Camaraderie : Part 1
I take shared rides a LOT (the ones where you use an app to carpool), because waiting for a cab and having him cancel on you somehow feels worse than breaking up with someone (please do not raise your pitchforks, I have hardly gone through break-ups and have very vague ideas about how human relationships work).
Anyways, the guidelines for sharing a car ride with someone, are as follows:
- Thou shalt be punctual
- Thou shalt not chat about anything except ride sharing
- Thou shalt build a rapport with other ride takers and givers and grow thy professional network
- Thou shalt not talk loudly on the phone
- And so on
OK. So these seem fair enough. Now let us look a little deeper.
1. I have this awful habit of going early for pretty much everything. If I were to go to pay bills or something I would be the first one in line. I am usually early to meet friends (turns out some of my friends are more punctual than I am). So yeah I would say I manage to reach the pickup spot on time. The same cannot be said about the other party though! (And this is where I will end this sentence. I wouldn't want to make my benefactors angry). I have learnt to utilize my time by calling people up and feeling a little human again.
2. The chat option on the app is pretty self explanatory. If I wanted to text someone there's WhatsApp. Which I have almost stopped using because I had around ten people who texted me and all of them are busy all the time.
3. And this is where the trouble comes in. Some people who give rides are okay with long silences. The ones where I could just stare out of the window lost in my own thoughts and don't really have to pitch in into conversation. But oh boy! there are some people who insist that conversation is the only dish they will have. Ever. It's not like I don't enjoy talking - but there are some days where I just want to be left alone. And there's only so many times I can talk about the traffic or the weather. I need stimulating conversations about fascinating things! Not the mundane things. Mundane is what I write here! There have been times where I was forcibly pulled out of whatever day-dream I was into, or sad thoughts I was mulling over, or whatever book i was reading over the phone to take part in meaningless banter (I sincerely hope they don't read this - if you do, it's not personal! I love talking to you folks! I really do!).
Anyway, I pretend I am interested in whatever it is they are talking and zone out for a while, before returning to make an emphatic oh really?! or a vague hmmm and hope that it was the correct thing to do.
4. Ok so I thought this rule was saying Thou shalt not talk on the phone, which was pretty unreasonable. How many conversations have I cut short, thinking it was rude to talk in a shared ride? How many precious hours lost, getting my said 10 people to text me when they don't? Turns out I just shouldn't be that obnoxious person who yells into the phone all the time. Well I can honestly say that I am not that person (hopefully P can attest to this). And, if people are so concerned about joining the conversation, they probably shouldn't play their music so loud. (Not complaining... Just saying. )
5. All in all it isn't a bad experience. When I am in the mood to socialize, there's hardly anything better! The time when all the girls in the ride (which we all were, except for the ride giver) started squealing about hair cuts and lotions comes to mind. If I could have those sort of days, with some days of peace and quiet involved, I would be a happy person!
Until next time,
DragonRider
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