouldn't have gotten paid.


----------



## Cklw (Mar 18, 2017)

About a month in, I roll down pass window to verify my pax, once confirmed I unlocked the doors, he opens door and starts to get in while I am rolling window up. The way his left hand is on door, over the top and with fingers in window.. I closed the window on his fingers, he is yelling while we are both trying to roll window down, he kept unlocking and locking the doors while I rolled every window down and up but his. Finally get him free, and take him to his destination. Got 5* and $5 cash tip.


----------



## Steven Ambrose (Sep 25, 2016)

reg barclay said:


> Okay, confession time. We've all been there. What were your silliest rookie mistakes as a new driver?


Driving around like an idiot, looking for rides, when I could just sit at home and wait for them to come to me.


----------



## Mash Ghasem (Jan 12, 2020)

reg barclay said:


> What were your silliest rookie mistakes as a new driver?


You mean besides signing up?! :whistling:


----------



## SnazzyRags (Feb 28, 2020)

LordBinky said:


> First rideshare pickup I ever did, I didn't realize that you had to swipe right to start the ride. I was pushing the Start button and nothing was happening. As the passenger was in the car, I had to start driving. Thankfully it was a short run and I dropped the girl off. But the app was still waiting for me to start. So I went all the way back to the starting point and finally figured out I had to swipe. So having now properly started the trip, I had to drive back again to the drop-off point empty in order to get my fee and complete the ride.


Dang! Wish I'd thought of that. I just ate my mistake. I knew I had to swipe, just plain forgot to do it. Done it more than once (only once for the whole trip, though. Usually just for a few hundred feet) - OK, I'm a slow learner.


----------



## HectorB (Mar 22, 2018)

Did not start first trip. It was a very short ride to a known location.


----------



## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

In my first month I got a call after dropping a pax off. "Hey, I left my keys in your car! Come back and I'll give you $20 in cash!"

When I arrived, the pax said, "Dude, I just checked and I have no cash in my wallet".

Noob error: giving the pax his keys instead of saying, "and I just checked - the keys I found are my wife's. Maybe you dropped yours on the ground getting in or out of the car. Good night!"


----------



## DriverMark (Jan 22, 2018)

Occasionally I'll do something like a n00b..... I just sit there and laugh at myself for a few minutes now.....


----------



## Kazerun (Oct 31, 2016)

Offering bottled water to pax.


----------

