I got my old job back! 🙂 Been on the road solo for the past two nights and made some decent money. Tips from Tuesday went towards some more food, tips from last night will go towards a new bike seat so I can seriously train for the Urban Assault ride. I’ll be trying to get another shift tonight (won’t be too hard, they’re super short on drivers lately).

Anyway, last night I had one of our regular riders. She’s known for being super whiny and always complaining about things. The world is against her and she wants to sue God. I put her walker and her bags in my trunk and she wants to get in the front seat like usual. She won’t get in until I put the seat back for her, and it seems to me she is a little too impatient and expectant about it considering the reason she was waiting was because I was putting her things in the back. When she gets in, instead of placing her ass on the seat and kind of backing into the car (this is the proper way to get into a car if you have back or mobility issues), she puts her back against the door frame and sorta falls into the seat by scraping her whole body across the door frame.

I guess the panel over the front passenger seat belt was loose, because she scraped it off with her ass and ended up half-sitting on it. She exclaimed that she was hurt and that her pants were now ripped. I kinda just looked at her blankly, because it was so obviously her own damn fault. I didn’t help her sit down, did she need help sitting down? But she had me contact the dispatcher and ask what to do. I was to write up an Incident Report, have a manager call her tomorrow, and charge her the full fare tonight.

I made sure not to sass or badger her, and made sure that all decisions were in her side of the court to make her feel more in control, but man does that woman complain. She also let me know she only bathes once a week and other tidbits that I really didn’t care to know. ech! I got the times she would prefer for us to call her about fixing her pants and promised a manager would be in touch.

She’s not malicious, just an Eeyore type who makes her own bad luck and then tries to suck pity from those around her who are reluctant to give it. I know this incident doesn’t really shed much light on why I’m reacting so strongly, but I’ve given this woman rides for the past 5-6 years (not counting the last year I didn’t work), and she really is kind of worthless. If the fare is $10.50, she’ll give you $21 and ask for a $10 back, but when you offer her the $.50 (if she isn’t going to tip a buck or more, she obviously is “too poor” to tip) she’ll look at it distastefully. Sometimes she’ll say it’s a tip, sometimes she’ll just exclaim “NO!” Then demand all the extra favors like taking her bags out of specific places in the cab (she tells you where she wants all her belongings placed), walking her up to the door, letting her sit in the front and stopping at her mailbox to pick up her mail. Seriously, though… if you can’t afford to tip $1, just take all your change because it’s a bit of an insult to tip less, but still “tip” it.

Maybe I’ll let her know that next time if another incident doesn’t happen. It just seemed like poor timing this time and might have been a straw to break the camel’s back last night. I didn’t want to release any floodgates of Eeyore energy in my face.