I was leaving the grocery store when I was accosted by a grumpy old man. “Give me a ride to the church!” he huffed at me, swelled with pride at how much society owed him for being old. Of course I gave him a ride. My goal in life is to be a grumpy old curmudgeon, how could I say no?
He didn’t even say thanks or give me a nod of the head when I dropped him off, either. God bless you, gentle geezer.
Yes, I was driving home from college in Raleigh, NC to Swansboro, NC. I was taking the back roads - at Kinston I turned on highway 58. It is probably a lot different now, but back in the late 80s, early 90s, there was absolutely nothing on the highway 58 for the almsot 20 miles between Kinston and Trenton. I drove past 2 highschool-college age girls who had ran out of gas. I picked them up, and backtracked to the nearest gas station (can’t remember if we had to go all the way back to Kinston or not) to get them some gas. Then, drove them back to their car. It was the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and I didn’t feel in any danger - I just figured it was a nice thing to do.
Lots of times. I’m a reformed hitchhiker myself from days of yore. You don’t see many hitchhikers these days, so I figure the ones who are probably have a need.
The last time was couple of years ago after dropping my daughter off at dance lessons I saw a guy in work clothes hitchhiking at the side of the highway on the way out of town.
He told me his brother had borrowed his car the night before and hadn’t returned it, and he was going to be late for work on a landscaping project.
I went about 20Kms out of my way to drop him off right at the work site. Well, 40 Kms I guess since I then needed to drive back home. He was very appreciative, as you can understand.
I give hikers lifts all the time when I see them trying to get back to their cars after a hike. If I see someone with a pack and hiking gear on the roadside in the mountains I always stop and offer.
Lots of times, but less so in recent years.
The longest was I picked up a young couple just outside of St. George, Utah, and drove them all the way to Salt Lake City, which is about 300 miles. Of course I was going to Salt Lake myself, so it wasn’t out of the way. In fact it turned out they actually wanted the exact same exit where I normally get off anyway. That was about 8 years ago.
The last time was probably about a year ago in Las Vegas. I was there on business, and stopped at a convenience store for a soft drink on my way to the customer’s place. A man and a woman came up to me in the parking lot and asked if I was going a certain way. I was and they asked for a ride. They were both kind of scruffy, but I said yes. It turned out they had a box and bag of scrap metal they had been trying to get to the recyclers a few blocks down the road to get money for food. I dropped them off and they were appreciative.
I’ve been given rides when I needed it, and I guess I figure I need to pass it back around a little. But I am more leery these days, and if it hadn’t been a man and woman together I might have said I was going the other way.
I gave a hitchhiker a ride once when I was long-haul trucking. He was at a truckstop and I gave him a ride to another truckstop in Phoenix where I was stopping for the night.
I met another driver I knew there, and we walked to a nearby tavern to shoot pool and have a beer. The hitchhiker tagged along.
He proceeded to get shit-faced and started crying and moaning and hugging the jukebox. I left, but the other driver let him sleep in his trailer. The hitchhiker kept raising a ruckus, so the driver went back there to tell him to quiet down.
Long story short, that driver ended up unconscious in the parking lot, wallet gone, and the hitchhiker was picked up by the police who found him wandering around. (I met the other driver later and he told me what had happened.)
I used to hitch regularly in college. So I picked up hitchhikers for years. I still would I guess, but I don’t recall the last time I saw one.
Once I saw a girl get out of a car and cross the median and stick out her thumb. I figured she had a blowout with her boyfriend so I picked her up.
She was obviously trashed. I took her about 20 miles and pulled over. She just sat there. I asked her to get out. She looked at me and said: You are going to take me to Ohio.
I laughed. She repeated it: You are going to take me to Ohio. I have a way with people. I laughed again and told her to get out of the car, or I would push her out.
She got out.
I have another, but I am off to meet some friends. I’ll post it later.
Many times.
I stopped about 15 miles outside of Needles to help a young (22?) lad sitting in the back of a Ryder truck. He was Rhode Island-bound from LA. Alex was headed home with his dog and all his stuff. He hadn’t taken into account the lack of gas stations in the Eastern Mojave corridor. He was mildly distraught, but he seemed normal…just a college student out learning a life lesson, I figured.
We had an amiable discussion about nothing in particular during the drive into town. He seemed like a nice kid. I didn’t have anyplace to be, so I drove him back to the truck and made sure he good to go.As you might suspect, he offered to pay me for the ride. I told him to pass the favor along, and wished him and his friendly dog a safe trip.
I don’t usually stop for people, but this time was different. I don’t know why.
I did millions of times in the late 60s and early 70s. And I hitchhiked millions of times too. No one story stands out, but lots of interesting experiences.
Haven’t done it once since I got married.
