The last job I worked at, before I was forced into retirement, was in a town 15 miles from my hometown. Working the midnight shift meant I got off at 7am. And that meant I was free to go fishing or hunting right from work, when I wanted. That freedom only lasted a short while. Two co-workers from my town asked for a ride to and from work. They had no car and was bumming rides wherever they could. I have trouble with the 'no' word, so I agreed. My car was an old Dodge 2 door with no back seat, so I didn't foresee any more riders. Eventually the Dodge gave out so I bought a '67 Chevy 4 door. By then I was driving alone again but, one by one, I acquired five more riders. They all paid me, but they were scattered all over town. And some were real characters. Most of my riders smoked. I didn't, but I let them. One other fellow didn't smoke. He would sit in the back wearing a hoodie with the front pulled up together, leaving just a small hole to look through, because of the smoke. One fellow had been drinking before I stopped for him. My other crew convinced him to stay home that night, so we went on to work. Our boss asked where he was. I told the boss he was in no shape for work. Boss said to go get him or he'd be fired because he missed too many days already, supervisor's orders. So, I drove back to town, roused him out of bed, got him some coffee and brought him in. Our boss kept him out of sight as much as possible, and he made it through the night. One female rider had a nasty boyfriend, and if she was five minutes late getting home, he would knock her around. I was happy when she found another ride. Another lady rider didn't like the guy with the hoodie and wanted me to get rid of him. I told her he stays, so she found another ride. A year before I retired I bought a pickup truck. I could only carry two other people. One was a nice gal from Georgia. She really took a liking to me, for some strange reason, and I regret letting her slip away.
One thing I don't have a problem at all in saying.........."no". Well, the exception would be to my wife at times. I never car pooled and didn't want to. When my only vehicle was a motorcycle, on real rainy days, I'd get up early and take a city bus to work. I remember one time, I took Amtrak to work. For me, I'd take as good as care of my vehicle as possible so (hopefully), it wouldn't break down.
I car pooled a few time when I worked a 9-5, it was never something I liked doing because of the different personalities. One person is ok but more than that it does not seem to work out to well for me at least.
@Ike Willis, your car pooling experience is a real experience with those strange characters. I used to have a carpool together with some office mates who live near our place. We would take the van in the early morning that was parked near the gate of our village. At night, the gate of our village is the final destination. And although we pay a little more than what we pay for public vans, at least there is privacy. And the best thing is that I had gained friends among my co-riders. When I learned how to drive last year, they were all sad. So now we have a reunion party, twice a year, just for old time's sake.