#Uber #MoveForward – Conversations and Learnings

My first Uber experience started with the first call from a person saying “Hello Sir, where can I pick you up?”. First impression very impressed.

Hyundai Xcent arrives and we get talking. Here is a man who was into sales and marketing and decided to get into Uber after a lot of research. Rider by passion, he wants to do a road trip to Kanyakumari this year. Meet Ajinkya.

High expectations set and I was not disappointed as I met Vishwanath the next day.  Glad that I started speaking to him because here was a man who has been in the business since the inception and has seen the Uber Journey. A very interesting insight that I still hold on to is that you don’t have to slog to earn that much. You just have to be smart and not be too over ambitious. There would be ups and downs but at the end you will earn sufficient.

Meet Masaruph, who started the journey wondering how far is Panvel but ended the journey asking “pahuch gaye”. A man who took time to open up but once he started speaking was a wealth of information.

Santosh, one among the many Journey which was spent ROFLING. He told me about an incident involving his friend who crashed onto a stationary truck and completely damaging the car all because he was drunk and was insisting to go and have idli. Never in his life would he have an idli after that he said. Here was a rockstar who was fun to talk with. Young chap, owns the car.

Have you ever met a owner of the car who after completing the drivers shifts hops on to the Uber Bandwagon as a pastime? Meet Rajesh, whose car was the first where I got a co passenger as well (Yes, all these days I was travelling royally)

He himself makes close to Rs 30000 by just taking the car out for a few hours.

Not all experiences would be Rosy and here comes the first one where for the first time I did more than one complaint

This is what happened. I get a confirmation for the UberPool. I pick up the phone and tell him that I have to go to Panvel. He says ok, “Aap main road main aa jaaiye kyunki UberPool andar nahi aata hai (Please come to the main road as UberPool doesn’t come to your specific location)” -Bummer #1. I walk up all the way till the main road, spot the car a few meters away from the main road and I sit in the car, What happens next is Bummer #2. Mr Dattatreya tells me, “Uber Panvel tak nahi jaata hai, main aapko Kharghar tak chod sakta hu, uske baad aapko apne aap jaana padega! (Uber doesn’t go till Panvel, I can drop you till Kharghar and you will have to make your own arrangements after that)”. I tell him, that I have been commuting for quite sometime now and no one has told me this. I would request you to call the call center & confirm this, which he refuses to do and stands by his point. I told him that why didn’t you tell me when I told you on the phone itself that I have to go to Panvel? To which he says, I did not want to lose a trip! I cannot tolerate lies and I made sure I complain about this person to Uber. My first bad experience.

But what happens, happens for good was proved because the next person who offered to take me to Panvel was a messenger from God.

Ajit enters into the #FiveStar league because we spoke about a lot of things and who would expect a guy to share his love story to me and the struggles he faced to make it happen. We spoke about fate, destiny, Bappa, Black Magic and more. At the end of the trip, he says “Bappa se dil se maango and woh tumhare liye jo best hai karke dega! (Ask Bappa whatever you want from your heart and he will give you the best that you deserve!)”. I went back home & recollected the entire conversation and realized here was a man straight from heaven to send me a few messages.

The impressive bit about Ajit is that he has fought a lot of odds but is a man who is going to go against the tide. He sees Uber as an opportunity to prove to the society & his detractors that he can do things and earn handsomely. Wish you all the best my friend.

What happens when the sibling of the car that you owned is the car that is going to take you home? Amit from Satara who owns a FIAT Punto is my saarthi to Panvel. We get talking about Punto, why he chose FIAT, how has the experience been till now, his family and lots more. By the time I reached home, I was missing my Punto. 🙁

Let us take a break on the stories bit as I want to share some data with you.