Taxi drivers are the unofficial eyes and ears of a city. They come across all sorts of people, from everyday citizens to high-profile figures, and as a result, they sometimes get caught up in crazy situations that they were never meant to be a part of. Here are some of the most unforgettable rides taxi drivers have ever gone on:
1. Stepping In
An 18-year-old guy who was a regular customer of mine was stressing over his exam results. He told me that if he’d failed, his life was over and he would have to end it all. He was completely serious. I was terrified—but I knew just what to do. Apparently, his parents had been putting overwhelming pressure on him. When I brought him home, I called his father out of the house, and by that time the poor guy was in tears.
I told him to tell his dad what he’d told me. The father was distraught. I let them both talk for a bit and eventually, the father got him out of the car and brought him inside. Later on, the guy updated me on what happened—he told his parents the whole story and they were horrified. They soon got him into therapy. I have no idea whether he passed his exams or not, but I do know he was alright afterward.
I was very shaken up about it. The situation could have easily gone wrong.
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2. Killer Cab
A personal trainer at my old gym did this. He saw a guy shoot another guy in the head and jump into a car, so he got into a cab so the shooter wouldn't get away. The cabbie followed the car for a bit until he learned that he was following a murderer, then he pulled over and refused. Turns out, the shooter was an undercover police officer, who sped away because he thought the victim's friends would get to the scene before the cops.
3. Mystery Bags
I conducted incident reports for Uber. I would often get rider complaints about a driver's behavior or driver complaints about a rider's behavior. One time, a driver called in to tell us that his car was written off and therefore he couldn't work any more shifts. I asked him what happened—but I was NOT prepared for the story he told me.
Turned out, the driver picked up a guy at 2 am and he put these two duffel bags in the trunk. He told the driver he'd done something he really regretted and that he needed to take a ride to a nearby underpass with a river. When they got there, he threw the duffel bags into the river. The driver called 9-1-1 first, mostly to tell them that the guy was being weird as heck.
After a brief search in the river for the bags, officers found the rider's girlfriend in the bags. The smell was so bad in the car that the cleaning crew couldn't remove the smell or stains after the forensics exam. The insurance company wrote off the car.
4. Revving Someone Else’s Motor
I asked a taxi driver that question many years back. He said that happened on two separate occasions and both times, a wife was trying to catch her cheating husband committing adultery.
5. No Witnesses
My uncle was a taxi driver in LA. One day, he picked up two guys who were discussing a murder they were going to commit. After a while, they started debating whether they should also do my uncle since he had heard them talking about their plan and could identify them. They eventually decided not to, but that was the day my uncle decided to stop being a taxi driver.
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6. Not My Uber, But You’ll Do
I once saw an elderly lady walking down the street with her groceries, a long street with no public transport or anything. So of course, I pulled over to offer her a ride and she opened the door and got in and started giving directions before I had even rolled down the window to ask her. She definitely planned on having some stranger stop for her.
7. The 25-Year Affair
I was helping out a friend of my dad's who owned a bar in Ontario, driving his regulars home. It was my first fare of the night, and the guy I picked up confessed his darkest secret. He told me he was cheating on his wife with his dealer. To clarify, the dealer was a woman (quite good in bed too, from his detailed description). Apparently, it had been going on for 25 years. I don't know what impresses me more, a 25-year affair or a 25-year substance habit.
8. Taking the Law Into Your Own Taxi
I was in New Orleans once and a cab that I was in got sideswiped by a drunk driver. The drunk driver then took off. I told the cab to follow him, which he did. We ended up in a parking lot, and we watched them go into an apartment building. Cabbie had the station call the cops. I wrote a statement for the cabbie, and he called me a new cab while he waited for the cops.
9. Out With The Old
I was driving a fare to the airport when I hit a large patch of black ice. The taxi skidded hit a guardrail, careening off another car that had flipped. I white-knuckled the heck out of it. We kidded safely into the berm, and I called my buddy to get me. We then proceeded to take the fare to his destination. While we were on the way, the fare asked me why I was driving a cab.
I told him I was saving up for a car since I was 22 and broke. He then handed me his card and told me to call him tomorrow. When I did, I found out his undisclosed profession—he was a fleet manager for Hertz. He sold me a used rental car for peanuts. Best fare ever.
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10. Chasing That Rhythm
I left my flute on a bus. I was not about to get my butt whooped for forgetting my $1,000 silver hollow stick on my way to orchestra practice.
11. Conversion Therapy
This one passenger told me that she convinced her gay friend to try being intimate with her just to find out the difference. The guy finally gave in and liked it. They hooked up a few more times, but that was it. The sad part was that she just found out the guy is now going out with her best friend and he swears up and down that he's straight.
She regrets having "converted" him and now she doesn’t know whether she’s just jealous of her friend or truly in love with him. She later asked for my advice on how to break them up. Haven't had THAT conversation before...
12. Special Delivery
Been driving a cab for about a year now, usually working the night shift. My dispatcher radios me to a house five minutes before the end of my shift. A short two-minute drive later (small city), I pull up in the circle driveway as a car pulls out the other end and speeds off. The largest man I have ever seen in my life comes barreling out of the house like a bull and jumps in my cab, saying "Did you see the car that left? Follow it.”
I caught up to the car and followed it out to the highway, as soon as it got on the highway, the car put on its hazard lights and floors it. The mountain of a man in the back seat said, “My wife is in labor and my father-in-law is driving," tells me to catch up, and that he'd give a $200. So naturally, I floor it, going about 90 mph in a 45 zone.
His father-in-law happened to be the city police chief and had called in an escort. I looked in my rearview mirror and see four cop cars about a mile off and catching up quick. I panicked and almost started to slow down when he told me they were an escort. Sure enough, two of the cops go speeding past me like I was in park.
Keep in mind I'm still going 90 mph. The other two pull behind me as we still had 2-3 miles to go, another minute or two passes and we come squealing up to the E.R., two nurses already waiting outside. He thanks me, hands me the money and jumps out of the car. I got a police escort with a pregnant woman's husband and made $200.
13. Battling Demons
There was a lady I picked up at like 4 am who was obviously desperately seeking something out. We had over an hour and a half of a drive to go and I could tell she was physically hurting. She remained quiet for the first 45 minutes but was also texting often. At some point, she got a phone call and started arguing with someone who didn’t want her to go to her destination.
She kept saying she would be fine. I asked out of concern if she was okay, and she finally admitted the truth. The call was from her girlfriend—she didn't want her to go to this house in a fancy area to meet up with some dudes who wanted her to come over and hang out in exchange for some pills. Her girlfriend was convinced it would end badly.
I told her that I’d been in a similar situation with addiction when I was younger and that she could still beat it. She cried and cried. I had an old vape in my car and I gave it to her so she could chill out. It worked—she canceled her trip and I returned her to her pick-up location. She slept the whole way back. I hope she made it out of that addiction. It can really feel hopeless when you don’t know how to get out.
