Just 3 weeks ago, I started working for a company called
“Lyft”. If you haven’t heard of it, it is an app-operated private taxi service.
Basically people find me on their map to request a ride and I’ll drive them
wherever they want and I get paid at the end of it. It’s a neat and simple
system. You can imagine I’ve met some interesting people along the way,
especially driving in Los Angeles. This is definitely true, but last night was
more than just meeting interesting people…
I started driving just after 9pm. Everything was pretty
normal. Had a few rides around downtown LA, one in Inglewood. Nothing was too
out of the box other than this guy who kept throwing out names of underground
rappers to see if I knew of any of them after he found out I’m majoring in
Music Composition at my school. The rides continued and eventually they brought
me to West LA, near Santa Monica. This is where things got interesting.
I picked up a group of 5 people, 2 guys and 3 girls, all in
their mid-to late 20s. We were headed to this place in Venice called “Nikki’s”.
Everyone was having good conversation in the car as we were getting closer to
the destination when one of the ladies says “Hey, Chase [they knew my name
because the Lyft app has a little profile], you should come hang with us for a
bit! What do you say?!” as others piped in “Yeaauuuh!-…Do
itttt!-...c’mon!...-be my new best friend!...”. So naturally like any normal
person would do, I said, “Hey, might as well!” I was ready to take a break
after 3 hours of driving and thought I might as well take my break with
company. So I parked and my new friends and I walked into Nikki’s.
The place was mostly a bar with scattered tables along the
“dance floor”, to which the DJ was avidly feeding sweet tunes. Apparently one
of the people in our group new the owner of the place, and he seated us at this
private table in the corner. As we sat down, his little Asian girlfriend came
over with a bottle of champagne, which she set down, and two VERY projective
sparklers, which she did not set down….and lit them. Thus she began this very
frat-boy-like party dance with sparklers in hand. This awkward dance may have
been more entertaining if she was a little less close in proximity, because the
sparklers were slowly but surely burning me. As I was cornered in this booth I
just laughed it off and hoped that I would not also pass out from the smoky fumes
emanating from these mini pyrotechnics. After the sparklers ran out my new
friends offered to buy me a cocktail and I reminded them that I still needed to
drive. We weren’t there much longer, and they asked if I would take them to a
new place not too far away. They offered to Lyft request me for a new ride but
I told them this one was on me since it was close. Well it wasn’t very close.
We drove 15 minutes to somewhere in Santa Monica. On the way everyone had
winded down and one of the girls in the back seat fell asleep (remember her…).
When we arrived they asked for me to join them again. I said I would only have
a few minutes to spare and then I needed to start working again. So we got out
and walked around looking for a place. It was after 1am and everywhere we
walked, places were closed. So we made the walk back to my car and we all said
goodnight because apparently I had parked right in front of their apartment. I
said my farewells and began my Lyft shift again.
I got another request in the Santa Monica area from a young
lady to take her home from a bar. On the way to her house she commented how she
noticed a vomit smell in the car. I assured her I had never had anyone vomit in
my car and that I just had a bunch of people in the car who smelled like the
bar. As I dropped her off I asked her if she still smelled vomit. She said yes,
and as she was getting out of the car I turned the light on in the back seat
and noticed this nice little pile of puke along the seat/armrest (which she was
currently sitting in) and onto the floor. My jaw dropped and the girl gave out
a nice “Oh my God…”. I connected the dots at that moment. It was the sleepy
girl from my new group of “friends” from the hours before. I sincerely
apologized to my customer that she had to be that close to the white bile next
to her and that I had no idea that was there. I honestly did not smell
anything…anyways she left and I drove to the gas station to clean my car. I
pulled up next to a pump and pulled out an armload of paper towels from the
window cleaning station. I began to mop up the mess along the seat and the
floor and approached the convenient store adjacent to the pumps. I informed the
cashier someone vomited in my car and asked if he had anything that could help.
He grabbed some air-freshener spray and gave it to me through the booth. While
this was occurring there was this middle-aged woman walking around the pumps
and then up to me, muttering curse words and laughing hysterically in my face. After
what had already happened, I was not phased whatsoever. After I cleaned my car,
I looked at the cashier back inside the store and he laid a gentle hand on the
glass pane and sincerely mouthed a single “Sorry”. I saluted him in
appreciation for his sentiment. After neutralizing the order in the car, I
headed to Hollywood since it was 2am and the bars were closing; Lyft gets a LOT
of business during this time.
I got a request at this really crowded bar which I pulled in
front of and let my customer know I had arrived. As I saw them walking toward
my car, I rolled down the passenger window to greet the 2 guys, and then this
girl at the front of the bar, accompanied by 1 girl and guy, yells “Heyyy!
You’re really attractive! Are you gay?!” I laughed and said “Well thank you,
but no.” Her guy friend then yells, “We’re going in that car!” Then my
passengers who just sat down go “Yeah hop on in!” The trio in front of the bar
then run and jumps into my van, and for some reason everyone is sitting on top
of each other when I actually have seats to accommodate everyone. Nonetheless,
I don’t ask questions.
These people have such lively conversation that you’d think
both parties have known each other for years. All the while the girls kept
occasionally asking again “So are you really not gay?” and I assured them that
I wasn’t. I was then bombarded with questions about my life while the
conversations in the backseat continued, eventually about relationships. It was
all very entertaining. We arrived at the destination and the two guys who were
actually my customers got out and said goodbye. Then the remaining 3 in my car
went “ummm where are we?” They then asked if I was hungry and I told them yes
and I was actually planning on stopping at Denny’s on my way back home. They
then directed me to this 24 hour diner that was much better than Denny’s and
they bought me dinner/breakfast/whatever meal it is called at 3am. As we sat
down this guy walks up to our table, who I thought might be our waiter, and he
says “Hey guys, umm my friend and I were just wondering which one of us you
were looking at, was it me or him?” At this point I was so overwhelmed with how
many strange things had happened consecutively in one night that I just gently
rested my head on the table and laughed till my eyes were watering. My new
friends informed the guy that our answer to his question was “both” and told
him to have a good night. They were apparently as confused as I was but knew
how to handle it better. Anyways we had good conversation and I took them all
home since they generously paid for my food. I arrived home around 4:30am.
There were too many things that happened last night to not
share it with the world. It was so entertaining that it might have been worth
the puke clean up….if anything were ever worth that. Nonetheless the Night of
November 8th will possibly be the most memorable night during my
time in Los Angeles. Wow.
