“It's nice to break stereotypes”: I work as a “sober driver”

Now many taxi services offer the service "sober driver" - a taxi driver on your own car will take you home. Although the name suggests that most people use this service while intoxicated, the services advise to call for help even in severe weather conditions, and even if the driver is simply not sure that he can handle it himself. How it all happens, how safe it is and whether it is worth it, Catherine told us - “a sober driver” from Krasnodar with two years of experience.

Interview: Ellina Orujova

Taxi driver

Since childhood, I have asked any man - dad, uncle, family friends who had cars - to give a reins. When I was seven or eight years old, the first car appeared in our family - the GAZ-21, the legendary Volga with a deer. I dreamed of driving it, and dad taught me - even then driving became my passion. Now I have more than fourteen years of driving experience and a car with a manual transmission - although today many people do not know how to drive such a car.

A friend told me that you could earn some extra money: download an application for taxi drivers, get instructions and, following the usual route, take clients along the way, compensating for the cost of gasoline. On the day, I drive about ten to fifteen kilometers in one direction only, so for me it is beneficial.

When I came to get a taxi service, I was taken with interest, but not really surprised, because I am not the first woman in this job. Although this is, of course, the "male world" - some people ask sarcastically how "my husband allowed me to drive," or they say: "Yes, you'd better have thundered pans in the kitchen." But not all. Many admire my courage. The majority understands that the woman is the same driver - they give us rights on equal terms.

I am a very disciplined driver and do not break - there is no such thing as a client beating his head against the seat. Yes, and orders are received either at night or early in the morning, when there are no traffic jams and riding is a pleasure.

I do not feel any awkwardness, and I'm not ashamed to once again ask something from other taxi drivers. If there are jokes about the fact that women are untenable in some matters, I take it condescendingly. I prefer to keep silent rather than enter into discussion with people who do not understand what they are talking about. I think that someone can just stay children's complexes - it's no secret that girls often develop faster and look older in school than boys. Perhaps as an adult, men are trying to get rid of it, proving to women that now they have grown and become steep.

When I was already working as a taxi driver, I saw in the application for drivers a service that can be earned a little more than usual, but for this you need to do a maneuver: get to a client who needs to be taken somewhere, leave her car there, take the client to his car to your destination and return to your car. I thought: "Well, why not, if it is more expensive and in demand?" And put a tick "Ready to cooperate."

I am able to drive any car, from a tractor to a Rolls Royce, it’s completely untidy for me. Once I took a whole course of emergency driving, so I never had accidents and emergency situations. And I’m also a very disciplined driver and I don’t break it - there’s no such thing as a client beating his head on the seat. Yes, and orders for the "sober driver" come either at night or early in the morning, when there are no traffic jams and riding is a pleasure. Naturally, only a fool is not afraid of anything - and I was afraid to be alone with drunk men. But I know how to resolve conflicts, plus there is an "SOS" button in the driver application - if you click on it, other taxi drivers will come to the rescue.

Before the first departure, I spoke with the drivers, they told me about their experiences. My husband often used this service, so I knew the procedure in principle. Taxi drivers especially did not teach me how to behave in dangerous situations - and there is nothing complicated, it is not special forces. Here is one recommendation - in the event of a conflict, keep a low profile, do not try to curry favor with the client, but find out why and how everything happened.

The passengers

My clients are usually calm even in alcoholic intoxication: if a person cannot control himself, he is unlikely to use such a service, he will most likely try to leave on his own. I did not have cases when a person was carried out in an unconscious state, put in a car and said to take somewhere. Yes, many are trying to meet, but I somehow somehow smooth out these moments and bring everything to a joke. The phone never, for example, did not ask.

If we talk about some type of passengers, then these are men who are in their thirties, who will pay twice as much for hauling a car than sitting behind the wheel of drunken people. Most often it is those who leave earlier or later all. Although this service is used not only by people who have drunk alcohol. Sometimes customers travel by car to the airport and do not want to leave it in the parking lot, because it is expensive and unsafe - and they are asked to transport the car to the house and hand over the keys to a trusted person. At the same time I have never met women ordering a "sober driver." I think women are more practical in this regard: if they have a need to pick up the car, they will rather turn to their sister, neighbor, husband. We women trust strangers less.

A typical trip goes like this: the client is surprised, trying to test me as a driver - but then everything becomes calm and the road turns out to be pleasant. Man has always changed ideas about the woman driver. My first client was an ordinary middle-aged man, I had to pick him up near the karaoke. He went out, five minutes later he saw me and asked if I really would drive his car. He rechecked everything, then he realized that I really was his driver, gave me the keys with surprised eyes, and I calmly drove him home.

There was one memorable moment when the passenger was very surprised that the girl had arrived - because the floor of the driver was not indicated when ordering. He doubted whether I could control the manual transmission, asked questions: “Do you know what it is?”, “Why are there three pedals here, not two?” and so on. But I see that this is such an average history, when a man does not expect a girl to understand cars. He needed to feel confident and safe, I even rode here and there on the spot and turned to show that the three pedals were not new to me - and only then he got into the car. I do not hurt. Now stereotypes are common, and it is even pleasant for me to break them. One day, a man, surprised that a woman was carrying him, said that he wanted to ride around the city. During these few hours I earned a little more than seven thousand rubles - this is the revenue of two days. It was the end of spring, an empty road, I really like to drive - everything coincided. After he did not say anything - men on good expensive cars that go out of respectable institutions, do not really consider money.

One day, a man, surprised that a woman was carrying him, said that he wanted to ride around the city. During these few hours I earned a little more than seven thousand rubles - this is the revenue of two days

My main work is related to advertising and marketing, so I am interested in the lives of people, how they react to events. I check myself - I see a person and I try to understand what he is, and then during the trip I communicate and think: "So, so, and I understand people." At the same time, customers are the first to start a conversation with me - they definitely need to show how they are worried about whether I can drive their car. They make compliments - that I am “pretty”, “brave”, that I am not afraid to overtake the car in the evening. They ask where I learned to drive and how I got into the taxi drivers. A person switches from his problems to you - you are like his vest, only you talk about pleasant things. There is no such thing for customers to go out after a fun at a nightclub, bar or pub and start sobbing.

My clients are people from different regions. Often they tell why they came to Krasnodar, why he attracted them so much and how we are doing with the nightlife. Recently there was a passenger who came from Vologda. He said that he had moved because of a divorce with his wife, and the children remained there and he misses them very much. We found a common language with him - we talked about how the expenses for children grew, remembered how our parents raised us. And all this happened in a short time, just five to seven minutes. And so with all - apparently, I have some kind of karma that everyone tells me everything.

I remember the client who was pumped and he fell asleep. We arrived at the place, I shook him and woke him; then his wife came down, I gave her the keys and my husband and left. In general, a percentage of seventy men are met by women. Everything happens very quickly with them: they say thank you for bringing safe and sound, they are surprised, of course, but they are treated with understanding and wish good luck. I take care of my clients - the main thing is that everyone should be safe and healthy and be safely at home. One day, a man came up to the intercom and immediately returned and asked him to press buttons, because he missed the keys and forgot the sequence, and left the keys at home. Nothing helped.

PHOTO: Trademe, amazon