mostly because it’s really hard to get passengers at LAX if you’re uberx because all the people who want rides are in the terminals but we are not allowed in the terminal area.
but the good news is, if you can somehow get someone leaving the airport you’ll probably get around $20, which is nearly impossible to do just driving around the streets of LA during this dead post-Christmas week.
my goal was $100 for the day, because thats also impossible. and for some reason i like impossible things.
so i drove towards LAX, which is ridic because you should never do that, you should go somewhere where there are people (DTLA, Hollywood, Santa Monica) and then just sit and wait.
because it’s dead i drove pretty much from beverly hills to santa monica without a ping, which tells me one of two things, either it’s dead or uber has flooded the market with drivers, who, like me, have this week off of their real jobs. either way, it’s miserable unless you have an impossible dream.
did a few short rides around Santa Monica/Venice on my way to LAX (one tourist, two locals) and got to LAX and boom, a nice young black lady pinged me from the Hilton. she had taken the free hotel shuttle, summoned me, texted me telling me where she was in the hotel (valet area) and we had a fantastic ride to the Hollywood Hills ($25).
at this point it was 4:30pm so i decided to go home and take a three hour break.
played with the cats, played my new NBA2K15, talked to a pretty girl, then took a shower.
around 7:30pm i was back on the road towards LAX. picked up 3 hot babes in mid city who were headed to the Clippers game. it was already half time. they were drunkish because it was one of their birthdays. they all sat in the back seat and reviewed all the times they had gotten wasted together (mardi gras, various college parties, and a few local bashes)
an example of their discussion:
“Mandy, why didn’t you party with us much in college?”
“Well, freshman year i was shy, sophomore year i was fat, junior year i was skinny but devoted to working out and studying, and senior year i studied abroad”.
dropped them off at the game, it was only $12, got frustrated that a trip halfway across the city pays so little, so i got on the freeway to LAX to see if i could get another $25 ride.
got pinged almost right away but it was a guy in the terminal who dropped his pin away from the terminal and asked me if i could pick him up in terminal 2. my facebook uber groups tell me that this is a trap. sure some real passengers do this, but airport cops also do this to trick us and then they impound our cars. so i told the dude no.
got pinged again but it was a local couple who wanted to go to Dave and Busters. babe was super hot and was excited about beer and video games? mama mia.
while driving back to LAX got pinged over by Kanpai, it was two groups of college kids who had ordered two ubers. they were going to some rave at the Shrine by USC. thats the good news, the bad news was a kid about 18 with a floppy hat asked if i had an AUX cord so he could blast his bad EDM and good hip hop. i still have a headache, but whatevs, $25.
thats right, from LAX down the 405 across the 10 and up the 110 is $25.36.
one of the kids wanted to tip me through the app but i told him it wasnt possible yet, and probably never. whatevs. i only needed one more $25 ride and the goal was mine. didnt really wanna burn gas by going back to LAX and i felt sorta lucky to get the rides i did from there so i drove around DTLA.
got a hot babe and sort of a dickish dude at a bar. she was drunk and all over him, he was playing it cool but saw my cubs hat and complimented Theo for all of his off season moves. put a smile on my face, but the $4 ride only gets me $2.50 so i moved on.
right away i got beeped to what seemed like the LA Times. turned out it was. turned out it was a newish reporter who wanted to go to West Covina (!), turned out i know almost everyone he works with, we had a good chat. $28 so i got an in n out and called it a night. goal met.
150 miles driven to make $100. this is why many consider this once fun and profitable side hustle a grind.
this is now the 13th Christmas that the busblog has been around. i know, seriously?
people who ride in ubers are in a car for a good 15-30 minutes.
many moons ago, long before i was lured by the underground santa barbara mafia, the xbi, i was a mere high school lad with an afro.
when you grow up black, especially with a huge afro, especially in an all white neighborhood, you learn a few things
picked up a guy who only had a four rating. i was thinking about not picking him up because it was surging but he was outside of the surge
is it nice that she got naked and semi-naked for a recent Interview magazine spread