Uber Driver Helps Woman Get Away From Aggressive Guy by Pretending to Be Her Boyfriend

Trisha Leigh Ziegenhorn

5 years ago

Uber has gotten its fair share of bad press lately, but as is true with every pool of humans, there are the ones who are trash, and the ones who stand out at the top – and driver Brandon Gale is definitely one of the good guys.

He was responding to a new ride call when he noticed there was a special request attached to the pickup – the woman wanted him to pretend to be her boyfriend.

At first, he was leery. He’s a married father, after all, and wanted to know exactly what this “pretending” entailed. But once she said she just needed him to act as if he was her boyfriend picking her up and not an Uber driver, he quickly agreed.

Before he picked her up, he took the Uber and Lyft signs out of his windows, and when he arrived, he found her speaking with a man outdoors.

They exchanged hellos like old friends (or more), and once she got into his car with a smile. Once they’d left the guy behind, she breathed a sigh of relief and spilled the entire story about how he was interested, she wasn’t, but he wouldn’t get the hint and leave her alone – to the point of following her from where she’d been with a group of friends.

Brandon recounted the full story on Facebook:

Last night, while driving for Uber, I got a call to pick up a woman from over by the fair. About 30 seconds after accepting the ride, the rider sent me a message via the app.

“When you get here, can you pretend to be my boyfriend?”

I didn’t know to what capacity she meant, so I asked ,”What do you mean?”. She then said, “I just need you to act like you know me, and that you’re not my Uber driver”.

Before I got to the pickup, I took my Uber and Lyft stickers out of my window. Although I didn’t feel comfortable removing my wedding ring, I made a mental note to keep it out of eyesight. When I got there, I had my window rolled down. A man and a woman were in the front yard, talking. The woman was my fare and she set the scene immediately. She looked over and yelled, “Hi, Babe! I’ll be right there!”. I didn’t want to leave her hanging, so i shouted back, “Awesome, because I’m starving!”. I waved at the guy. He half-assedly waved back.

The ruse was complete. Thanks to me. The Mayor of Yes-And City.

She skipped to my car, got in, and we took off. Once we got out of the guy’s sight, she told me the rest of her story. She went to the fair with a bunch of friends. In that group of friends was a guy that was very forward with her and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He also had a history of being very aggressive. She thought that she could leave him behind by heading to her car, but he followed her, claiming to be a gentleman. Before they got to her car, she claimed to have lost her keys. He offered to give her a ride, and that’s when she decided to call her “boyfriend”.

This should never have had to happen. Men, learn to accept the word “no” as a response. Learn to take responsibility 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.

Ladies, if you have the Uber or Lyft app, and you need an exit strategy, use the messaging system within the app. You can make special requests that could possibly save your life.

UPDATE: Thank you for helping to get the word out. More people need to know that you can use the Uber and Lyft apps to covertly signal for help. Protect yourselves! Also, some nearby churches, like the Berean Baptist Church, are on standby if anyone needs a safety net.

People were pleased that he went out of his way to help a young woman in need – not many questions asked – and again that he made sure to point out that those features of the Uber app are there for people to take advantage of if they need to.