*EURweb senior editor DeBorah B. Pryor has announced the release of her highly anticipated book “AREN’T YOU SCARED? – Lessons from a Lady Rideshare Driver.” The book gives us a glimpse into the world of female rideshare drivers. AREN’T YOU SCARED… was released on April 13 and is available via the author’s website at http://lessonsfromaladyridesharedriver.com and online via Amazon Kindle.
Pryor has done an excellent job penning her first nonfiction work. In just under 70 pages, AREN’T YOU SCARED… (ISBN Number 9781513634098-51299 print: 12.99 \ 978151363408-1999 eBook: 9.99) quickly proves itself as “the little book we never knew we needed, until it arrived!”
It captures the comical, incredible and to say the least, interesting, humanistic experiences Pryor is privy to daily. Despite occasionally asking herself “Did I really sign up for this?” the author shares how shocked she is to actually enjoy being an UBER driver, but more importantly, she’s a natural people person, making her a perfect host driver and often-times, sounding board, for the multitude of personalities she encounters each day.
Pryor says when she mentions the book, people ask if it is about all of the interesting people she meets; and it is, it just doesn’t stop there. It goes deeper because of who it was written for. Pryor, who has a background in communications and has taught classes at UCLA Extension, wants people to understand the “culture” of rideshare so she delves into how she handles difficult situations and challenging behaviors, what she has learned about different cultures and races (including her own); how to “read” people and know when to talk or be quiet. And in a phrase she coined herself, she speaks about The Human Zone where her actual riders’ comments display the conversational
magic that happens in her UBER when people drop the facades behind race, religion, politics, and culture and speak from the heart.
Pryor admits, “We really do have more in common than we think.”
A poignant quote from one rider so touched by the conversation he had with his driver says…
“Typically I’m not one to talk a whole lot with my driver but the conversation I had with Deborah was insightful, inspiring and uplifting. Living in Los Angeles, like any modern metropolis, can be difficult and isolating, but its people like her that help remind us all of the inherent hope and potential for goodness within us all.”
Another rider talks about how he had left his keys in the car, and Pryor hunted him down in a restaurant before the night was over to return them. He called her “a life saver!”
“Being an Uber driver or driver for any rideshare service is nothing short of life altering,” Pryor writes. “The people you meet and the conversations you share (and those you overhear); the moods you encounter, diverse personalities – not to mention cultures – can all serve as learning experiences if you let them,” adds Pryor, a Brooklyn native who talks about the pros and the cons of the business; along with some incredible highlights – such as the conversation behind her 16-minute drive with Paris Jackson, the 19-year-old daughter of the ‘King of Pop,’ and how she dreaded the moment the pretty actress and model asked the question all riders end up asking eventually…
“What kind of writing do you do?”
Knowing how much her dad, Michael Jackson, detested journalists,and not wanting to make Paris uncomfortable, Pryor writes her innermost thought at that moment was, “Kill me now.”
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