Being an Uber driver in Milwaukee is a one-of-a-kind experience that let’s Dave Begel meet some of the most interesting people, residents as well as visitors to the city. Everybody has a story and Tales of the Road will highlight  some of those stories. The stories have been edited into quotes from riders. Names have been omitted  or changed to preserve the privacy of his passengers.

I got my first escort.

Not the old Ford car, but a woman who works as a professional escort.

The call came to pick up a fare near the airport about 7:30 in the morning. I pulled up to the address and after waiting for about five minutes a woman named Lora came out.

She was dressed to the nines, looking like she was headed to a cocktail party instead of work. She looked like a mom you might see at the grocery store, except she was pretty made up She was a passenger who sat in the back seat and her destination was suburb north of the city.

I expressed surprise that she was going to work that early and she replied that she was coming from work. My curiosity continued, asking where she worked and she said it was the apartment building where I picked her up.

Just a pause and then she announced, "I’m an escort."

Once I got back on the road I worked hard to keep the conversation going, finding out about a slice of life that is not your everyday retail store or human resources professional.

Her story was basically, that she had spent the night with a "regular client" and this one turned out to be a woman. She has eight regular clients she sees and just one is a woman. Most of them get visits once a month but two of them avail themselves every two weeks.  

Feeling like I was at a tire store or somewhere I asked about her revenue stream and she said it was $800 from six at night until six in the morning.  I did some the math in my head and figured she was making around $70,000 a year. Not bad.

"It pays the bills," she said. "But sometimes I have more expenses so I’ll do some one hour things with new guys."

She had this thing down to a science. She used to advertise on Craigslist but expressed her disappointment when they "shut down escort ads."

"Now I use Backpage sometimes but you get a lot of weird calls," she said. "Guys who just want to call and get pictures or something. They aren’t serious."

Sometimes she also frequents hotel bars but admits she has to be careful with who she meets there.

"I really only do downtown," she said. "Or the areas close to downtown. Most of the guys who stay there are OK."

There have been stories about escorts who have been attacked by customers and I wondered if she was worried about her safety.

"Not really. I can read men pretty well. I was married for seven years and I don’t go with someone if I’m not sure about them. But guys are pretty easy."

We finally pulled up to her place – a condominium complex – and she got out. She tipped me $5.