Don’t you hate when you when you think you’re taking a guy to dinner and you end up driving him 552 miles across the country?
Hadi Abdollahian knows the feeling. He’s the Uber driver who picked up Bills cornerback Shareece Wright at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and made headlines by driving him all the way to Buffalo for Wright’s voluntary practice.
But Abdollahian, as it turns out, was not aware he’d be driving his client to Western New York.
“He told me Buffalo and I thought he meant Buffalo (Wild Wings) grill,” Abdollahian told the Washington Post in a phone interview. “So I said, ‘Yeah, for sure.’”
That’s right: When Wright called Abdollahian and asked if he’d mind driving to Buffalo, the poor guy thought Wright meant the local B-Dubs, a quick nine-mile drive from the airport in Skokie, Ill. It was only when Wright entered his final destination — the Bills’ practice facility in Orchard Park, N.Y. — that Abdollahian learned he was in for the long haul.
The 26-year-old Abdollahian, who relocated from Turkey to Chicago four years ago, could have declined to take Wright on the eight-hour excursion. Instead, he stayed true to his word.
“I promised him on the phone,” Abdollahian said. “So I said, ‘let’s hit the road.’”
Abdollahian apparently doesn’t regret the lengthy trip — he called Wright an “amazing guy” and said the two became pretty good friends over their journey.
“Honestly, I’m more excited … because of Mr. Wright,” he said. “I’m his friend just for taking him to New York. This is more than enough for me.”
Thumbnail photo via Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports Images