Silence of the vans: Uber adds 'Plz STFU, driver' button to app for posh passengers using Black Uber drivers, who have been vocal about low wages and lack of benefits, may soon be less so, at least for those booking its more expensive Uber Black and Uber Black SUV rides. The newly public company, stock buoyed by a US National Labor Relations Board decision that its drivers are contractors rather than employees, has just …
Or you know, you could just politely ask the cabbie if he wouldnt mind being quiet whilst you're doing something else in the back of his cab.
Do you really need an App for doing some normal social interaction? If the answer is yes, I can see where the problem really lies...
"Or you know, you could just politely ask the cabbie if he wouldnt mind being quiet whilst you're doing something else in the back of his cab."
Certainly you could, and then watch as his hand reaches up to the meter and £5 is miraculously added to the final total payable.
Not sure why AC as I'm sure you'll find plenty of people in agreement. Personally I abhor the mentality of those cabbies that insist on incessant chatting, but to each their own.
I'm not sure why the button is necessary though. Is it that much of an effort to tell the driver that you're not in the mood for conversation?
There are two possible reasons. Firstly because the people requiring it have so little social interaction that they haven't learned the subtle social arts of using the disinterested "Hmmm" noise several times to first change the conversation, and then end it after the extrovert talking at you realises that your not that interested in polite conversation.
The second possible reason would be that they require a mute button so as to indicate to the plebs driving them that their only communication with their betters should be tugging their forelock when their betters alight into the vehicle.
How dare the hired help speak to them about not being paid enough by them to feed their kids! What do they think this is, the 21st century instead of a Dickensian style dystopia? The plebs should be grateful for the scraps thrown to them and a good kick occasionally from the upper classes acting out the part of Scrooge by not paying the servants enough to live on.
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For me, simply not replying worked most of the time in cabs, with the driver shutting up - but definitely not always, and while I can understand the desire for human contact of someone sitting in a tin box for half a day I most definitely do not share it; rather it puts immense strain on me so I absolutely hate it (yes, I'm also great fun at parties. Just as long I don't have to talk to anyone.).
Unfortunately, the button is impractical for the same reason you don't just tell the cabbie to shut the fuck up directly - doing it through an app does nothing to make it more socially acceptable. If you're willing to get that kind of confrontational, you don't need the app.
..sail on. But when I'm in New York or London... I like to talk to the cabbies and, you know, learn something about towns they are generally pretty proud of.
Simple really, if we treat each other like decent human beings we discover that - with some exceptions - we are surrounded by decent human beings and life goes better.
It's universal across these isles, not just inside the M25.
A favourite with Belfast taxis "What time ye on til?" "Just started at 7 there will see it out til about 3 and then hit the sack" after which you can then follow up with "Well has it been busy so far?" "Oh aye flat out"
I saw some sort of documentary many years back about the trials and tribulations of people wanting to become cabbies in NYC. Two scenes that stick in my mind:
- A passenger saying to cabbie "You know in England the cabbies know where everything is?"
- Another passenger offering to drive as the cabbie didn't seem to have a clue of where they needed to go.
"And you need an App for that?"
Well, if you're someone who is socially awkward (like myself, I feel uncomfortable when complete strangers start up what, on the surface seem like entirely reasonable conversations), I can see the benefit of having the option available.
But I don't use Uber, so I'm not the target market here.
I take it you're not an Uber user then? The app tracks your 'cab' so you can watch it's progress on the map. Plus it tells the make/model and number plate of the car your should expect. If you fail to check all these thing before getting into the car, then shame on you! Of course this won't stop an official uber driver turning nasty once you get in, but it should stop the random evil person just pulling up in his white van in the hope you'll get confused and just step right in.
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Because the licensed ones don't know where my street is; I don't really put a big price premium on them knowing where it is; they don't give me real time tracking of where they are; they don't give me a searchable recoverable receipt; they don't drop their receipt into my company's expense software; they use rattly cold cabs; and they absolutely frigging obsessively feel the need to turn down a side street every sixty yards.
"Full steam astern!", is the new US motto in labour relations. Resurrecting debt bondage looks another way to achieve that.
Meanwhile people are so blinded by the fear of "state powers", that they can't see "business powers" doing worse - and turning the government into their executive branch...
I always sit in the front as female. No possibly of being locked in (Rapey McChildlocks anyone?) , and if I don't feel safe theres the handbrake on & seatbelt off experience (for the driver if I'm really feeling vicious).
And if my driver happens to have a heart attack or something I've got a remote chance of keeping some control of the vehicle.
If you want me in the back and locked in? Guess again.
Uber? Not a chance in hell - although that "waaaay too attracted to his mum" YouTube twerp who goes slapper hunting in a Lamborghini as an Uber driver was mildly entertaining even if a menace to road safety (two girls into one bucket seat, both facing forward doesn't work).
This has got at least one Uber driver, in the linked forum, so riled up he’s fantasizing about using combat knives on his passengers. “ Think you're gonna step up in my whip & tell me not to talk, my kabar is coming out to play homie. ” ka-bar being a nickname for a popular knife in the US.
This sounds like a feature that an introverted techie working for Uber dreamed up, thinking it was a brilliant idea. I've heard about this phenomenon where younger people are having trouble interacting directly with people because they're so used to phones and automated services. Maybe it's just catering to the audience? I could definitely see a bunch of well-heeled socially maladjusted nerds riding around San Francisco or San Jose who would use this.
Whatever it is, the "shut up and drive" button might be the push over the edge needed to get courts to treat their drivers as employees. At least in the US, contractors (especially in IT) are routinely treated like employees. The official rules are that you can't directly control their work, but this happens all the time. Uber telling a driver "pick up this passenger and take them here" is already on shaky ground, but add "and by the way, keep your mouth shut and don't speak unless spoken to!" kind of adds to the "employee direction." At best it's dehumanizing -- I thought we were done with the "domestic service" era except for the Larry Ellison level people of the world these days.
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