Just recently, I have been falling in love again. Meeting passengers and getting to know them on a personal level feels great. It is just like old times when DrivenByQ was a start-up! Prior to the pandemic, I was largely office based. Now though, I am on the road as much as possible. It sounds basic but, meeting people face-to-face and having conversation is one of the most rewarding aspects of chauffeuring.
Meeting passengers who travel on a regular basis is even better. Relationships can develop and travelling together becomes second nature. You know when someone is going to need something or you can pre-empt something they will ask for. After so much uncertainty, being on the road reminds me of what is so good about chauffeuring. It makes me feel happy and it is like falling in love again.
Reminiscing
When I first entered the private hire industry (twenty years ago), I was working in a town-centre taxi office. It was only meant to be for a short while. Driving was never planned as a permanent career! Being the new guy at a taxi office, I was given the job nobody else wanted.
It was 7 pm on a Friday evening and a very frail old lady needed transport across town. She was travelling from a care home to her sister’s house where they both spent the weekend together. The lady had limited mobility and she required assistance with walking, entering the vehicle, exiting the vehicle, pretty much assistance with everything. To make it worse, the job paid poorly for the time it required.
I quickly understood why other drivers did not want this particular job. It was high maintenance, zero profit and it prevented access to better paid jobs. On paper nobody would have wanted it. In reality, there was a payment that few other jobs in the world could provide. When I saw the two sister re-united and how happy they were, the moment was always priceless. There was always chance to catch up on what I earned through the rest of the night too.
In My Element
Helping people get somewhere and knowing what it means to them, puts me in my element. There is a deep sense of satisfaction and overwhelming sense of pride in completing a journey. Right now, being on the road is great. It really is like falling in love again. It makes me happy and I believe the happiness felt personally is reflected in the level of service DrivenByQ provides.
Maybe chauffeuring doesn’t pay so well in monetary terms but, what it places in the bank emotionally is irreplaceable. Sometimes, chauffeuring is the best job in the world. With more of our existing customers returning to our service week by week, our business is growing again. It is like holding a new-born baby or seeing a flower blossom. It is a feeling of joy and I absolutely love it!