When women riders and drivers told us they wanted more control over how they ride and earn, we listened. That feedback led to Women Preferences, features designed to give women the choice to ride with other women. Since our first pilots last summer, we’ve heard just how much that choice matters—from feeling more comfortable in the back seat to more confident behind the wheel.
I was once harassed pretty horribly by a lady driver.
Long story...
As soon as I got in the car, she handed me her cell phone and told me to put my favorite song on (wtf), not taking no for an answer and not accepting her phone back. While I eventually realized I couldn’t hand her back her phone without a song on, I started looking through Spotify. She started asking very personal and increasingly more intimate questions. The tone was very authoritative too. It felt like she was demanding me to answer.
At first I just gave non answers to, hinting discomfort and lack of interest, but then had to clearly and plainly tell her her questions were making me uncomfortable. She laughed it off, asked why I felt that way and then kept asking things that were completely inappropriate, very bluntly. It was an extremely intense conversation and I felt like I was being interrogated as some kind of weird power trip thing.
Eventually I stopped answering (sometimes I forget conversations are optional), kept quiet for a few questions and I asked some small talk things just to take the focus off my intimate life. I asked how her day had been, how long she Ubered for and what was going on in her life.
Pot twist: Turns out she had just been dumped from the only relationship she had in her life, which had lasted about 8 years. She was basically having a mental breakdown and trying to talk her way out of it in the worst possible way. She may have also been neurodivergent.
I told her about a breakup I had that was horrible and how I eventually bounced back. We then talked about life and what mattered to us. Ended up shaking hands and wishing each other well when she dropped me off.
Does this prove anything? No.
Is it good that people can choose the gender of their driver? Sure, I guess.
What was the point of my story? Erm… Is there a point? i guess maybe sometimes creepiness is just a sensitive person going through some shit? I just wanted to share tbh.
She did harass the shit out of me, despite me never feeling in physical danger next to her (which of course would have made the dynamic completely different), but idk she was also a nice person.
Honestly, there’s no point to my story and I’m not trying to prove anything. I’ve just never talked about this, your comment just brought the memory back and I felt like writing it out.
If you got here, thanks for reading and I’m truly sorry for all the ways you suffer and face terrifying situations I am unable to understand.
I should get some sleep. Have a good one.