Rock n Ride: Confessions of an MTV Exec Turned Uber Driver

For 42 years, despite a much-storied career in corporate communications, I have always been "the MTV guy," a moniker I wear with pride. Kind of the like the punchline: 'You screw one sheep...."

Last week, as I turned 64, recovering from a hernia surgery, I looked at where I had journeyed and asked: 'Where will I go next?"

As Chico Escuela said: "PR been bery bery good to me."

It enabled me to travel the world, travel America, meet interesting people, hear some pretty good music, hobnobbed on Capitol Hill and as Ol' Blue Eyes said, met with...puppets, paupers, pirates, poets, pawns and kings."

I've given my opinion on every subject, consoled some, infuriated others. That is who I am, or have become and it suits me just fine.

I am now, officially, an Uber XL Select Driver. Yep, no kidding.I took the two things I love most: talking to people and driving. Except for trips out of the country, I have always chosen to journey the back roads, highways, turned at the fork in the road and taken the road less traveled by.

As I got my new car ten days ago, I knew it would remind me of my old 1964 Mercury Marauder which I bought in 1971 when I turned 18. I used to go into the garage at night and just sit in it. I was comfortable there. When I lived in NY, DC, NY again, New Jersey and now Arizona, I would take my wanderlust and find something new every day to explore.

Roadside joints, bad parts of cities, open highways, dirt roads where my cars would bottom out, and even those places where it said "no trespassing under penalty of law." I was also the guy who ripped the tag off of mattresses so I've been a  rebel for decades now.

In the scant four days since I started with Uber, I have met fascinating people: A retired SVP from American Airlines, an exchange student from Shanghai, a retired Dentist and Teacher from Schaumberg,IL, a waste management executive and more people with great back stories to tell, which will make it into this blog.

People choose their sweet spots. One guy I met goes back and forth between the city, county, state and federal jails, taking people for conjugal visits or shuttling them home after their release.

Another hangs out at the major medical centers where seniors are going to or from doctor visits or just can't drive anymore.

Yesterday, I met a woman with two kids who got out of a brand new Mercedes Benz because her brother had a business meeting, couldn't take her to the airport and sent out a request on Uber.

Each 'client,' another tale.

Living in tony Scottsdale, my sweet spots are the Four Seasons, Boulders and Fairmont Hotels, within 3 miles of my house.Someone is going to the airport in the early morning and millennials don't take cabs or limos anymore. Not when you can get a ride in a luxury car with someone as fascinating as myself.

So, where does ego play into this? Nowhere. I have a career to look back on and I got out with my reputation intact. No more sitting up at 2am, worrying about a story that may break or a client who is months behind.

My only worry? I picked up a 30-something exec and I found out his Dad, who passed a month ago, was from Istanbul,Turkey.Having been there several times, we shared stories and after he departed, I found he left his sunglasses in the back seat. I texted Uber and the client reached out.This morning, I dropped off his glasses at his nearby office. There was a thank you envelope with $10 inside. I put the money back in and wrote on the back. "I was touched by your story of your Dad and how proud you were to be Turkish. We Jews always plant trees in Israel. Take the 10 and plant a bush somewhere in Turkey to honor his memory."

I trust there will be alot more stories down the road.