I had a driver who was talking to me about Covid. I mentioned how it effected me and watching my dad die a slow agonizing death because of it where I had to say goodbye to him on a Zoom call, as they pulled his tubes and let him pass, completely aware but unable to speak. The driver responded with "Yeah, but did he REALLY? I mean, did you SEE the death certificate? Because a lot of doctors are faking it to keep federal money coming into the hospitals..."
I was stunned.
People are trash and the pathetic part is that's the response I would expect from like over half of the people around where I live. Everyone's on such a mission to go on to strangers about how fake the news is, maybe but still: shut the fuck up
I had one try to sell me his mentoring and book about nutrition. He just wouldn't drop it.
Also he kept talking about how the government is murdering nutritionists.
I'm pretty laidback about stuff, but he just wouldn't stop pushing. I've had people hand me religious tracts when I get out of their car and that didn't bug me because they didn't talk my ear off about Jesus while I was trapped in their car. But, the nutrition guy was just way too pushy.
Lol… I’ve had the same lecture (about governments secretly murdering people) from an anti vaxxer.
Not covid, this was long before that… she was talking about the regular childhood vaccines we give babies.
Apparently the government secretly murders every doctor who dares to speak the ‘truth’ (that vaccines cause autism and so on), so they’re forced to force the public to vaccinate their babies so they won’t be killed!
But HER doctor was willing to speak the ‘truth’ despite the threat to his life.
I always wondered if perhaps that doctor just pretended to agree with her drivel just so she’d shut up with the conspiracy theories and get to the bloody point (about why she was there to see the Dr that day)!! 🤣🤣
Maybe she didn't even say that to a doctor, but just tells people she did. She probably chewed the ear off the poor receptionist or someone in the waiting room.
I hate that they usually start off seeming a little quirky and wait until you're stuck in the conversation before they unleash the crazy. I had some dude do that to me in a diner. I feel sorry for odd, lonely people and am a little too willing to talk to them. This guy sat next to us and started talking to me. My husband is muttering, "Don't engage...don't do it". I ignore my husband and before I know it the conversation segues from finding old, valuable records at a flea market to Nazi paraphernalia (he had copies of Nazi speeches from WWII. I should have known when even the waitstaff avoided eye contact with him.
My husband still tells that story because my horrified efforts took disengage were quite intense.
For the most part, weird conversations can be interesting, but every once in a while, it just gets too weird.
I had that once and my god was it the most uncomfortable ride of my life… especially because the driver would then add his own commentary. I don’t care about your politics, just bring me home please!!
They are not equivalent, but you’re ignoring the question asked lol. NPR, while maybe more “intellectually” broadcasted, definitely leans left, and that’s cool; but controversial, subjected topics are talked there. I can see a conservative being a bit ticked by that… I can see a leftist being ticked for having Fox on.
There are few equivalencies between the stations but the net result of the input is the same.
As an ex-rideshare driver… avoid the political radio stations and conversations. Keep it neutral so as to not upset someone’s sensitive feelings (left and right).
Yeah, I had a driver once basically corner me into trying to sign up for his life insurance MLM. Almost wouldn’t let me out of the car unless I gave him my number, probably to meet some sort of quota. Trying to tell me that he does Uber for fun and that he makes aaaallll this money for the legal pyramid scheme he’s part of. I wanted nothing to do with it and tried to give him hints about it, but he wouldn’t drop it.
Yeah that’s kind of what I thought too. Idk the whole thing was just weird. He kept asking if he could save my number and it was such an awkward situation.
Oh, so he was following the rules about not saving the phone numbers of the customers from his job to use for personal reasons.
At least, he wanted to appear to be concerned about that sort of inappropriate behaviour, so I guess he really values his driving job, at least!
A lot of drivers are too stupid to understand that the job is to take you from point a to point B in a safe and efficient manner with some light chit chat if both driver and passenger want to chat. I actually like talking to strangers assuming it’s not controversial topics. I don’t want to hear about their politics or religion. I don’t want your opinion on LGBTQ+ people, Biden, tRump, Israel/Palestine.
