Sarah Livingston had been driving for Uber in Bloomington without issues for about a month. Then October hit.
The 31-year-old said the strangeness began one night when she went to pick up a young woman from a fraternity house. The woman got into the car, shot her an odd look and said “What’s going on in here?”
“I looked back at her to see if she was OK or not, and her eyes got really big,” Livingston said.
The woman asked about the ‘tarp’ covering the car’s backseat. Livingston explained it was actually a pet-protector to guard the upholstery. The woman said she forgot something, ran back inside the house and canceled the ride.
It was the first of many unusual incidents. It would be weeks before Livingston found out what was happening.
Rumors of an Uber driver with a knife in her passenger seat and a tarp covering her backseat began swirling around IU earlier in the month.
The story floating around involved a woman named Sarah driving a White Kia Sportage. Students warned one another not to ride with her and sent screenshots of her Uber profile around group chats.
IU sophomore Christie Downey called an Uber on Oct. 13 and canceled it when she realized it was Livingston.
She said a message cautioning fraternity and sorority members not to get in Livingston’s car was being sent around the greek community.
Downey said she and a friend ran when they realized the car they called was the one from the message.
"We canceled it," she said. "We ran back inside, we were, like, pounding on the door — we made them let us back in.”
Livingston said riders are canceling her five to six times every night now. That’s a big deal when a normal night usually involves 10 to 15 rides.
“My income has considerably gone down because of this rumor,” she said. “The finger was pointed at me for some reason.”
When she first started noticing passengers acting strange in early October, Livingston had heard a different rumor about a male Uber driver in a beaten-up car. She had no idea people were talking about her, too.
Then she got a call from the IU Police Department.
Over the phone, officers told her they were trying to find a girl’s missing debit card. They asked to meet up, and Livingston said they told her what was really happening when they arrived, explaining the rumors.
Police searched her car and didn’t find a knife or anything else suspicious.
“There has never been a knife in my vehicle, and there won’t ever be,” Livingston said. “I’m not the type of person to carry something like that.”
She said the situation made her consider the downfalls of driving Ubers for a living.
“It is pretty frustrating, especially when no one’s really telling you what’s going on,” she said. “It makes you feel outcasted when you didn’t do anything.”
Livingston is a University of Phoenix Online student who drives full-time for Uber and helps raise her brother’s three children.
She said she prides herself on helping people, and this rumor felt like a slap in the face.
“Bottom line: I think it’s a good thing that people are being cautious with the way the world is today and all of that,” she said, “but why would I hurt someone?”
