A cab ride experience can range from peaceful and soothing to chatty and, in some cases, annoying. Passengers don't have much say in this, but a cab driver has come up with a brilliant plan to ensure pleasant rides for people who get in his taxi. His initiative grabbed the attention of the internet when a woman, who goes by Tori (@OhJeeToriG) on X, posted a picture of a leaflet that she found in that cab. When she picked it up, she was immediately greeted with a list of options that promised anything but a typical taxi ride.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Ono Kosuki
The post was captioned, "My Uber driver had a menu!" Underneath the caption, the woman posted a clear image of the leaflet, which states that the cab driver has devised a 'one-of-kind' scheme for his passengers to decide the type of conversation they prefer during their journey.
The cab driver mentioned a few pointers to his passengers throughout his menu as the first half of it read, "Your safety is my number one priority. Please wear your seatbelt. I have a charger adapter for any kind of phone if you are running low on battery power. Thanks for riding electric!"
However, the most interesting part was the types of rides that were offered to that passenger. As she was going through the menu, she stumbled upon certain categories of rides that a customer could choose from. They were nine in total. Some of the most eye-catching and innovative options were "The Deep Questions Ride" and "The Restaurant Ride." The former was about skipping the small talk and getting right to the big meaning of life, the existence of a higher power, and our role in the universe whereas the latter focused on providing recommendations about some favorite restaurants and helping decide where to eat.
Besides the eatery and deep talks ride, there was another ride on offer that focused only on French customers. The option read, "Nous parlons en français pour la durée de notre balade," which translates to, "We speak in French for the duration of our drive."
My Uber driver had a menu!! pic.twitter.com/fOEDJgSfpR
— T O R I (@OhJeeToriG) March 2, 2024
X users were completely impressed by the "rider menu." The comments in the post were filled with praises for the cab driver, with many applauding the driver for his innovative menu. One user (@f4st1ng) asked the woman whether she tipped the driver or not. Here's what she replied:
Image Source - X(Twitter) Top : @f4st1ng Down : @OhJeeToriG
These creative taxi rides can often help passengers overcome awkwardness that tends to prevail during the duration of a ride. Call it an icebreaker or even a smart conversation starter, this will go down as one of the most unique experiences during a commute in a cab.
Ladder leads out of darkness.Photo credit 
Woman's reflection in shadow.Photo credit 
Young woman frazzled.Photo credit 
Will your current friends still be with you after seven years?
Professor shares how many years a friendship must last before it'll become lifelong
Think of your best friend. How long have you known them? Growing up, children make friends and say they’ll be best friends forever. That’s where “BFF” came from, for crying out loud. But is the concept of the lifelong friend real? If so, how many years of friendship will have to bloom before a friendship goes the distance? Well, a Dutch study may have the answer to that last question.
Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst and his team in the Netherlands did extensive research on friendships and made some interesting findings in his surveys and studies. Mollenhorst found that over half of your friendships will “shed” within seven years. However, the relationships that go past the seven-year mark tend to last. This led to the prevailing theory that most friendships lasting more than seven years would endure throughout a person’s lifetime.
In Mollenhorst’s findings, lifelong friendships seem to come down to one thing: reciprocal effort. The primary reason so many friendships form and fade within seven-year cycles has much to do with a person’s ages and life stages. A lot of people lose touch with elementary and high school friends because so many leave home to attend college. Work friends change when someone gets promoted or finds a better job in a different state. Some friends get married and have children, reducing one-on-one time together, and thus a friendship fades. It’s easy to lose friends, but naturally harder to keep them when you’re no longer in proximity.
Some people on Reddit even wonder if lifelong friendships are actually real or just a romanticized thought nowadays. However, older commenters showed that lifelong friendship is still possible:
“I met my friend on the first day of kindergarten. Maybe not the very first day, but within the first week. We were texting each other stupid memes just yesterday. This year we’ll both celebrate our 58th birthdays.”
“My oldest friend and I met when she was just 5 and I was 9. Next-door neighbors. We're now both over 60 and still talk weekly and visit at least twice a year.”
“I’m 55. I’ve just spent a weekend with friends I met 24 and 32 years ago respectively. I’m also still in touch with my penpal in the States. I was 15 when we started writing to each other.”
“My friends (3 of them) go back to my college days in my 20’s that I still talk to a minimum of once a week. I'm in my early 60s now.”
“We ebb and flow. Sometimes many years will pass as we go through different things and phases. Nobody gets buttsore if we aren’t in touch all the time. In our 50s we don’t try and argue or be petty like we did before. But I love them. I don’t need a weekly lunch to know that. I could make a call right now if I needed something. Same with them.”
Maintaining a friendship for life is never guaranteed, but there are ways, psychotherapists say, that can make a friendship last. It’s not easy, but for a friendship to last, both participants need to make room for patience and place greater weight on their similarities than on the differences that may develop over time. Along with that, it’s helpful to be tolerant of large distances and gaps of time between visits, too. It’s not easy, and it requires both people involved to be equally invested to keep the friendship alive and from becoming stagnant.
As tough as it sounds, it is still possible. You may be a fortunate person who can name several friends you’ve kept for over seven years or over seventy years. But if you’re not, every new friendship you make has the same chance and potential of being lifelong.