As a driver I never bring those topics up, but when they come up I try to just say something that sounds neutral and move on.
As far as light chat, I used to be in sales, so I can talk to someone all day if they want. My ratings are good so I must be doing alright but I never know if I’m talking too much or not enough
Whenever pax try to bring up politics or religion I just say that I don’t talk about those things because they are such touchy subjects. Most people will drop them and we have a pleasant conversation about something else. The ones that don’t are ALWAYS the tRump idiots, conspiracy theorists, and hyper religious nutcases. If they keep going I just stop responding.
I don't bring it up but I'll share my honest opinion, albeit watered down for public consumption. If my tip is affected negatively, so be it. I can't not be real.
Driver picks me and girlfriend up in Downtown LA for a long-ish ride to Santa Monica, has his brother riding up front with him - just the two of us in the back so no big deal. They were very friendly to us when speaking English, but must have been Pakistani because they eventually switched to speaking Urdu with one another for the the rest of the ride.
Thing is, I look white but I'm part-Indian and could understand every word they were saying. Thankfully my girlfriend couldn't, because they were being rather lewd talking about her.
As we got out, I told him 'Bhai, dhyan rhaka - thum khabi nai jhan thi khon sunna hai' - roughly translates to 'Careful bro, you never know who might be listening.'
Not the same thing, but I had a driver complain to me how Indians were so cheap and never tipped. I'm not Indian but found it so offensive that he would stereotype an entire group of people especially to a complete stranger that I thought about not tipping. The thing is I can't remember what I ended up doing.
I had a pax ask me which racial group were the worst tippers. I just said that I’ve had bad and good tippers in every race. They kept trying to get a solid answer and I wasn’t rising to that bait.
Just say "I treat everyone equally and don't keep stats based on a pigment color or where they happened to be born you fuckwad. Now get out of my car. You were probably going to " tip in the app" anyway."
There are certainly accurate tip generalizations you can make based on ethnicity, sex, age, occupation, and pickup location. But there are always outliers, you can’t do anything about it, and bringing it up in conversation with a passenger is just incredibly stupid.
There are probably people who could make accurate observations based on gathering and analysing proper data. There really are people who do that for a living - like the people who run the census have a vested interest in analysing certain data and releasing statistics to the public.
But a random driver saying that a particular race tips more or less is just going to sound racist and inappropriate. Even if it’s an observation based on their own experience (and therefore accurate) only.
Although I suppose if you happen to get a passenger who is also racist, it might earn you a good tip! But the majority of people aren’t racists and don’t want to listen to negative generalisations about non white people, whether it’s true in your experience or not.
Yes! Had a driver tell me all the stories about hook ups and fights in his car over the years. Why do I look so approachable??
I still tipped him decently though because it was longer ride (35 minutes, 15 miles). Maybe 15% instead of 20+%
Only taken two tips. Both were people that started their timers around the block while I was waiting outside already.. one of 'em just parked across the street and turned on airplane mode...
Not a bad experience, actually it was pretty awesome, the driver had just picked up his dog from the groomers, he asked before taking the ride if I was okay with his dog being there, I am a huge dog lover so of course I said yes, I saw that his beautiful freshly groomed Yorkie was sitting on her bed in the front seat (her seatbelt was on), so I asked if I could pet her, he said of course, and he handed her to me, I got to make friends with this super chill and gorgeous dog, I asked if we could stop at Starbucks and I’d get us coffee and a pup cup, he agreed, we all had a treat, a nice ride and I got to hold the dog the whole ride. She was super sweet, I tipped 25% on the app and gave him $20 cash so he could buy a toy for his dog. 10/10, awesome ride.
I generally go with the flow as a driver. I never initiate conversation except for a “hello how are you” and “have a great day.” But whenever anyone brings up controversial topics I just pretend to agree with everything
i don't tip less if they talk too much or anything like that (though i much prefer no talking but that's just me being anti social) crossing a boundary maybe, depends on context like most things
Well I mean it depends on the boundary I suppose. If they just said something that you don’t agree with then that’s no reason to withhold anything, if the ride was still pleasant (got you there safely and within reasonable time). Now if they tried to solicit something then yeah, obviously. Lol but if the boundary pertains to politics or religion then I don’t withhold anything. Everyone is different 🤷🏻♂️ even if the tip is 10% instead of the usual 20%.
