Sometimes it's a job, sometimes a career. My riders love talking about 'what they do.' I love listening to their level of enthusiasm.
I picked up a young lady from a local community college. She was excited about going to the University of West Florida next semester. "It's so hard to make new friends where I am, but I already have tons of friends at UWF."
"What do you want to do when you graduate from UWF?" I asked.
"I want to be an underwater archaeologist!" she exclaimed. "I've already been on a few dives. I'm fascinated by the things I've seen. We can learn so much about people and our environment from natural formations and habitats. But, we can also learn a lot from artifacts left by people in our waters."
I have to admit, she is my first sub-sea level sleuth. I admire her passion!
Another rider gave me a first. A blue-collar gentleman settled in my back seat and began describing his vocation. He exuded a level of experience much greater than his apparent age. He had worked in construction for the last decade, which began in his teens.
"I help other folks with their projects. For example, we were pouring a foundation for a building. The form was a trapezoid, and the crew was having trouble with some of the details. My expertise helped them produce a complicated structure from start to finish!"
I was truly impressed.
I said, "In all my time as an Uber driver, with more than 20,000 passengers, you are the first one ever to use the term 'trapezoid'.
He laughed and told me he was going to tell his friends. "They'll love it!"
I often pick up young folks who are in their first job. Most of them seem to take it as a tool to make a few bucks. Once in a while, some recognize the opportunity to build a work ethic. Terron was one of these.
He showed his zeal the moment he walked out of the fast food restaurant. You could see it in his walk."I'm having a great day! It's my first day after my promotion to trainer. I have my first trainee and I love showing him the right way to do things."
"It's not always pretty. Just before my promotion, my boss sent me to clean up vomit in the urinal left by a customer. I wasn't happy about it, but sometimes you have to do bad stuff."
"The next day, she called me aside. I was surprised when she told me I had been promoted and would receive a raise. My parents are proud of me!"
Fast forward a couple of days. I picked up a young man from the airport. He lives in Cleveland, but he's from the Pensacola area.
"What do you do in Cleveland," I asked.
"I'm a videographer for the Cleveland Browns. There are about thirty of us who spend every day making videos for the team, players, fans - whoever wants it done. Our videos are used in everything from marketing to historical archives. I even got a gig doing a player's wedding."
"I loved taking videos from the time I was a young kid. I had a friend who was working for the Browns, and he got me on board. I love it there!"
"I haven't always had good things happen around me. I lost my two best friends recently. The first one died in a motorcycle wreck at sixteen. The second was nineteen when he was shot to death. Some guys thought he was someone else and killed him. They found out later that my friend was not their target."
One final story for this week. I picked up a young lady from Ohio at the airport. She was going to meet some friends for a 'ladies' weekend in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
She and her young husband live on their dairy farm in rural Ohio. She's closing in on her degree as a Doctor of Podiatry. Her husband grew up in the dairy business and has become quite proficient in the art of breeding and milking dairy cows.
"We've recently upgraded our equipment, and he can now milk at least three hundred cows in and hour. He has developed an ability to treat every type of malady we've seen on our farm."
"We've been kidding about opening a joint business when I get my doctorate. We're going to call it - TEATS & FEETS."
Okay, that's funny, I don't care who you are!
God Bless,
Tommy