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14. Gotta Pay Fast
Not a taxi driver. I was taking a train to see my then-girlfriend perform in a play at her university. It was the closing night with the party and ceremonial flowers after. Then train got delayed by like 45 minutes, something was on the tracks. Once we finally made it, I went running out of the train station, looking for any taxi.
I see a taxi van. I run up (out of breath) and say, "How quickly can you get me to the university and what’s the cost?!?" He’s like, "15 minutes in this traffic, probably like $8-$12.” "Can you make it any faster?" "I can try, this is my last pickup." "I've got like $30 on me if you can do it in 5 minutes." "Alright." While turning the wheel straight, he looks at me and is like, "You should probably put on a freaking seat belt" then floors the gas.
15. Whip It Real Good
Uber driver here. One time, I picked up a dude from an adult club. He was a well-known local celebrity. His drop-off was in an affluent neighborhood in the foothills. As I pulled into the driveway, a half-naked, middle-aged woman in lingerie was standing by the garage. He told me, "This is close enough," so I stopped about 20 yards from the woman.
She cracked a whip and pointed to the ground at her feet. The dude then got out and on his hands and knees in his Armani suit and started crawling toward her. When he arrived at her, she cracked the whip again, pointed at me, and said: "You’re next."
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16. Did You Forget Something?
A friend of mine is a taxi driver and this has happened to him. An elderly man rushed inside his taxi and pointed out loud to follow a red Toyota. This man never explains why to follow, just tries to frantically call to somewhere. My friend asked multiple times if they need to call the police, but the man just waved no and pointed to follow the car.
They circle around the town finally ending up at the front of a house where the car they had followed parks. As the car stops, the man says "Hold on a moment, I'll pay!" and jumps out of the car. An elderly lady steps out of the red Toyota and the man, apparently her husband, starts to scream "Why did you leave me at the mall??!!"
The woman is waving her hands screaming back "What are you screaming about, you are here??!!" and walks inside the house as if nothing has happened. The man returns and pays the drive, being sorry about it all at the same time. My friend thought they were following a burglar or something, but it turned out the lady just forgot her husband at the mall.
17. Broken Bonds
I used to drive for Uber for about a year. The craziest moment I experienced was with this teenaged kid who needed a ride on Thanksgiving evening after he got beat up. When he rushed into my car, his dad came out of the house and tried to stop me from leaving. I backed out of there and drove an hour and a half away to the kid's girlfriend's house.
I felt bad for the kid—apparently, he was trying to reconnect with his estranged family and it ended in a really bad physical altercation. I'm just glad I could get him to a safe place.
18. What’s Fare Is Fair
I was working as a cabbie in Australia and about 20 seconds after the cab in front of me had pulled away two guys got in and said, “Follow that cab.” I pulled out to follow and once we were into traffic, I asked why. They said they had his wallet and he was flying out of the country that morning, so they wanted to get it to him immediately.
I contemplated briefly how far it might be and if it was going to be a big fare, but my good nature got the better of me. I pulled out my phone and called my friend and college colleague, who was driving the other cab and got him to pull over. We were both still in the same street, and I had pretty much screwed over myself since it was a slow night and I could expect at least an hour’s wait to get to the front of the rank again.
They tipped me five bucks on a fare that was tariff plus about 20 cents which was nice of them. The second time it happened, the single guy in my cab was getting me to tail a private car, and I didn't like the feel of him, so I intentionally lost the target. He didn't tip me, but I didn't give much of a darn, I was just happy to have him out of my taxi.
19. Stork Delivery
I used to drive for Uber in Ottawa. A woman had dinner with her best friend and got in the passenger side first. Their conversation went something like this: "I'm pregnant but I haven't told him yet. Of course, I want him to be the first to know." "After me?" "Oh my God! That's right, you're the first I've told. I'm totally freaking out right now." "It's cool. No big deal."
Anyway, five minutes later, they started joking about it with me. She asked me what my name was and I told her it was Andrew. She said: "It was between that and Andrew for the middle name. This is a sign!" I responded, "What if it's a girl?" and she said, "She'll be one of those cool chicks with a male middle name like Michael Burnham." Sweetest conversation of my life.
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20. Here’s a Tip: Floor It!
When I was in the Navy, one of our port calls was in the Philippines. We had a curfew to get back to the ship before they closed the brow at midnight, and we'd get in trouble for coming back late. We wouldn't be allowed off the ship the next two days we were in port, and we wouldn't be allowed overnight liberty for our next port call.
We caught a cab, but it looked like we weren't going to make it back on time, so I offered our taxi driver $20 to get us there with at least five minutes to spare. He looked in the mirror; his eyes lit up and narrowed just as quickly. Suddenly the three lanes of traffic had a fourth. He was weaving in and out of other cars, and you would have thought this guy was driving the Grand Prix.
This was going from Makati to Manila, the capital, and traffic was pretty heavy even near midnight. I thought we were going to die. We made it back on time, so he got $20. Afterward, I found out that $20 is a pretty good sum of money in the Philippines, so hopefully, it really helped him out. It was one heck of a ride.
21. Hey, I Know You
Former Uber driver here. I picked up a very well-dressed lady from one side of town who was heading to a very rich neighborhood on the other side of town. During the ride, she made a series of calls and it became clear she was a "working girl" with quite a few customers. It also became clear that I was delivering her to her biggest client.
He was an accident and injury attorney who is known for extremely extensive advertising in my local area. Anybody around here would know his name...and he was supposed to be married with a family and everything. Ah. Well. My passenger indicated otherwise. His house was a very nice mansion. Law must pay well.
22. That’s a Weird-Looking Bike…
Some friends and I took separate cabs, and I jokingly stated we were looking to get there before the other people. Dude started driving in the freaking Citi Bike lane. NYC cab drivers don't mess around.
23. Something's Fishy
I gave a ride to two women who spent the whole time debating whether or not the man whose house I had just picked them up from had ended their friend's life. She just happened to croak in his kitchen earlier that same day. The alleged victim was a woman in her early 40s who lived with the man and had, according to his report, stopped breathing quite unexpectedly after an afternoon of yard work and bike-riding.
Her best friends weren't having it.
24. A Driver Takes Justice Into His Own Wheels
I used to be a taxi driver a few years ago in a smaller town in California. One of the most popular things to do in this town was get drunk at one of the few bars in town, and I made decent money by getting people home every night. One night in particular, around last call, I had picked up a group at a bar that was headed to an after-party to continue their booze-filled adventure, with several cars following to the new "spot."
Once we get to the new party spot—an apartment complex, of all places—and my passengers vacate, I notice a large crowd all converging quickly toward the entrance of the complex. Knowing some stuff was about to go down, I made my way toward the entrance and positioned myself in a way I could see what was going on but could easily get out of there if I needed to.