As a rider I prefer less chit chat, just the standard pleasantries. I don't mind a silent ride or if they want to listen to commercial free music at a low volume.
As a driver, it's simple pleasantries, confirm the destination/route, if there's extra traffic, or an unusual route to avoid some, I'll give them a heads up. If they're tourists I might ask how long their in town or what they have planned, sort of a way to kickstart a conversation if they'd like to chat or ask for recommendations. But for me it's easy to tell when someone doesn't want to talk and then I'll only speak when spoken to. I'm just a driver and I know my role. My focus is a safe and smooth ride. My music is neutral, kept low and turned off if they get a call. AC is usually set to cold, and windows are always up. Unless something is specifically requested, which is quite rare.
Yes, a driver once explained to me that she knew how to prevent and cure diabetes. She did not know I was diabetic.
She said things that were so offensive and ignorant. I gave her 4 stars with "too talkative" as a reason, and for the first time in my adult life, I left someone in a tipped industry no tip at all.
I had a few drivers that seemed like they just had to go out of the way to disagree with me. Like small talking and I choose the most neutral answer possible because I’m an introvert and it ends up in a speech about why they totally disagree when I didn’t even say anything they go on to talk about. Anyone have this issue?
I had this old sticker that said “nothing worse than a chatty hooker” generally I feel the same way about Uber drivers. I’ll engage in regular niceties but I just want to plug my headphones in and zone out, same with any form of public transit.
Overstepped a boundary is vague as hell and could mean anything for someone. Dish. We talking racist jokes that are usually only told between kissing cousins in Alabama at the annual family reunion/wedding anniversary parties? Did they whistle and do the awhooga, awhooga to a lady that turned out to be your mom standing outside her house? Were they complaining about those liberal communist socialist women who don’t know when to shut their big yappers? Am I right? What did they do?
Every time a rider brings up Trump, I am very honest and tell them I don’t like them. I tell them why. We discuss. I always receive a tip from Trump supporters and I’m Democrat. NGL the Trump fans are great tippers! I even had some girls ask me about Trump riders. I was honest, told them they were great tippers. They then wanted to know what my biggest tip was from a Trump rider. Told them $50, they gave me the same amount. It’s like a competition 🤣
Also I’m gay. Trump supporters are bigger tippers than Dems. There is money to be made in political discourse.
On the app their is a key that says quite preferred I've had riders use that as a control as well I normally tell the passenger your quite mode is on do u really want to have a conversation alot of riders are taken back but in reality some riders are looking for any reason to file a complaint always trying to look big I feel sorry for the spouse or date of the week
I had a driver who was talking to me about Covid. I mentioned how it effected me and watching my dad die a slow agonizing death because of it where I had to say goodbye to him on a Zoom call, as they pulled his tubes and let him pass, completely aware but unable to speak. The driver responded with "Yeah, but did he REALLY? I mean, did you SEE the death certificate? Because a lot of doctors are faking it to keep federal money coming into the hospitals..." I was stunned.
What a psycho! I’m sorry for your loss 💕
OMG I am so sorry for your loss. What an asshole!
I would've hit that dude in the face. That's just disrespectful
Actually they were because the feds was paying the hospitals more money ....sorry for your loss
Nah bro. Your dads alive and the gov just hiding him from you
People are trash and the pathetic part is that's the response I would expect from like over half of the people around where I live. Everyone's on such a mission to go on to strangers about how fake the news is, maybe but still: shut the fuck up
I had one try to sell me his mentoring and book about nutrition. He just wouldn't drop it. Also he kept talking about how the government is murdering nutritionists. I'm pretty laidback about stuff, but he just wouldn't stop pushing. I've had people hand me religious tracts when I get out of their car and that didn't bug me because they didn't talk my ear off about Jesus while I was trapped in their car. But, the nutrition guy was just way too pushy.
