Rideshare Madness/YouTube
March 25, 2021, 7:05 am
Being a rideshare driver during the pandemic hasn’t been easy. We’ve seen video after video of anti-maskers climbing into cars and expecting to be able to skirt the rules just because they want to.
Featured Video
Hide
And it puts the drivers in an awkward and potentially dangerous situation—if the riders refuse to follow safety protocols, they could spread infection, and if the drivers insist on it, they could be subject to complaints, verbal abuse, or even violence.
Advertisement
Hide
Although the refusal of these COVID-deniers to wear masks might be even more frustrating now that it’s been a year and we’re on the long journey back to “normal,” there are plenty of incidents from 2020 that still remind us just how long they’ve been causing problems.
A video from last May has resurfaced on Reddit, showing a Lyft passenger going on an unhinged racist rant after being asked to wear a mask, and people are sick of it.
The interaction starts pleasantly enough, with the driver, Edgar, even allowing Richard, the maskless man, into his car before asking politely if he could lift his t-shirt over his face since he didn’t have a mask on him.
“Do you believe in that s—t?” Richard asks him, dropping all pleasantries.
Advertisement
Hide
Edgar explains that members of his own family are sick with COVID, but Richard—with his hand over his mouth and his nose exposed—fires back that he “doesn’t believe our government.”
“Oh, it’s not the government,” Edgar explains. “It’s the people that is getting sick.”
The conversation soon devolves into Richard disliking the route Edgar’s GPS is taking him and begins to berate him over it, throwing in a completely unnecessary “I don’t like you.”
Still attempting politeness, Edgar asks Richard if he wants to get out of the car.
“No, I want you to take my ass home or I’ll give you a s—tty review,” Richard replies.
Edgar put up with the lack of mask, but that’s the last straw for him, and he tells Richard he can get out of the car. He pulls over, they argue, and Richard pulls the usual “free speech” card despite nobody stifling his free speech at all.
Advertisement
Hide
At one point, Richard mocks Edgar’s “candy-assed f—goty white glasses” and his accent, and tells him that he wants to “just f—king crush [his] f—king skull right now.”
“You ever take English class?” he spits. “Where you from, boy?”
“I’m from here,” Edgar replies.
“No you’re not. You’re a f—king wetb—k,” he says. “I’m an American, motherf—ker.”
“I’m an American, too.”
Advertisement
Hide
Everything from the racism to the refusal to wear a mask to the threat of violence had people alternating between rage and mockery on Reddit.
“I think it’s funny when people say s—t like ‘I’m going to crush your f—king skull,’ and think that’s protected speech. I hope the driver has this guy charged,” u/chad_ said.
Advertisement
Hide
“Always love when someone makes fun of somebody else for speaking two languages,” added u/GlutenFreeGanja.
And there was praise for Edgar as well.
“Holy s—t what a professional man,” wrote u/bigtetrisguy. “So impressed with the driver’s composure. All he did was ask the man if he had a mask, he was even nice after the man did not have one.”
Ultimately, Richard was permanently banned from Lyft over the incident, despite his insistence that he would be the one complaining to the company about Edgar.
*First Published: March 25, 2021, 7:05 am
0 Comments