Apparently, before I had picked up my fare, there had been some words exchanged or some drama at the bar. A couple of carloads of angry and offended bar-goers had followed the convoy to the new party spot and intended to continue whatever happened at the bar. Fight breaks out, some dude is getting punched while sitting in his truck.
There had to be about 30 people getting involved, and for some reason, everyone just jumped out of their cars and left them running with the doors open before engaging in all-out fistfights. During all this craziness, I notice a dude run across the street and jump into somebody else's Infinity G35. This is where stuff got unreal for me.
The guy throws it in reverse and slams into three separate parked cars. I'm thinking he's going to hit me and so I quickly back out of the way. He flips around with half the car hanging and starts to take off. Owner of the car starts running down the street after him, and I'm like, darn, I have to chase this guy. So, I flip around and try to catch up to him as safely as I could.
He was pulled over right around the corner possibly reflecting on what had just happened, and I was immediately calling 9-1-1. During the call, he started driving again and I started following. Eventually, he realized what I was doing and started driving recklessly in residential areas, and I wasn't about to get hurt or have any further damage done, so I backed off.
Not even a minute later police were swarming the area and they had him pulled over and in custody. So no, I didn't have like a James Bond-like passenger jump in my taxi and tell me to follow that car, but I did have a crazy-ass moment where I felt compelled to follow a car because I thought it was the right thing to do.
Anytime people ask me if I've seen crazy stuff as a taxi driver, I tell them this story.
25. Ad Battles
Pre-Uber, I worked for a limo service. I picked up this woman from the hotel who needed to go to the airport. She literally didn’t say a word to me the entire time, which was fine—she was just talking business on her phone or whatever. I couldn’t help but overhear that her company represented avocado growers and she had been in town to listen to two advertising pitches.
One agency wanted to do radio spots using The Zombies' "Time of the Season" while the other agency wanted to do actual ads on TV. She made it clear on the phone that her company was going with the second agency that wanted to do the TV spots. When I dropped her off at the airport, she paid me while still not acknowledging my existence.
A few seconds after, two business guys got into my vehicle. They were very friendly, asking me all sorts of questions. Eventually, I found out that they worked for one of the ad agencies that had just pitched avocado ads...Radio ads, in fact. They were the ones who wanted to use The Zombies' "Time of the Season." I couldn't believe how cool it was—until I realized what I had to do. They were very optimistic about their chances.
"Oh yeah?" I said. "That’s funny because I just drove the person you guys made your pitch to." They replied, "Really? Did she make a decision?" I then said, "Listen, guys—I hate to break it to you but you didn’t get the job." It got very quiet at that point, and of course, they called her to give them a piece of their minds. That was all fine with me, until somehow I got looped into it all...
It came out that the limo driver, a.k.a. me, was the one who spilled the beans. SHE WAS IRATE!!! Luckily, my friend owned the company, and when she called demanding that I be fired, he just humored her. Not the most discrete moment of my life.
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26. Drivetime is Playtime
I bought a Muppet at FAO Schwartz in NYC. On the taxi ride back to the hotel, I rolled the window down and had it wave and make happy faces at people. The taxi driver thought that was awesome and refused a tip because everyone in Time Square was taking pictures of his cab. He even went a little slower so the Muppet got more time to wave at people.
I saw him later that weekend—he picked us up near the hotel. He was sad I didn't still have the Muppet on me, but he told me people were calling asking for "the Muppet cab," so he got a lot of business from it! You rock, Amal.
27. Playa, Playa
I picked up a blind couple once. They didn't live together—he lived about three miles further on than she did, so I'd pick them up and their dogs from town, then drop her at home and take him on. This one day, her daughter was with them. When we arrived at her house, I hopped out to get the door. As I was helping the blind woman out, the blind man held back and shared a little embrace with the daughter.
They were kissing and whispering to each other. The daughter then got out of the taxi, and the blind woman kind of looked like she knew what was happening. I immediately jumped back into the car and took the blind man home. I didn't say a word. I was in disbelief. This guy wasn't exactly a looker...he was overweight, poorly dressed, smelt funny, and was freaking blind. Yet he had two girls. I was completely shocked.
28. A Ride Worth Taking
My friend was on the bus heading home after a few drinks. When walking around he keeps his wallet in his back pocket, but it's uncomfortable when he sits so he takes it out and places it on the seat by his leg. His stop comes up and he gets off. The moment the bus closes its door and pulls away is when he realizes that he forgot his wallet—surprise surprise.
He hails a cab and explains his situation to the driver. A cool driver takes off after the bus—okay, I'm embellishing. The bus was only two stops up from where he got off. The driver pulls in front of the bus just as it was about to pull away. Friend runs in asks if anyone has seen a wallet. Some guy sighs and takes it out of his jacket pocket. Victory!
Friend paid the cabbie with all the cash he had. Which was something upward of 40+ bucks.
29. Don't Ask, Don't Tell
I work for Uber Black in Los Angeles. One time, I picked up a customer who had just gotten off a flight from Mexico. He had two stops: At the first one, he waited for some "compadres" who loaded five duffel bags in my SUV. At the second stop, we drove all the way to San Jose...which was a six-hour drive! After a $2,500 fare and $400 tip, I never dared ask what was in those bags!
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30. Cabbie Justice
Back when I was driving a cab, I witnessed a drive-by shooting from behind the shooter’s Impala. I called the police and followed them—at a distance—until police knew about where to start looking and "closing the net" so to speak. But I must have followed them for a good 10 minutes before I was told by the dispatcher that a cop had eyes on the car, and it was cool to stop following them.
31. The Wrong Brother
I've worked for Uber and one time, a passenger who was clearly intoxicated told me she should have married her brother-in-law. She said her husband was not well "endowed" and was much less handsome, but because he was far richer than her brother-in-law, she married him.
32. Not All of These Can Have a Happy Ending, Okay?
I tried this once in Spain. In a drunken stupor, I left my wallet in the cab I just got out of. Hailed the next cab I saw driving my direction and told him "Follow that cab!" Dude went five kilometers under the speed limit and allowed the cab to get away, worried about the police. I gave him the opportunity of a lifetime. I never saw my wallet again...
33. Poker Face
I worked for a rental car agency and would pick up customers or drop them off at their homes. Anyway, one lady I drove had just lost her son the day before. She lived in a rougher part of town and I think there was some gang activity involved if I remember correctly. Her son, the victim, was a student and not a thug. The poor lady was just trying to keep it together and get through her daily obligations. If she hadn't told me outright, I would have never guessed she was going through something. She kept that secret well.
34. Outpaced by a Cheater
A woman got in my cab and asked me to follow her husband's car as she suspected he was going to see another woman. I was in a clapped out six cylinders, and his was a V8 performance sedan. Lost him after a few blocks. She wasn't impressed.
35. Sister Saboteurs
One time, I picked up a few girls who were super tipsy. As the ride went on, I overheard them talking about how all three of them had their boyfriends stolen away from them away at some point in their lives. They were young, so maybe it started in high school. To cope with their rage, they admitted that they would try to sabotage other people's relationships, even if the people they targeted did nothing wrong to them.
