Saturday, June 20, 2015

Need a Lyft?

I completed my first real night of driving for Lyft last night.
Been talking about it for awhile.
Been all approved to do it for awhile.
Never had to courage to actually hit "driver mode" and do it...until last night.

What a disaster.

I have never been so scatter brained and felt so foolish at the hands of technology than when trying to work the Lyft app in driver mode.
Wow.
It is impossible for me to multitask while driving, anyway - also, it is against the law - and I have discovered that it is a skill I don't necessarily want to fine-tune/refine to master.

It absolutely pains me to say this: I am not good at being a Lyft driver.
It's like, hello- I am good at driving. I have a comfy and clean car. I am personable and easygoing and fun. And I can do all these things at the same time very well...with friends and family in the car...but apparently not with strangers in the car. And apparently not while obsessively watching my cell phone like a hawk to be sure I don't miss a ride request.

I must be doing something wrong.
...right?
I always do something wrong.
...that is why this is hard, right?

Self-esteem: FAIL.

 - I couldn't find some of the locations. 
 - It was impossible to find a spot to stop in front of some places to pick people up.
 - Question: When new requests come up is there supposed to be a chime or a sound? Because I didn't hear one...and then I "missed the request" and the app shut down with a sad gray balloon; shaming me for paying attention to something else (the road!) instead of my phone.

That was the worst part: the sad gray,  judgmental balloon of shame.

It made an appearance twice last night. Both times when I was in the middle of heavy intersections trying to turn left. Excuuuuuse meeeee, snobby/needy Lyft app gray balloon, for focusing on the road instead of on you. Gees. You would think that the integrity of staying safe and out of an accident was valued more (by the gray balloon). But no. If I didn't respond to the Lyft request within the first 3 seconds of seeing it (...?), I got gray ballooned. Booooo.

This isn't for me.

I totally abide by the no-cell phone while driving law and have become quite comfortable an custom 'disconnecting' during the short (or long) time I'm behind the wheel. It will take me a little while (a couple more humliating driving days) to undue my 'focus only on the road' mentaility and retrain myself to multitask.

Not sure I really want to do that.
Waaaaay too freaking stressful. :(

Oh well.

Now I know.

...back to the 2nd job drawing board.

I wish this struggle wasn't so real.

From now on, I'll just stick to being a Lyft passenger. I'm so much better at that. 
And I'm a good tipper! So if you ever pick me up, please know from the bottom of my heart that I sincerely and greatly honor you and appreciate you! This sh*t of driving people around is so hard! Thank you for your time and attention in helping me get to my destination safe and sound. 

Just a friendly reminder: Don't be a jerk. Tip your drivers.

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