Once during a torrential downpour, I gave a ride to a guy that looked to be walking home from the nearby outdoor arts festival. We had a nice conversation on the way, he asked me to have dinner with him when I dropped him off, I politely said, “No, thanks, but it was nice to meet you and help you out.” and that was that.
And once I gave a pregnant woman a ride somewhere after her car broke down.
My karmic return on those was that I was picked up and given a ride home in a limousine once when my own car broke down. Nice! 
As I pulled off the highway on a burning hot afternoon, I saw a guy walking with a gas can in his hand. It’s a long walk from where he was to the closest gas station and I just couldn’t drive on, knowing he really needed my help.
After he got in he proceded to lecture me on the dangers of picking up strangers. We had a great conversation and after he went inside to pay for gas, I drove to the other side of the station - to hide from the guy.
I had my laugh, drove back around and proceded to lecture him on the dangers of riding with crazy strangers.
He bought me a cold drink and offered me cash for the lift. Of course I refused since I’ve been the beneficiary of the kindness of strangers. I just figured it was my turn and dropped him off at his car. I waited for the engine to turn over and drove away.
I felt great!
My guy was truly pissed when I explained why I was late because he felt that I put myself in danger, but I can’t live imagining the worst in everyone. I’m not altogether trusting however. I’d be afraid to pick up a hitchhiker late at night if I were alone.
Never have, never will. It’s just something I wouldn’t be comfortable with.
I also once turned down an unsolicited ride - I was hanging out at a clearly-marked bus station, right in front of a McDonald’s. A guy pulled up, went into the McDonald’s, came back to his car with food a minute or two later. Then he walked up to me and offered me a ride.
I said no, because maybe he was an absolute saint who was just trying to do a favor, but maybe not, and that’s not a bet I’m willing to make. Then he tried to insist, saying it can be “dangerous out here for a young woman on her own,” with “out here” being ‘a bus stop on a fairly busy road in the middle of the afternoon on very nice day’. Gave me a good case of the heebies, that.
I have done it many times. Each time I had resolved to simply kill them and dump them in the river if they tried anything.
Once I picked up this guy who was acting really weird. His voice trembled, and he seemed really nervous. He didn’t even seem to know where he was going. Finally, he asked me to drop him off at the police station, which I did. As I drove off, I watched him in the rear view mirror. He stood there for a bit, then started walking down the street. I guess it was a safety thing for him to ask to be dropped in front of the police station.
Once I cut the ride short. I picked up this guy on an Interstate on-ramp. He was headed a few exits north, about 50 miles. I was going most of the way. I don’t allow smoking in my vehicles, and I told him so when I picked him up.
We go about 20 miles and the guy starts to light one up. I told him to put it out, and he says, “C’mon, man. Are you kidding? I’ve gotta have a smoke.” I pulled over and told him to put it out or get out. When I got to the next exit, I told him I was dropping him there. All he said was, “Whatever, man.”
I was going to visit a friend and stopped to pick up a hitcher.
We made small talk and I asked him what he did for a living. He had just gotten out of jail.
Me: Oh? What were you in jail for?
Him: I pulled a gun on a guy for stealing one of my other guns.
Me: Do you have a gun with you right now?
Him: You bet! Wanna see it? It is a silver plated Crimjob (made up word because I don’t remember what type of gun he had.)
Me: Naw. I’d rather not thanks.
We rode for another hour. He wasn’t a bad passenger, but I was a little nervous the entire way.
An eldery man, walking down the road with an oxygen cannister on a cart & a mask on.
I gave him a ride, & offered to stay & help him get home.
He said no, he was all right.
A WW2 Veteran, so he said.
Ya know, I just realized I’ve given rides to strangers - and accepted them myself - probably several hundred times mostly about a decade ago.
See, I live near I-395 (major route into Washington DC from northern Virginia), which has High-Occupancy Vehicle (Carpool) lanes which are (or were back then) much less heavily-trafficked than the main lanes. So the concept of “slugging” has evolved, where you pick up strangers at predesignated points in order to get into HOV. It’s win-win - the riders get a free lift into town, the driver gets to work more quickly… Back when I was working in the city, I used to cruise the local bus stops for riders first, then I’d go to the slugging point if I didn’t have 2 passengers. Or if I was up early enough to be able to find parking near the slugging point, I’d often do that instead.
In Venezuela, all the time. (it was my main way to get to college, before I had a car). In the US, no freaking way.
Here’s a horrific story of someone who refused to give a ride. Trouble is, the hitchhiker didn’t take no for an answer. This happened a couple of days ago in The Bay Area (warning, may be TMI for some):
Just once, and it wasn’t my car. I was waiting at the bus stop in the freezing cold with another girl who happened to live in the same apartment complex as me. Our bus was more than 30 minutes late, so I used the other girl’s cell phone to call my roommate. Since we were going the same way, we gave the other girl a ride. Seemed like simple courtesy to me.