The most disturbing part of their conversation was when they revealed the ways they did it. It was definitely too much information for me to handle. Dirty women...Disgusting. The men didn't even have a chance. One girl kept saying, "They never say no, they never say no."
36. Thomas the Tank Engine Is No Match for a Cool Cabbie
Not a car, but followed a train once. Picked up a fare at a train station who had missed his train. Got him two stops down the line (about five or six miles away) so he could make it on. Had to drive pretty fast.
37. The Tortured Soldier
I own a taxi company in Sweden, but I only work on the weekends because I've got a job at a factory as a diesel mechanic. One night, as I parked at a gas station to get some Redbull, these two older men approached me, both clearly tipsy. They wanted to go home, and their place was a bit off in the woods, so I figured it would be a good fare.
I got my Redbull and put them into my car. One of the guys then started talking to the other, saying, "Come to my house, let's have more drinks." The other guy just smiled in a friendly manner. When we got there, the guy insisted his friend come in for a drink, but he kindly declined and told me to drive him to his house.
Just before I started to drive away, the other guy showed up and handed him an unopened can, for the road. I thought, okay, he's already tipsy as heck, what more damage could one can do? I hit his address on my GPS and we eventually hit a section of road that was really dark. It was just me and the tipsy guy. I started feeling a little bit on edge—with good reason.
I don't know what happened, but out of nowhere, he suddenly started losing it. It seemed like was having some sort of PTSD flashbacks. He was a big guy with a tough attitude, so I started to worry that things would get out of hand and I wouldn't be able to control him. At one point, he started hallucinating and became very scared.
He would explain in detail how he was kidnapped and tormented, and how a lot of his fellow friends in the army lost their lives right in front of him. But the thing that made him totally lose it was when he revealed that once, he and three other soldiers were captured by enemy forces—and they made him shoot his friend. He started bawling his eyes out like a little baby.
He never told anyone, never got sentenced, and the remaining two men who still were alive didn't say a word. They met up that evening, on Memorial Day no less, and got hammered. I just happened to be the driver that night. Now imagine being alone with a killer in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, that was terrifying.
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38. Your Follow-Up Has Arrived
I'm an Uber driver. Two weeks into it, I pick up a rider from a bar, and she asks, “Are you up for something different tonight?" Being the adventurous guy that I am, I say, "Sure, what's your idea?" She tells me she wants to pay me to follow a safe ride van that has her date in it. She thinks he was being different that night and wanted to see if he was going where he said he was.
So of course, I'm all in. We missed him getting dropped off and followed an empty van around quiet streets for almost a half-hour, probably freaked out the driver. When we realize it's empty, I end her ride and start driving her home. But then I get another ride, so she did a ride-along for a couple of passengers before I was able to take her home.
Two weeks later, I pick her up during the day when she's sober and we fist bumped like old pals.
39. Shared Hobbies
One time, I picked up a guy in his mid-20s who was buzzing pretty good. During our conversation, he revealed that he and his wife were swingers. I had a million questions about their lifestyle, so I took the opportunity to ask him. When I asked him how they found other swingers, he explained that there were a few websites and Facebook groups that made communication easy.
I dropped him off at his house about 20 miles into the country. He got out and said, “You're cool, man. If my wife were home, I would let you guys get acquainted with each other.” I just chuckled and drove away. After picking up my next passenger, she informed me that a phone was left on the seat. Knowing that it was the swinger dude’s phone, I was curious...very curious.
So, once I dropped the lady off, I looked at his phone—it was unlocked and the Facebook app had a notification. I had to look. Sure enough, there was a gal flashing herself and asking the group, “Anybody going to Bon Jovi tonight and want to hook up after?” I laughed and finished the night giving people rides to the Bon Jovi concert, wondering if they were part of the “group.”
40. My Cabbie, My Hero
Not a taxi driver, but when I was 18 driving home late at night in Seattle, and I was rear-ended by a guy. When I tried to call the cops from a payphone (it was 1992), he pulled a gun on me and told me to get in his trunk, so I knocked him down and ran. Luckily, there was a cab sitting there at a red light so I got to jump into it and yell, "Drive, just drive!" he didn't hesitate, just took off.
Dude stayed with me at the 7-Eleven until the cops came. I won't forget that. I was pretty shaken up. If you're out there reading this now, thanks taxi driver dude.
41. A Dishonest Living
These two guys were talking freely about their scam op and going into the specifics of how they could get the most out of it. The scam had something to do with cars and I can’t remember what it was, but I do remember them saying they've earned around $20 million so far.
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42. The Real Uber Was the Friends We Made Along the Way
I had a fare jump in my car, who immediately started berating about my car, and how Uber does not allow drivers to use two-door cars. This came as a surprise to me, because I was not, and never have been, an Uber driver. I was just parked in front of the hotel waiting for a friend. When I told him, the guy got the dumbest look on his face.
43. Heaven Abroad
Former Uber driver here. I picked a girl up from a bar on a Wednesday night. She was absolutely hammered, and it was only about 10 pm. She got into my car, apologized for being so tipsy, and politely asked if we could just drive around for a little while, with the windows down. I was prepping for a cleaning fee, trying to pull a vomit bag out of the glove box.
But she kept it together, simply putting one hand out the backseat window and making an airplane motion. She asked me if I had ever thought about dying, to which I replied, "Yeah, I guess so." That's when she told me her big secret—she had cancer. It was in her brain and it was too far gone for chemo to be effective.
I remember my heart just pounding. She told me she was dying and yet she seemed perfectly okay. That night, she was celebrating with her work friends who threw her a going-away party. She told them she was just taking a position abroad. "I just didn't tell them that abroad was heaven." Man...I turned off my app and cried my butt all the way home.
44. Trial by Blackfire
I was driving in London, utterly confused, as this was my first drive on the left side of the road and pre-GPS, so I had absolutely no clue how to get where I needed to be. So, I stopped a black cab (taxi) and asked him to chaperone me to the address. “Follow my car!” he shouted, and set off at breakneck speed, down taxi lanes, weaving in and out of traffic.
Remember that all black cabs are identical, and London is teeming with them. I have never been so focused—or frightened—in my life.
45. Away On "Business"
I picked up this young, overly affectionate couple who spent the entire trip making out in my backseat and telling each other that they loved each other. Cute. I dropped them off, then went to pick up my text fare. All of a sudden, I heard a cellphone ring in my backseat—I realized the phone belonged to the previous passenger.
I picked up the phone to let whoever was on the line know that I was on route to give it back to the owner. Turned out, it was the guy's wife phoning in to check on him, since he was on a "business trip." Little did she know that he was actually with his mistress the entire time.
46. A New Twist on “Arrive Alive”
I was sitting at the Whataburger drive-thru one night and a guy jumped into my car and said, "I'm not gonna rob you or anything, but you need to get the heck out of here right now. Two guys just ran me off the road." Okay, so that's not an exact quote as this happened 20 years ago, but that was the gist of it.