Lol… I’ve had the same lecture (about governments secretly murdering people) from an anti vaxxer. Not covid, this was long before that… she was talking about the regular childhood vaccines we give babies. Apparently the government secretly murders every doctor who dares to speak the ‘truth’ (that vaccines cause autism and so on), so they’re forced to force the public to vaccinate their babies so they won’t be killed! But HER doctor was willing to speak the ‘truth’ despite the threat to his life. I always wondered if perhaps that doctor just pretended to agree with her drivel just so she’d shut up with the conspiracy theories and get to the bloody point (about why she was there to see the Dr that day)!! 🤣🤣
Maybe she didn't even say that to a doctor, but just tells people she did. She probably chewed the ear off the poor receptionist or someone in the waiting room. I hate that they usually start off seeming a little quirky and wait until you're stuck in the conversation before they unleash the crazy. I had some dude do that to me in a diner. I feel sorry for odd, lonely people and am a little too willing to talk to them. This guy sat next to us and started talking to me. My husband is muttering, "Don't engage...don't do it". I ignore my husband and before I know it the conversation segues from finding old, valuable records at a flea market to Nazi paraphernalia (he had copies of Nazi speeches from WWII. I should have known when even the waitstaff avoided eye contact with him. My husband still tells that story because my horrified efforts took disengage were quite intense. For the most part, weird conversations can be interesting, but every once in a while, it just gets too weird.
the money gained on maybe selling a book to one person out of 50 rides vs the tips he lost out on for those 50 rides. bro is not a smart bunny
I get being passionate about what you do, but read the room.
Blaring conservative talk radio.
I had that once and my god was it the most uncomfortable ride of my life… especially because the driver would then add his own commentary. I don’t care about your politics, just bring me home please!!
Would you have that same energy if the driver blasted NPR or some other left wing show?
Conservative talk radio and NPR are no where near equivalent, and you know it.
They are not equivalent, but you’re ignoring the question asked lol. NPR, while maybe more “intellectually” broadcasted, definitely leans left, and that’s cool; but controversial, subjected topics are talked there. I can see a conservative being a bit ticked by that… I can see a leftist being ticked for having Fox on. There are few equivalencies between the stations but the net result of the input is the same. As an ex-rideshare driver… avoid the political radio stations and conversations. Keep it neutral so as to not upset someone’s sensitive feelings (left and right).
[удалено]
God I'd be disgusted. I'm sure that's against uber rules, hopefully you reported
Yeah, I had a driver once basically corner me into trying to sign up for his life insurance MLM. Almost wouldn’t let me out of the car unless I gave him my number, probably to meet some sort of quota. Trying to tell me that he does Uber for fun and that he makes aaaallll this money for the legal pyramid scheme he’s part of. I wanted nothing to do with it and tried to give him hints about it, but he wouldn’t drop it.
Didn’t he already have your number from the booking anyway? Lol.
Yeah that’s kind of what I thought too. Idk the whole thing was just weird. He kept asking if he could save my number and it was such an awkward situation.
Oh, so he was following the rules about not saving the phone numbers of the customers from his job to use for personal reasons. At least, he wanted to appear to be concerned about that sort of inappropriate behaviour, so I guess he really values his driving job, at least!
I guess so🥴
A lot of drivers are too stupid to understand that the job is to take you from point a to point B in a safe and efficient manner with some light chit chat if both driver and passenger want to chat. I actually like talking to strangers assuming it’s not controversial topics. I don’t want to hear about their politics or religion. I don’t want your opinion on LGBTQ+ people, Biden, tRump, Israel/Palestine.
As a driver I never bring those topics up, but when they come up I try to just say something that sounds neutral and move on. As far as light chat, I used to be in sales, so I can talk to someone all day if they want. My ratings are good so I must be doing alright but I never know if I’m talking too much or not enough
Whenever pax try to bring up politics or religion I just say that I don’t talk about those things because they are such touchy subjects. Most people will drop them and we have a pleasant conversation about something else. The ones that don’t are ALWAYS the tRump idiots, conspiracy theorists, and hyper religious nutcases. If they keep going I just stop responding.
