My first Uber was a corpulent
hassle to secure. Indeed, it was a year
in gestation. Having, with a colleagues
patient assistance, finally navigated getting them to send a code properly to
my cell phone, I looked forward to joining modernity. I got in to Newark Airport. This would be my virgin Uber moment. But first, why does this airport have so few
bathrooms? Why does it spit out luggage
in bursts followed by tedious pauses. The
last time I’d cabbed it from my favorite airport off into the city it was a one
hundred dollar, pre paid flat fee. Uber
is cheaper, right?
I’m using a Verizon pre paid SIM card. It won’t let me dial the numbers stored in my
phone without going in and removing the plus symbol, but LTE service, this I
can count on. Uber, however is telling
me, I’m not on line. I went back and
flipped the “airplane mode” on and off.
The LTE light lit up. I toggled
over to Uber, and noticed it had disappeared.
I try again, and again in a futile loop complete with shouting. I assume that this is because there are so
many people trying to access the under provisioned network. I am very, very
tempted to give up and get a yellow cab.
OK. I’ve made it to the password prompt. I throw in what it could only be. It is rejected. Or is that a connectivity issue? I move around in the cold to where I imagine a driver might be able to stop and where coverage might miraculously improve. I order my Uber X. ‘The card you are using is invalid.’ That’s because it is a card from twelve months ago. I enter the new card info. It too is rejected. I yell and consider why this might be. I notice my connectivity has lapsed once again. I move. I toggle. The letters LTE shine and disappear. Finally it goes through. Ha. It worked. I am now waiting for Malik in his Toyota Camry.
Malik and I get acquainted.
“I’m upstairs. Departures. I can’t go down there.” “I see.
OK. I’ll come up there.” Malik’s a pleasant guy. He says driving for Uber isn’t bad. Pretty soon we’re in the Holland Tunnel.
No comments:
Post a Comment