I thought he was full of crock, so I started to argue with him, when I noticed two huge dudes pulling a tire iron out of the trunk of a car, one of them pointed at my car, and said, "There he is! They started running towards my car, so I took the heck off. They gave chase, but I had a head start and knew the neighborhood.
I was driving way too fast for those streets and hit a speed bump way too hard, but the head start gave me enough time to turn down a side street and kill the lights. I saw them pass the street in the rearview mirror and waited a while until I dropped the dude off at one of his friend's house a block or two away from where we hid out.
I apologized for not believing him, and he thanked me for getting him away.
47. Pick And Choose
One time, I was driving a dude on a trip that was going to take around 30 minutes. He wasn't hammered, but he was definitely a bit tipsy. It was late and he must've been feeling a bit down, so he confided in me and asked me for some advice. He told me that he was madly in love with his fiance's best friend and that he couldn't back out now.
He'd been with his fiance for four years and they were to be married in a few months. I really felt for the guy—he went through five or so years of ups and downs with his girl, and her best friend had always been there for him. After a few years, he developed feelings and it was just downhill from there.
At the same time, he seemed like he was truly in love with his fiance too. Going through with the marriage meant a lifetime of being around the other girl and having to suppress his feelings, but not going through with it would mean losing both of the girls. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I hope he's doing okay.
48. One Man’s Trash Is Another Cabbie’s Treasure
A man was working on a garbage truck, and his pal drove off thinking he was in the back. The man ran to my car, kept knocking on my window and said to follow that truck and hopped in. I am pretty sure I ran a red light to get to the garbage truck. He paid me with a nice, crisp 20 dollar bill, so it was worth it in the end.
49. Weird Vibes
I picked up two guys who wanted to go to a club 40 miles away. As they requested an Uber Select fare, I was happy to drive that far. That was a quick $80 to $100. It took them 15 minutes to get ready, but they seemed cool so I wasn't worried. As soon as we got on the freeway, the guy in the passenger seat started asking about my Uber experience—that's when things got dark.
He'd ask me stuff like, "What would you do if someone just grabbed the steering wheel and ran the car into the median," and "Have you ever thought about what would happen if someone in the back seat tried to choke you while you were driving?" I got a little freaked out and tried to lighten the mood by asking the other guy what occasion they were celebrating, etc., but the one guy just kept at it.
I was happy to get to the club and get them the heck out of my car. While they never revealed a secret, it made me realize that no matter how normal a passenger may seem, there's always a chance they are actually crazy. I never drove Uber again.
50. Now That’s What I Call a Transfer
I was actually the person who jumped in the car and said, “Follow that bus!” and then, “Try to get to the next stop before the bus, please, it’s important!” I had forgotten my phone, and that was the only thing I could think of, there was no way I’d outrun the bus, had to cross a big boulevard and wait at the traffic light, and after that, it was a long stretch where I’d stand no chance.
The guy actually made it, and even told me to just go and not pay anything—to be fair it took him like a minute or two anyway, but still –so cheers to you, random genuinely nice taxi driver, you are a gentleman and a scholar!
51. Closeted In The Castro
I drove this 19-year-old kid and his girlfriend during Pride weekend in San Francisco. They made out the entire ride. When we arrived at her house, only she got out. Then, once she was inside, he said, "Take me to Castro and 18th." I said, "Really?" and he said, "Yeah, I only make out with girls when I've had a few drinks in."
By the way, The Castro is one of the most well-known LGBTQ neighborhoods. Even the crosswalks are rainbows. Never a dull moment in San Francisco.
52. With Friends Like These, Who Needs Hangovers?
Not a taxi driver, but a private chauffeur. I regularly drive rich people home after luxury dinners with excessive complimentary wine tastings. On one occasion my customer got in and shouted for me to follow a black Jaguar. This was the car of his friend, who was drunk. For the entire ride, my customer shouted at me to go faster, while also on the phone with his friend, cursing at him and laughing.
When the friend in the Jaguar stopped at a red light, my passenger ordered me to pull up as close to the Jaguar as possible, then rolled down the window and puked against the side of his friend’s car. "Ugly car,” he said, then puked again as his friend shouted through his car window how my customer "couldn't drink like a man.”
That guy promised me a tip, but he ended up speeding off after my customer had hung up the phone and started snoring from the backseat. I ended up having to carry my customer to his doorstep, no tips.
53. Justice For Dads
I picked up a divorced father whose buddy paid for his Lyft ride to the bar. He was supposed to see his kid that evening, but the wife wasn't feeling it. Apparently, she had custody, so she had the authority to decide when he could see his child. It was just terrible to see a man who desperately wanted to spend time with his kid be completely blocked from doing so.
The state of California had given dads so little rights (from how this guy described it) that even though he had a stable job and a good house, it was still a no-go. That was a tough one because I was so powerless to help.
54. Take Your Time, I Guess
My friend left his bike on the front of a bus. We got in the nearest cab and told him to “catch that bus.” I thought this was every taxi driver’s dream, and that we would make the taxi drivers day. To my great disappointment, he didn’t give two hoots. Drove slow as possible towards the bus and didn’t even make an effort to pass cars.
55. A Shoulder To Lean On
I picked up a girl to take her straight from work to the hospital to see her dad. Her mom had called her because it was serious. Her dad had cancer. I dropped her off and hoped everything would work out okay for her. But the next night, I was taking people home from bars and I ran into her again—apparently, her two guy friends took her out to get wasted because her dad had passed.
When I took them to get pizza, she came outside and we talked about it a little. That was probably the one ride where I felt like I had a positive impact on someone's life beyond getting them home safely.
56. Ready for Take-Off
I took a bus to the airport and got off without my luggage. As soon as I realized, I ran to the nearest taxi and told the driver to catch that bus. The cabbie delivered. I caught the bus at the last stop before it left the airport, got the luggage and barely made my flight.
57. Marital Issues
I was taking two couples home. When I dropped off the first couple, the husband of the second couple made a comment that I didn't hear. Apparently, he insulted the wife of the first couple, who also happened to be his wife's best friend. The wife of the second couple didn't like that, so she hit him...and not like a playful slap, either.
She literally struck her husband with full force across the face. At that point, I laid down the law: "We're not going anywhere if this is how it's going to be." They eventually settled down, but throughout the ride, the dude kept asking me, "How would you feel if you were me?" I just kept responding, "It's not about how I feel—you two need to discuss this tomorrow when you're sober."
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58. I’m Just a Background Character in This Story
Only happened once, and then jokingly. A large group was barhopping and had ordered two cabs; I was the second one. My half of the group didn’t know where they were going, so one of them just drunkenly yelled “Follow that car!” while gesturing to the first cab. Whatever, still counts. I got to cross it off my Cabbie Bucket List.
