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a cautionary tale
May. 3rd, 2018 12:43 pmMy mom doesn't drive anymore since she had the stroke. A lot of the time she can ask friends to drive her places, but she's also become capable of using Lyft (well, a phone service that handles the app-interface part for her and sends either a Lyft or an Uber depending who's available), which is great. But today she told me this story:
Needed to go to her PT appointment across town. Called for a Lyft as she usually does. Got the confirmation call however long before pickup telling her that her driver would be arriving soon in a white Volkswagen with a license plate ending in 4567 (or whatever) and the driver's name was Brittany. Okay, she thinks, and goes to wait in front of the door to her building, and then a black car (maybe a VW, maybe not) rolls up with a man driving it who leans out the window and says "I'm your Lyft driver."
So she's a little puzzled by the discrepancy, but in she gets, and off they go, and once they're en route, she says I'm a little surprised, because the confirmation call said I'd be picked up by Brittany in a white Volkswagen, and this is obviously not a white Volkswagen and excuse my assuming your name isn't Brittany, because usually that's a name I expect to belong to a woman? And the guy says Oh, yes, Brittany is my wife, and she had to take her mom to the hospital, so I said I'd do her driving for her until I had to go to my own job this afternoon, and the white VW is in the shop and this is a rental but it's the only car we have to drive right now.
And he drove her to her appointment and that was fine, and of course it was a whole different driver who brought her home, and she was telling me this story like ha, isn't that funny --
-- and I said So listen, I'm glad that all turned out okay, but in future? I want you to have that kind of conversation before you get in the car.
/o\
Of course item one is everyone's personal safety, I said to her, but also, further down the list, just a practical matter: Suppose one of your neighbors had also called for a Lyft? And this guy was someone else's Lyft driver and took you where someone else wanted to go, and your driver came along two minutes later and took someone else to your PT appointment? (BUT MAINLY DO SOME DOUBLE CHECKING BEFORE YOU GET IN AN UNEXPECTED STRANGE CAR WITH AN UNEXPECTED UNIDENTIFIED MAN, MOTHER.)
In short: Make sure your aging loved ones are able to compensate for their diminishing common sense, y'all.
Needed to go to her PT appointment across town. Called for a Lyft as she usually does. Got the confirmation call however long before pickup telling her that her driver would be arriving soon in a white Volkswagen with a license plate ending in 4567 (or whatever) and the driver's name was Brittany. Okay, she thinks, and goes to wait in front of the door to her building, and then a black car (maybe a VW, maybe not) rolls up with a man driving it who leans out the window and says "I'm your Lyft driver."
So she's a little puzzled by the discrepancy, but in she gets, and off they go, and once they're en route, she says I'm a little surprised, because the confirmation call said I'd be picked up by Brittany in a white Volkswagen, and this is obviously not a white Volkswagen and excuse my assuming your name isn't Brittany, because usually that's a name I expect to belong to a woman? And the guy says Oh, yes, Brittany is my wife, and she had to take her mom to the hospital, so I said I'd do her driving for her until I had to go to my own job this afternoon, and the white VW is in the shop and this is a rental but it's the only car we have to drive right now.
And he drove her to her appointment and that was fine, and of course it was a whole different driver who brought her home, and she was telling me this story like ha, isn't that funny --
-- and I said So listen, I'm glad that all turned out okay, but in future? I want you to have that kind of conversation before you get in the car.
/o\
Of course item one is everyone's personal safety, I said to her, but also, further down the list, just a practical matter: Suppose one of your neighbors had also called for a Lyft? And this guy was someone else's Lyft driver and took you where someone else wanted to go, and your driver came along two minutes later and took someone else to your PT appointment? (BUT MAINLY DO SOME DOUBLE CHECKING BEFORE YOU GET IN AN UNEXPECTED STRANGE CAR WITH AN UNEXPECTED UNIDENTIFIED MAN, MOTHER.)
In short: Make sure your aging loved ones are able to compensate for their diminishing common sense, y'all.
