You never know when you'll be put in a situation where you can save someone's life. When you find yourself in that situation, you hope to have the courage of one Uber driver who stepped up for a passenger. The man shared the story of his accidentally heroic actions online. He explained that while driving for Uber, he got a message from a rider whose trip he had just accepted. She asked the driver to pretend to be her boyfriend when he picked her up.
Brandon, the Uber driver, elaborated on the story when he spoke to Bored Panda about the incident. He explained that a woman was stuck in a situation with a man who was unwilling to take no for an answer. She tried to get away from him by going to her car, but he followed her there. At that point, she told the man that she lost her keys and texted her "boyfriend" to pick her up. The quick thinking could have very well saved the woman's life.
Brandon Gale was experiencing a normal night driving for Uber when he received a concerning message. The message came from a passenger whose ride he had just accepted. The woman's message seemed unusual from the jump.
The rider sent him a message that said, "When you get here, can you pretend to be my boyfriend?" He wasn't sure what she meant by that, so he asked her. The woman replied, "I just need you to act like you know me, and that you're not my Uber driver."
Brandon stopped before picking her up to take the Uber and Lyft stickers out of his window. "Although I didn't feel comfortable removing my wedding ring, I made a mental note to keep it out of eyesight," he recalled.
He pulled up to the pickup location at a local fair and saw a man and woman out front talking. She looked over to the driver and called out to him, "Hi babe! I'll be right there!" He replied, "Awesome, because I'm starving!"
Once she got in the car and they drove away, the woman explained her situation. She attended the fair with a group of friends that included the man she was outside talking to. He had taken an interest in her, but she declined. He had a history of being very aggressive, so she was concerned.
She decided to try to break from the group and head to her car, but he insisted he was being a gentleman by following her. Before they reached her car, she told him she lost her keys. He offered to give her a ride, which is when she "texted her boyfriend."
"This should never have had to happen," Brandon said in the post. "Men, learn to accept the word 'no' as a response. Learn to take responsibilities for your actions. Our sons are watching you and they're learning how to treat the women in their lives by example. Lead by a better one."
Brandon then suggested women use the tools at their disposal if it comes down to it. "Ladies, if you have the Uber or Lyft app, and you need an exit strategy, use the messaging system within the app," he urged. "You can make special requests that could possibly save your life."
Sadly, Brandon told Bored Panda that this isn't the first time that he's helped someone out of a tough spot. "In the short time that I’ve been an Uber driver, I’ve had a lot of interesting calls," he said. "I’ve transported mothers and their children from abusive homes to sanctuary. I’ve picked up couples who were still in mid-argument. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a young man who had just told his father that he was gay, and the young man’s father didn’t take the news very well."
Brandon's wife shared the story on Imgur, and she wasn't shy about how proud she is of her husband. "This is my husband and I couldn't be more proud. When he posted this he didn't think it'd get this kind of attention. Ladies and gents, if you need help there are still good people out there," she encouraged.
She also acknowledged how awful it is that these situations arise. "One day it'd be nice if none of this was necessary but until then I'm glad there are still genuinely good people to stop possibly bad things from happening," she noted.
She also doubled down on her husband's suggestion: "Like the post said, you can message your drivers to let them know if you are in a bad situation. Thank you to my husband and all the other good men and women driving Uber and Lyft helping people get home safely!"
The story touched a lot of people as they learned about what happened. "This is like an 'Angel Shot,' but performed by Uber/Lyft drivers. Good on you man! Good on you!" one commenter noted. The angel shot is a code that women have used to signal bartenders that they're in a dangerous situation.
Brandon did an amazing thing by helping this woman out of a tough time. The situation may have caught him off guard, but he handled it well. The woman who got home safely was surely thankful that he ended up as her driver.
