It’s been almost two years [since I started].

Now Uber is an addiction. I started it as a mental [getaway]. But then I got addicted to it … once you see money coming in.

Say I need a little bit of money to buy these things on a Black Friday sale. I might say to myself, “Okay, why don’t I do five hours more?”

And I know that, by doing five hours more, I don’t need to touch my bank account … it is quite addictive.

Every customer getting into an Uber has a different story.

Somebody got in the car the other day … [and] suddenly, she started to cry. And she said, “Oh, I just got a message saying my mum has passed away.”

I tried to make sure … that she feels – obviously, she will not be okay – but she feels [calmer].

Sometimes I pick people up who are fighting with their partner and then get into the car.

[One woman] was leaving home, leaving her kids behind … I managed to convince her, [I said,] “Hey, look, it’s not about your partner, you’ve got kids to look after.”

She ended up asking me, “Okay, why don’t you take me back?”

Those are very special [moments] to me. It makes me feel like I’m part of the community.

When [a customer] gets in, I can have a feel straight away if they want to talk or not.

It’s not easy to get [troublesome] people out of the car. But sometimes I have to end the trip early.

Once, during an Uber Pool ride, I picked up three passengers who were all strangers to each other. One girl and two guys. And then one of the guys became quite abusive.

I had to [speak] up. I told him that he’s got to stop what he’s doing, or I would call the cops.

Another time, I met some kids who said they’d robbed a jeweller’s. We are talking about kids below 17.

They were still in hiding and were telling me the story. They were quite proud of it.

And they were showing me how to steal [a car like mine]. I said, “Hey, I don’t want to know, just don’t steal my car.”

Another time, I picked up people from the middle of nowhere.

I knew straight away I was in big trouble. [I was thinking] the ride has been ordered by maybe some gang member or their family, friends. Everybody is sitting around … there are so many guys, all are taking drugs.

I just tell them, “Hey, okay, get in. Let’s just get out of that place.”

I was in a very posh, nice area where a few women and men were … looking very drunk and they got into my car. I put my windows down. They asked to put the windows up. I knew if I put the windows up, they’re going to vomit straight away. And that’s what happened. That just ruined my day.

Now, if I’m in a similar situation with drunk [passengers], I say … “Hey, look, I’m not feeling well. Can I please at least keep my side open? Because that helps a good airflow,” and people actually feel okay with that.

People think that, whatever people pay, we are the ones who take the money. Uber says they take 28% from the customer, and then the rest goes to the driver.

But there are a couple of service charges … So, altogether, roughly, whatever the customer pays, Uber takes out 33%, and the rest goes to the driver.

I heard about the recent case Uber lost in the Supreme Court in New Zealand.

We got an email from Uber saying … “There’s nothing changed for you guys.” It’s just for the four drivers [involved in the case].

There are no changes for me.

I would say changes for everybody would be good, because, obviously, then we get paid holiday leave.

I have friends who do full-time Uber driving, and they have kids. So, it is quite difficult for them [if Uber increases the cut it takes from the driver], because they rely on it.

If a rider rates me badly, it’s bad because I won’t get as many Comfort trips.

I give five stars to everybody. There was one rough experience where I gave a four-star rating.

But do drivers check? Do I check [customers’ ratings before I pick them up]? No … We don’t have any time, because [the app] only gives three to four seconds to accept a ride, right? Five seconds max. So, how many things can you read? It hardly shows it. It’s so tiny. You can hardly even see the customer’s name.

And at the end of the day, I’m just doing my job. I’m just clearing the path for [the day] to go [smoothly].