Later that month I got to cross off another one when a girl hurried out of a frat house, jumped in, and said “Drive! Just drive!”
59. Bon Voyage
My friend drives for Uber in my hometown. One time, he picked up some really nice girls out on a Friday night. They were talking about their plans for the following autumn season. My friend thought he recognized one of them—turned out, it was my little sister. He told me all about her conversation, and that's how I found out my little sister was moving to Spain.
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60. To Serve and Protect in Separate Cars
I told a cab driver to follow a car. In the navy, we were out in the Middle East, where you couldn't have different genders in the same cab. It was a bit stressful to have some of my liberty buddies in a separate vehicle.
61. Not My Expertise
I picked up a girl on one Saturday evening. She was a bit upset and a little teary, and eventually, she opened up to me. Her story was one heck of a wild ride. Apparently, a business she had started was failing and she was in debt. She turned to exotic dancing to cover the bills. She said the pay was good but she kept getting really sick from all of the booze she felt obliged to drink (part of her job was to get guys to spend money at the bar).
She hated it and kept saying she felt trapped. She asked me what I would do in her situation, but since I'm a guy, I found it kind of hard to give her an answer. The only thing I could do was end the trip early.
62. Way to Catch a Call
Often, I'd get people hopping in and saying, "Just follow that cab" without giving any real destination. They just had too many people in their group for one taxi. That's not exciting. But one night I picked up four guys having a bachelor party, and one had left their phone in a taxi earlier in the day and had been tracking it using another's phone.
45 minutes of speeding all over the city, cutting taxis off that might be the one with the phone while four grown men hop out of my car in the middle of traffic and swarm the unsuspecting drivers to inquire about the missing phone. Must have scared the hell out of them. We finally found it. The meter said $60. They gave me $120.
63. Spanish Spat
One time, I picked up two young Spanish guys. They were clean-cut, spoke English very well, and were really polite. Still, something just seemed...off. The first red flag was that they both decided to sit in the back when typically one person would ride up front. It was quiet for a bit until they started speaking to each other in Spanish.
I know some Spanish, and considering how quiet they were speaking, I knew they were trying to be secretive. So I started eavesdropping. It gradually became easier to hear them because they got louder and louder as their conversation continued. It was obvious they were arguing. I couldn't make out much, but I did hear them say 'me', 'you', 'they', 'where', and the name of some location.
Eventually, they stopped arguing and that's when I heard the phrase "Tu command, or "You get out." From what I remember, that was a very disrespectful way to speak to someone. One of them then said to me, very politely: "My friend forgot his date tonight, could you please let him out here so he can walk home before we get further away?"
I was conflicted, but I ultimately complied with his request. I figured I must've been interpreting their conversation wrong. The one who got out thanked me for the ride, apologized for the inconvenience, then said one more thing in Spanish to his friend before he left. After that, I thought I had definitely misunderstood them. But this night was just beginning.
Next, the dude asked if I could change the destination, saying his plans had changed now. I said of course, but I was also getting very suspicious. It was a long drive—longer than the first destination—and we began to leave town. Finally, I pulled up to this old farmhouse that looked abandoned, thinking it was his home. But when the guy got out, he didn't walk toward the house.
He just kind of stood there and said bye. I drove off down the road but turned back around out of curiosity. I saw that the guy was walking along the side of the road toward a small graveyard, a decent ways away from the house. I didn't slow down because I didn't want him to think I was snooping. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm pretty sure there was something hidden in that cemetery.
My theory is that as soon as his buddy told him where it was, he cut him out of the deal and made him get out. I think the first guy I dropped off may have even been scared of the other guy. Weirdest night of my life.
64. The Real Steal Is This Rate Per Mile
A colleague of mine—a UK police officer—was on foot patrol and saw a robbery in the distance where a driver was pulled from their car and the robbers drove off in their car. My mate stopped a civilian car and said, “Follow that car!” The driver apparently went wild trying to keep up with the robbers—all the time with a uniformed police officer in his passenger seat, giving a commentary to his base.
They lost the stolen car, and my colleague asked his driver to stop. He got out, and let the driver go without asking his details. As the driver went into the distance, my mate realized he'd taken out his peg (truncheon) in the car and left it on the dashboard. Luckily the driver rang in later and it was returned. No idea what happened to the robbers, stolen car or victim, sorry.
65. A Hidden Passion
My mom gives rides in San Diego, which is a city that loves its Navy. It's where future SEALs go to BUDS. My mom was telling me that she once gave a ride to a young man who was about 20 years old. He had been fighting to become a SEAL his whole life but ended up falling asleep on the last day or two of BUDS. He consequently got dropped for the season.
He was crushed because he made it through everything before and now he would have to wait until the next season before being able to enroll again. Anyway, during the ride, he started to open up to my mom about his other passion which was medicine and she suggested that he chase that dream instead because he came off as a very caring and devoted person.
At the end of the ride, he asked her to step out of the car so he could give her a hug and a huge thanks for lending an ear and giving her opinion about the situation. He also left her his phone number so he could give her a call and let her know what he decided to do. A few days later, he gave her a call and said he had returned back home to Texas where he would start taking pre-med courses.
66. Adopt a Rider
I once had somebody jump into my car and I wasn't even a taxi. I was driving down the street in Boston and was stopped at a red light, minding my own business. Suddenly, my passenger door flung open and someone climbed in. Completely shocked, I didn't even have time to react. For some reason, it never entered my mind that I should be alarmed or concerned about this trespasser, so when I saw that it was an elderly lady, I just remained calm.
Without skipping a beat, she said in a thick Russian accent, "You take me home, please." So, I started driving. I asked where she lived but she just said, "Keep going, I tell you when to stop." At that point, it dawned on me that she probably had dementia and that she likely thought I was someone she knew, or maybe even a taxi. Nope.
After a few minutes of conversation, it was abundantly clear that this woman had simply picked the first car she saw, gotten in, and requested a ride. During the 10-minute car ride, she asked about my life. I was in college studying psychology at the time, and when I told her this, she said: "You make good psychologist, very nice boy."
It put a big smile on my face. My grandparents had all died either before I was born or during early childhood, so I don't think I had ever had an elderly person say something like that to me. It felt nice. Finally, we reached an apartment building and she told me to pull over. When I put the car in park, she turned to me and said, "Thank you driving me today."
I assured her it was no problem at all and wished her the best, and her parting words to me as she climbed out were, "Very good boy, good luck with studies." After pausing for a moment, I drove away and just kind of let it be. It was such a nonchalant and comfortable interaction that I resisted my temptation to immediately text friends to tell them what had happened.
It felt like that would have cheapened it or turned it into a novelty. It was just so natural, and I went with it. She's unlikely to be alive at this point, but I hope she enjoyed the rest of her days. Godspeed, Russian-grandma-for-a-day.
67. False Call
One time, I picked up a group of three guys, probably around my age (in their mid-20s). They seemed nervous as they were actively avoiding eye contact with me and they were pretty much silent from the moment they hopped in. I tried confirming their destination and asking them how their night was going, etc., but I only got muffled mumbling in return.
