Is there some benefit to talking to weird Uber drivers I've yet to discover that's comparable with 'going outside at all'?

Interaction with the common person is great. I wouldn't have know one could trim their toenails while driving otherwise.

Or that a taxi driver in Wuhan could answer his phone while shifting his manual transmission and smoking a cigarette.

Pretty sure that's part of the taxi exam.

There are probably better places to interact with other people than rideshares, like at a public establishment. There's significantly less risk

Yes. "Weird" people are somewhat rare opportunity to build certain social skills.

I enjoy the challenge of finding creative ways to guide the discussion and understand their headspace for a little while. I am not even trying to control the level of weirdness, but just keep them talking and comfortable.

Unfortunately, most of the time they're not even weird people and it was just a weird first impression. They vent for like 3 minutes and then it gets boring again.

I mean, I do talk to them and I do have this skill, but it's a skill that I only ever seem to employ in talking to Uber drivers, so I'm not sure it's of any great benefit.

If anything the fact that most of them are immigrants puts the conversation on easy mode if you're a native speaker. They're doing twice the mental work you are so it's easy to orchestrate the conversation.

Not really transferrable to native-speaking workers. Like speaking to a barista is very different. Speaking to a construction worker different again.

That's interesting. Cultural differences and language barriers aren't what I would consider weird.

I was thinking of those people who have wild stories and/or mountains of narcissism to overcome. They have a fascinating worldview like an artist would if they had those ambitions.

They get bonus points in my book the more genuinely unhinged and confused they seem to be. They got that way by questioning things into absurdity and I don't mind listening.

Well there's a virtuous cycle for immigrants whereby if you integrate, you improve the language, you get a better job, and you integrate more, thus often ironing out any weirdness wrt to the host culture. Uber driver is pretty dead-end and isolated. You work constant hours but all your interactions tend to be very surface level.

I realize it is hard to do this, but please understand that other people have different perspectives on personal safety. For example, try and image how things might be different if you were a woman alone in an Uber with a driver who starts saying weird things.