Uber driver starts talking to 88-yr-old passenger, takes a 50 percent pay cut to become his full-time caregiver

The decision to give up her full-time job for a stranger was significant, but the woman knew what she had to do.

PUBLISHED FEB 21, 2025

(L) An Uber driver waiting on the road in their cab ; (R) A young woman sitting with an older man | Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | (L) Aleksandr Sochnev; (R) Kampus Productions

Most of us book cabs daily and even converse with the drivers. By the end of the journey, the drivers and the riders go separate ways, possibly never to meet again. But that was not the case when an 88-year-old man with dementia met a female Uber driver. According to ABC 6, a chance encounter between 52-year-old Uber driver Jenni Tekletsion and an elderly gentleman named Paul Webb, unexpectedly transformed their lives.

An old man sitting down and looking upset (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Kindel Media)

Webb, who hailed from Columbus, Ohio, booked an Uber ride for himself in March 2020. He was traveling to the Verizon store to fix his broken phone. Luckily, Tekletsion ended up becoming his Uber driver for the day and arrived in her Toyota RAV4. Tekletsion would drive for Uber as her side job on Fridays and Saturdays and also worked a full-time job with Prime Technologies. Talking to the news outlet, the woman mentioned that she decided to drive Uber to help others and preach the Gospel.

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“I’m very flexible as far as my experience. If you want to talk about marriage, I can talk about marriage. How to raise children, I have two children. If they want to talk about school, I’m in school doing my doctorate. I can talk about school," Tekletsion, an Ethiopian emigrant herself, revealed. So, it was easy for Tekletsion to start chatting with the elderly gentleman. As for Webb, he often felt isolated while living in his Canal Winchester home. After his wife passed away, Webb was just trying to get by each day, holding onto her memories and struggling with his dementia.

An elderly man sitting on the bed and wiping his eyes (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Pavel Danilyuk)

Webb's son Keith and daughter Melanie would drop by to look after their father and try to keep him happy. “Worked at Battelle for 65 years. He was steady. He was the rock of the family. And that rock began to crumble," Keith said about his father. “You didn’t know what you were walking into every day. He did help but he wasn’t necessarily ready to receive it." However, when Webb spoke to Tekletsion over the phone for the first time, the Uber driver felt that she knew the rider and she was determined to take care of him.

A young woman driving a car and smiling (Representative Image Source: Unsplash | M Image Photography)

"He called me the next day. So I can pick him up, take him wherever he wants to go. So, we start a relationship. I used to come here after work every day to take him out for lunch," Tekletsion mentioned. By April of that year, Tekletsion made a bold decision. She decided to quit her full-time job and became Webb's caregiver. She would visit his house each day and the duo would spend a great time together. They would go out for lunch, shop for groceries together and even visit the doctor when Webb needed it.

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“A lot of people with a lot of wisdom, they are dying at home alone so the rewarding part is changing his life. Changing his last days. He’s 88. You don’t deserve to be alone," Tekletsion admitted. Webb's children also started trusting their father with Tekletsion because of how "real and consistent" she was. “She’s the same. In a world that’s ever-changing, rarely will you find someone who does not change. She’s the same. To this day, it’s mind-blowing," Keith admitted. “She was very personable, easy to talk to,” Webb told The Washington Post about Tekletsion. According to Tanks Good News, Tekletsion also took a 50% pay cut to later become Webb's full-time caregiver.