As always, I worked the situation out in my head and immediately thought of the worst-case scenarios. "Are these guys trying to rob me? Jack my car? Did they just off somebody? Am I an accessory? Do they have knowledge of the impending apocalypse?" But as my paranoia routine winded down, I slowly started to realize what was going on.
Between the beads of sweat, the occasional jaw clenching, and finally, the random giggle outbursts...these kids were tripping and tripping hard. Once it hit me, I called them out immediately and told them I was cool. They looked so relieved. I started blasting music and they just started geeking out at that point. Fun ride.
68. Jason Bourne for a Day
I'm actually a taxi driver (bike taxi/pedicab). I was hanging out a corner when a coworker of mine got a ride across the intersection. Suddenly a guy walks up to me and tells me to "Follow that cab but keep a distance.” This guy looked current or ex-military: demeanor, haircut, attitude...has one of those earbuds like the agents from The Matrix.
Exuded the vibe of being very professional/competent and not giving a darn at the same time. So, I was born for this moment. I read all the Tom Clancy books as a kid, all the books about spycraft during WWII and the Cold War, every spy movie ever made, etc. I kept about 100 yards distance and then would accelerate when they went around a curve anytime they were near a light or intersection to ensure we would make the same light but a little later than they did.
At one point, a car pulls up alongside, and another guy switches places with the original guy, and we keep going. After about 12 blocks the pedicab pulls over ahead of us and the guy tells me to pull over. Hands me $20 for a $12 ride, although I would have done it for free just to live my 9-year-old fantasy. Probably just local cops, but I can dream.
69. Sugar Babies
I drove a lot of college-aged girls who were looking for a sugar daddy or already had one. They wanted 30-year-old men with a good job and no children who were willing to buy them lots of things and pay their rent. I had no idea this was so popular, but practically every girl who opened her mouth that night went on about a guy and his "stats." One girl even admitted to sleeping with someone who had the same name as her dad and was the same age as him.
70. What Else Is a Bro for?
I drove a taxi one summer at a party resort. One night, two guys jumped in and yelled, "Follow that car," which was another taxi that I knew the driver of, and I obliged. Turns out, one of their mates was drunk and decided to just go to their hotel without telling them. They only saw the guy leaving the club drunk, and they thought he was going to a club without them.
He was actually going to their hotel, as he was hammered. Another time, three girls jumped in the car and said follow that car. The car in question was a black sedan with tinted back windows. yet wasn't that shady. We follow the car for 15 minutes, leaving the resort and going into a forest. The girls start freaking out, as one of their friends—also a girl—was seen stepping into that car.
Yeah, turns out, that she just hooked up with some guy in the club they were earlier, and she was about to hook up with him when we pulled up next to them.
71. A True Pessimist
This guy who was in his late-20s told me that was having intimate relations with a girl who just recently turned 18. I awkwardly said, "Good for you" and he proceeded to tell me that things were not good—in fact, his life sucked, and everything he did to make himself happy didn't work. Then, things started getting really messed up. He told me he watches videos of people ending it all and he wished he had the courage to go through with it himself.
He also told me he was going to go to San Francisco to spend every last penny he had, then jump off the Golden Gate Bridge when he was done. I didn't really know what to say. When I dropped him off, I told him that I hope things start looking up for him. He just said, "They won't. They never do" and left.
72. Copycatting Is Serious Business
I did that once as a passenger. We said it as a joke. We were in a group of six and couldn't fit in a single cab. So, I went into the second cab and said, “Follow that cab." We expected the driver to laugh it off and ask for our destination. Instead, he just took off and followed the first cab. All in all, it kind of backfired on us.
73. Live-Action Break-Up
My husband drove a couple that broke up in the backseat of his car. The woman made fun of her boyfriend's ex, talking about how she had bad teeth. The boyfriend said her teeth were fine and that she was being really judgmental. She then asked him if he was still in love with his ex. He thought for a moment, said yes, and she started crying.
There was some kind of confusion about where to get dropped off since she just wanted to go home while he wanted to go somewhere in the opposite direction. Super awkward for my husband!
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74. Pulling Over to Have My Leg Pulled
Yes, but it's usually followed by "I've always wanted to say that."
75. New Identity
I drove for Lyft in Denver, Colorado between jobs this summer. I picked up this guy who was going to the airport—he said he was moving to Florida to get away from it all. But he didn't have any luggage, not even a carry-on. I wasn't going to say anything about it, but my curiosity got the best of me. "So, where's all your luggage? Did you ship everything ahead of time?"
He didn't say anything right away. Just as I was deciding that perhaps I wasn't going to get an answer, he spoke up: "Nah, I just had my friend call me a Lyft and he set up my flight. I just escaped from prison but we look so much alike, so his ID will work for me to travel." I was quiet the rest of the trip.
76. The Fast and the Furious
Not a cab driver but while in South Korea, me and my buddies from my unit took my wife to the airport after she came to visit. Heading back, we decided to grab cabs instead of the bus or train and there they were, bullet cab drivers. These guys look like something out of a bad drifters movie and are rumored to be ex-(insert crazy professional armed escort type driver titles here).
Well, there were too many of us for one cab, so we grabbed two of them. Our driver looked at me and my two buddies who got in his cab and asked if we "wanted to beat them there bad.” Why not! Okay, I've seen combat on three tours, I've been a smokejumper, I've done crazy stuff, but this was nothing like I had ever experienced.
They turned what was usually about an hour's trip into 15-20 minutes of "drifting" through red lights sideways to merge with other traffic at 80-90+, using sidewalks, and generally riding through something that only belonged in a video game. It was one of the most insane, adrenaline-pumping things I have ever done and would probably do again.
And yes, we won by about 20 seconds. Just enough time for the driver to yell at us to "Jump out, jump out, get on the hood all relaxed like we been here for an hour.”
77. Russian Roulette
I had a guy tell me how his brother passed, and it was heartbreaking. It was ultimately his fault, but everyone thought it was an accident. When he was a teenager, he got a hold of a pistol that he thought was unloaded...but it wasn't. While playing with it near his brother, he let a shot out. When his brother got hit, he made it look like he had shot himself.
At least that's what he told me. He moved from Russia to the US and doesn't talk to any of his family anymore.
78. Put a Ring on It. And Take It off
In Vegas once, we asked our cab driver what was the shortest ride he had ever given. He said he drove a very elderly man from the front of Caesars Palace just to the back of the building. When he asked why, the man said that he had just gambled away his wedding ring and didn't want to walk through the casino in case he ran into his wife.
79. Don't Mess With Me
I just tried Uber for the first time two nights ago. We asked the lady what her craziest moment was and she proceeded to tells us of a dude who grabbed her and tried to force her to kiss him. Luckily, she had some sort of brass knuckle and she immediately put a hole in his cheek.
