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When you really want to hit the cancel button but don’t…
Today I had an airport pickup where I came very close to hitting to the cancel button on, but didn’t…
I got a call from a slightly elderly passenger who told me she was in a wheelchair, asking me to pick her up at the baggage claim. I then asked her to come to the rideshare zone. She really fought with me about this, but since I thought she had airport employee assistance, I insisted she meet me at the rideshare zone.
A few minutes later, I was horrified to see that this woman had to walk the distance herself, with a bent over back. She had an airport employee with her, who I thought was helping her with her luggage, but she laid into me, asking me why I was not helping. I told her it was because I thought the airport employee was helping her get her luggage into my car.
Truthfully, I had almost cancelled on her while we were talking on the phone, but I gave her a little more patience since she was a little older. When she gave me an attitude when she got into the car over me not helping her with her luggage, which the airport employee seemed to be helping her with, I came very close to kicking her out, but again, I felt I needed to be a little more patient.
After we were finally off I did my best to try and make conversation with her, she was very short with me. For instance, when I asked her where she was from, she simply said, ,”out of state”.
At this point, I’m thinking great, she’s going to give me a one star review, but I started talking about the city around us, and she started making comments on the scenery. We finally started to engage in some dialogue.
When we were about 2 miles to our destination, she asked me if we could stop for fast food. I told her no problem, and quickly found a Chic-fa-lae. She asked something about tipping and I told her it wasn’t a big deal, and that I’d make the stop for her anyway. She ended up tipping me around $7, which I was thankful for.
When we arrived to her destination, I opened the rear door for her, and carried all of her luggage to the rear porch area of the house she was staying in. I would have done this for anyone who had special needs, but in her case, given the fact debacle of how our first meeting went half an hour before, I really wanted her to see that I actually cared.
Finally, she smiled and let out a big thank you. I simply told her I was glad to help her get where she needed to go.
I’m a firm believer in kicking someone out of your car when you need to, and cancelling rides when the passenger has an attitude, but I’m also a firm believer in being patient, and showing kindness to our passengers, especially when your passengers are dealing with difficult circumstances.
So remember that kindness and mercy are huge, especially in a world with so much hate.
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