Kismet is the new rideshare

I am a remote worker.

I spend time at my home in North Dakota and travel back and forth to Louisiana.

I like to tell folks that I have the best of both worlds.

I can stay home to chill and go to LA to thaw.

It’s all in the perspective, right?

The last time that I was in Louisiana for work, my flight home was an early one.

I scheduled an uber for 3:30 AM.

Ew.

As I stood in the entrance of my hotel waiting for my early morning ride, I remember thinking how grateful I was to have been able to be there, witness a session of “Exploring the Why” from the National Credit Union Foundation, and be able to watch all the light bulbs go off throughout the room.

It’s always magic to be a part of credit union educational events and watch the passion and purpose unfold.

My Uber driver arrived.

I got in his vehicle, and it had a clean smell to it.

I always feel awkward at that first moment, so I enjoy making it worse by saying something equally awkward.

“It smells good in here.”

He thanked me and followed it up by saying that it was not his car.

He leased it from the rideshare company.

I admit, I had no idea that was a thing.

He continued to tell me that he was struggling to make ends meet, having to pay the price that they were charging him.

At times, he was ultimately paying them to work.

At the very BEST, I could say these leasing programs are predatory.

He had no idea who I was.

He had no idea I worked for credit unions or that he was about to get an education from the backseat.

“Have you tried a credit union?”

He replied saying that he honestly didn’t know what the difference between that and a bank was.

I made sure that changed.

As we pulled up to the airport and he helped me get my bag from the trunk, I handed him a card with my email and cell number on it.

“Please call or email me. I would like to hook you up with a credit union that could help you. It may not be instant help, but they will help you get on the right path to your own vehicle”

He thanked me and as I walked away, I turned back around and said, “don’t forget to email me!”

He nodded and smiled.

I will admit to you now that I waited for days.

The things that he shared with me and the struggles he had faced up to this point caused my heart to invest in how this would all play out.

BING.

That’s what I heard when an email came through.

“Ma’am, it’s your Uber driver and I just wanted to reach out to see if you could hook me up with a credit union in my area.”

YESSSSSSSSSS!

I am pretty sure I did a dance in my office chair.

It wasn’t long before I had him hooked up with a local credit union and the ball to his financial success was rolling.

“Remember, you may not get everything now … but they will help you get there.”

A bit of time went by.

I had been chatting with my driver via text nearly every day.

He would check in on me.

I would check in on him.

…and then it happened.

One day I got a video call from a credit union friend who I had hooked my driver up with.

There they were standing in front of his NEW car.

No more lease payments that were breaking him.

No more worries about how he was going to keep going.

His 4 payments a month to lease were now down to one payment a month and were extremely less than what he was trying to do.

The pride shown on his face is something that I will never forget.

“You all believed in me…”

Tears.

Happiness.

“You all are strangers and you helped me. You helped me not even knowing me.”

More tears.

I talk to my driver every week now.

In fact, he isn’t my driver anymore, he is my friend.

My friend who approved of me sharing this story today.

I have plans to meet with him when I come back to Louisiana in July.

I told him that new car better have good AC.

This North Dakota girl may melt.

I’m not kidding, someone bring a portable AC and follow me around.

Why did I want to share this story?

Not just because WOW, look what credit unions can do.

Not just because I met someone awesome who I trusted my intuition on.

Not just because the credit union that I sent him to treated him exactly how I knew they would.

I am telling you this, because at 3:30 am in a rideshare in New Orleans—I met someone awesome who trusted me enough in that moment to share his vulnerability not knowing that I could perhaps be of some help.

He didn’t know I worked in the credit union world.

He didn’t know I had awesome connections in his area.

He just wanted to be heard.

You meet people for a reason.

Are you listening?