80. Man of Dishonor
I am not a taxi driver. However, I did have a legitimate reason to jump into a cab and yell at the driver "FOLLOW THAT CAB." I was at a bachelor party in Chicago, we all met at O'Malley's or O'Toole's, or one of the other thousand Irish bars, to watch a pay-per-view boxing match and have some fun. Then we went to another spot.
At the other spot, we knew the bar manager and, they were hooking us up with shot after shot. The groom was having the most drinks of everyone. He ended up dancing with some girl and kind of making out with her on the dance floor. All of this would have been "okay" if it weren't for the fact that two of the groomsmen were brothers of the bride.
They were not cool with watching their future brother-in-law make out with some random bar chick. So, they cockblocked him. One brother went up to her friends and had them remove the girl, the rest of us went up to our buddy and dragged him off of the dance floor. This cheesed off the groom big time. He's such a giant baby.
Seriously, I don't even talk to this guy anymore, this night isn't 100% why, but it certainly played a factor in removing him from my life. He was belligerent. Our group sort of tuned him out and continued playing beer pong in this bar. A little bit goes by and out of the corner of my eye, I see him stumble out of the bar and out into the street.
I was both the only one who noticed and the only one who seemed to care. When I pointed it out to the others, they just shrugged and kept playing. I walked outside to get him just in time to see him hop into a cab and take off down the block. I jumped into another cab and screamed FOLLOW THAT CAB. I should have left that jerk to go off on his own, what happens next was freaking ridiculous.
This dude goes to another bar miles away from where we were. I catch up with him as he goes in and starts stealing other people's drinks off the bar when their backs are turned. Now his fiancée starts blowing up my phone and is screaming at me to return her future husband. I try to explain to her that I didn't run off with him, that I was the only one keeping an eye on him, but she wouldn't listen, and somehow, I was the jerk.
I ended up getting into a bar fight with this guy, and we got kicked out. Now we are miles from our hotel room, and I didn't even know which hotel we were staying at since I met them all at the bar and this dude was too drunk to relay any useful information. Hours go by, and finally one of my other friends finally catches up to us and we navigate our way back to the hotel, deposit the groom in the lobby.
Instead of staying, I hop an early train back home. Screw these guys. And that's the story of how I jumped into a cab and screamed FOLLOW THAT CAB. I really wish I hadn't.
81. Sibling Love
My friend who drives for Uber once picked up three Brazilians: two girls and one guy. He said all three of them were attractive. One of the girls started making out with the guy. It seemed normal...until it wasn't. This is where the story takes a turn. The other girl in the car (the one not sucking face) told my friend that the two people making out were twins...brother and sister.
She explained that they did that whenever they got tipsy together. My friend said it was the purest form of narcissism he's ever witnessed.
82. Face First Into Fate
I used to drive a taxi for my uncle’s company. A guy gets in my taxi, says "Just follow that car," and reassures me it’s nothing serious. Except when the other car stops, he gets out and runs to the car we were following and drags the guy out and starts hitting him in the face, hard. I got out and was yelling at him and calling him a jerk for lying to me.
He got all in my face and threatened to beat the snot out of me too, said a bunch of racist slurs at me, then ran off. The guy who got punched had his nose broken. The weirdest part is that he had no idea who that guy was.
83. Quite A Fight
The driver picked up a couple and they had a fight in the car. The guy asked the driver to stop the car and he walked a few extra blocks to his home to get away from her, even though they had both planned on getting out at the same place. The girl then asked the driver to go to her sister's apartment first, then drive back to the guy's apartment.
The driver did as he was asked since a fare is a fare, but since the girl was tipsy she started opening up a bit and revealed that she was going to her sister's place to pick up a freaking pistol. The driver dropped her off but refused to drive her back to the boyfriend's apartment.
84. He’s Parking His Car in Someone Else’s Garage
Followed it to a house. Lady passenger told me to wait and proceeded to get out and intercept her husband who was going to his second family. He looked completely caught and guilty. She just stared daggers at him and got back in the taxi and told me to drive, whereupon she told me what was going on, and I gave her a free 30-minute ride home.
85. Rumor Has It
I work for a small-ish taxi company. We have a contract with schools in the area to transport seniors to this graduate program so they won't drop out. They were usually badly behaved kids. Anyway, I was assigned to this one kid in his sophomore year. I heard some messed up things from other students about him—apparently, he got intimate with a guy in public, did stuff with a dog, so on.
I tried not to believe those rumors until I heard them from the kid directly. I felt he was owed the benefit of the doubt. Then, one year, he started being more confident around me. He told me some dark things, and while they didn't confirm the rumors, they did confirm that he was a messed-up kid. He admitted to stealing college money, taking advantage of a girl a few years prior (turns out, he wasn't gay, but still a predator), and getting into some pretty heavy substance use.
86. Let It Out
On my first night driving for Uber and Lyft, I picked up a dude at 2:30 am. He was finishing up a pub crawl dressed in a purple dinosaur onesie and he was HAMMERED. He got in and started telling me his entire life story, from how he came out to his parents to how he moved across the country. He told me he had never revealed those things to anyone before.
87. On The Downlow
I picked up two dudes. They were talking about how they were going to keep hiding their relationship from their wives and children. Pretty messed up stuff.
88. The Snitch
I got in a taxi around 15 years ago with my best mate and we were so tipsy. We were having a laugh with the driver and we told him so many secrets: who we were dating, the mischief we'd got up to in the clubs, the stuff we did at work, etc. Nothing bad, just silly 18-year-old shenanigans. The driver was so chatty and kept encouraging us. We had no clue what was happening until it was too late.
When we got out of his car and paid him, he was like: "Do you know so and so?" Eh, yeah we did. We worked with this woman, and it turned out, she was his sister. He told her everything! We were mortified. I never told a taxi driver another secret again.
89. Saving The Boss
I drove two medical professionals once. One of them talked to his colleague about a time when he was "kindly kidnapped" out of the hospital by two guys. They took him to a mansion outside the city and asked him to examine the heart condition of a man who seemed to be a local mafia boss. They somehow provided him with all the tools he needed and made him operate the boss.
When they finally let him go, they paid him with a big sum of cash, saying they would contact him again if they required him for anything else. He said it was one of the scariest yet most interesting experiences in his life.
90. Psycho In The Seat
A passenger basically showed me the apartment where his wife was cheating on him. He then proceeded to explain how he was going to end her with a .44 magnum pistol. "Do you know what a .44 magnum pistol does to a woman's face?" he asked me. That's when I started to get really creeped out. He told me that he knew that I must think that he was really sick and started laughing.
92. Grave Digger
A woman was in my backseat crying on the phone to her brother about her addicted daughter. From what I could hear, she was on her way home because her daughter had thrown their family safe down a flight of stairs in an attempt to open it and take the money inside it. But that's not even the worst part—her daughter had also stolen her grandmother's diamond bracelet...from her coffin.
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