I’m an NUS student and I drive part-time for Uber. I genuinely love driving. Ever since I began a few months ago, I’ve gotten to know roads that I never thought existed. But more than that, what I love most about the job is that I get to meet people and have conversations with them.
Of course, with any job, there’s that shitty part. Sometimes, you meet rude people who clearly deserve to be kicked out of your car and left abandoned on a busy expressway. But over time, you learn to deal with it and you stop giving a f*ck what they think.
And, then there are those rare occasions when you pick up a passenger who’s clearly had a rough day. You want to make them smile but you don’t quite know how or what to say.
So, tonight, I picked up this guy who was clearly distraught and emotional. I looked at him in the mirror and I saw he was crying. I asked him what happened and he confided in me that eight years of his life was over in one night.
The man he had been with for the last eight years succumbed to family pressures and was going to marry a woman his family had arranged for him.
I felt really sad for him. I think sometimes, I take many things in my life for granted. I’m straight. I’m Chinese. I’m engaged to a great girl (with the exception of our families, no one else knows we’re engaged). I’m doing shit in school but I’ve got a good handle over my financial status in life. All things considered, I’ve got a shitload of good stuff going with my life.
But this dude that I picked up tonight… What words of comfort can one offer him?
Source: NUswhisper