Um, Are You Uber??

 I have to bring this up because tonight was the 5th time that this has happened in the past 2 months.  My husband will drive me to certain animals  when it's really busy, cold, dark, rainy, etc....  

While he is in the car waiting for me, people have come up to his window to ask if he is Uber. Some people just open his car door to get in.  Tonight he was waiting for me at 5th and Spruce and as I was walking back to the car, I see a young girl also walking to his car and she is opening the door to the back seat.  I yelled , "Hey, my husband is in that car waiting for me!"  She was startled and embarrassed and said, "Oh! This isn't Uber??"  I told her that it wasn't.  Then we went to pick up food right after that happened and as my husband is walking back to his car (with ME in it), an Uber driver behind us says, "Hey, are you Kyle?"

This has happened at 2nd and Catherine where an older couple thought that we were Uber and were scared to ask.  At 2nd and Locust someone came up and knocked on his drivers side window startling him as he was checking email.

Here is my issue.  It is so unsafe for this to happen.  Uber cars NEED to have something official that makes them Uber cars that is visible to the passenger.  This girl didn't even ask, she just got in the back seat of my husbands car! What if it was someone that saw this as an opportunity to mess with this girl, or worse??  My suggestion is to have everyone use a car magnet or sticker or something defining the driver as an Uber driver.  You know a cab is a cab.  You don't know who is Uber.  This poor girl would have gotten in the wrong car and been raped and killed.  Worst case scenario obviously, but you see my point.  I don't feel safe using Uber because I have seen 5 different people try to get into my husbands car at various locations.  Does the passenger get a picture of the driver? A copy of the license plate? Does the driver get a picture of the passenger?  Something to identify eachother? Or is every Uber experience like a blind date? Should they be carrying a yellow rose so they can be identified?

Just my opinion...

This was an email that I sent to Uber yesterday because I was angry and scared for these people and their safety!  I also posted it on YELP.  This was the response I got from Uber:

Marvin (Uber) Jan 28, 08:10 Hi Debbie, Thanks for reaching out! Really thankful for the feedback. We are constantly working to improve the Uber experience and your input is crucial to doing so. We encourage riders to use the name, picture and license plate number provided on in the app to help them identify drivers. Tips like this and others are also available on help.uber.com. I’ll pass this along to the appropriate team. Thanks again! Marvin help.uber.com ******************************************************************************************* This was the private message that I received on YELP: There is a picture of the driver and a license plate number in the app. And you can track the car to you on the map in uber. The people who got into your husband's car are idiots. It's not uber's fault. :) ******************************************************************************************************************************* I guess the consensus is that people really are idiots.  You are given a license plate and a picture of the driver and instead of checking that they match, you get into some strange mans car???  I am an Uber Virgin because there is just some part of me that doesn't trust it. I DO believe that they should have a sign on their car like a Taxi that distinguishes them from any old car AS WELL as an ID matching the one that the app provides.  Sorry Uber lovers, I still need some convincing.

Holiday Madness!!!

I just look at the last post and it was before Thanksgiving.  This makes sense because from Thanksgiving to New Years I have barely had time to breathe.  I overbooked as per usual and just worked non stop.  I turned down many overnight gigs because I can't handle a nonstop schedule on top of not sleeping in my own bed while spooning my cat.  It's my only real ritual or relaxation.

Christmas through new years was spent juggling my regulars with my vacation clients.  I was averaging 30-40 visits per day for a while.  I didn't plan it that way, but it happened.  I can't say that I would want to do that again anytime soon.  I was almost just on auto pilot by the end.  Feed, water, litter, insulin shot, head scratches, kiss fuzzy head, next kiddo.  I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with each stop, but everyone was happy and healthy :)

Mmm, Pie and exhaustion

Working out frustrations with scheduling family and work on holidays

Couldn't have done it without his help

I've taken on some new clients (cats and dogs).
I've lost a few cat clients (R.I.P. Monty, Morris Lombard, Bean, Mushka, & Pickles)
I will be making some changes this year, including making more time for myself.  Last year was just work work work.  I stopped going to the gym and doing things for myself because I was just too damn tired! Hopefully I can manage my time better and set limits for myself so that I am not dragging by 6pm. Wish a pushover some luck!