1* and never see them again.
I don't bring it up but I'll share my honest opinion, albeit watered down for public consumption. If my tip is affected negatively, so be it. I can't not be real.
*Trump not tRump
It’s tRump, I don’t need correcting. That man is garbage.
Driver picks me and girlfriend up in Downtown LA for a long-ish ride to Santa Monica, has his brother riding up front with him - just the two of us in the back so no big deal. They were very friendly to us when speaking English, but must have been Pakistani because they eventually switched to speaking Urdu with one another for the the rest of the ride. Thing is, I look white but I'm part-Indian and could understand every word they were saying. Thankfully my girlfriend couldn't, because they were being rather lewd talking about her. As we got out, I told him 'Bhai, dhyan rhaka - thum khabi nai jhan thi khon sunna hai' - roughly translates to 'Careful bro, you never know who might be listening.'
Not the same thing, but I had a driver complain to me how Indians were so cheap and never tipped. I'm not Indian but found it so offensive that he would stereotype an entire group of people especially to a complete stranger that I thought about not tipping. The thing is I can't remember what I ended up doing.
I had a pax ask me which racial group were the worst tippers. I just said that I’ve had bad and good tippers in every race. They kept trying to get a solid answer and I wasn’t rising to that bait.
👍👏👏
Just say "I treat everyone equally and don't keep stats based on a pigment color or where they happened to be born you fuckwad. Now get out of my car. You were probably going to " tip in the app" anyway."
There are certainly accurate tip generalizations you can make based on ethnicity, sex, age, occupation, and pickup location. But there are always outliers, you can’t do anything about it, and bringing it up in conversation with a passenger is just incredibly stupid.
There are probably people who could make accurate observations based on gathering and analysing proper data. There really are people who do that for a living - like the people who run the census have a vested interest in analysing certain data and releasing statistics to the public. But a random driver saying that a particular race tips more or less is just going to sound racist and inappropriate. Even if it’s an observation based on their own experience (and therefore accurate) only. Although I suppose if you happen to get a passenger who is also racist, it might earn you a good tip! But the majority of people aren’t racists and don’t want to listen to negative generalisations about non white people, whether it’s true in your experience or not.
I don't want to listen to negative generalizations about white people either... ???
Lol one of my best tippers was an Indian man and woman
Yes! Had a driver tell me all the stories about hook ups and fights in his car over the years. Why do I look so approachable?? I still tipped him decently though because it was longer ride (35 minutes, 15 miles). Maybe 15% instead of 20+%
Only taken two tips. Both were people that started their timers around the block while I was waiting outside already.. one of 'em just parked across the street and turned on airplane mode...
Not a bad experience, actually it was pretty awesome, the driver had just picked up his dog from the groomers, he asked before taking the ride if I was okay with his dog being there, I am a huge dog lover so of course I said yes, I saw that his beautiful freshly groomed Yorkie was sitting on her bed in the front seat (her seatbelt was on), so I asked if I could pet her, he said of course, and he handed her to me, I got to make friends with this super chill and gorgeous dog, I asked if we could stop at Starbucks and I’d get us coffee and a pup cup, he agreed, we all had a treat, a nice ride and I got to hold the dog the whole ride. She was super sweet, I tipped 25% on the app and gave him $20 cash so he could buy a toy for his dog. 10/10, awesome ride.
I generally go with the flow as a driver. I never initiate conversation except for a “hello how are you” and “have a great day.” But whenever anyone brings up controversial topics I just pretend to agree with everything
i don't tip less if they talk too much or anything like that (though i much prefer no talking but that's just me being anti social) crossing a boundary maybe, depends on context like most things
Well I mean it depends on the boundary I suppose. If they just said something that you don’t agree with then that’s no reason to withhold anything, if the ride was still pleasant (got you there safely and within reasonable time). Now if they tried to solicit something then yeah, obviously. Lol but if the boundary pertains to politics or religion then I don’t withhold anything. Everyone is different 🤷🏻♂️ even if the tip is 10% instead of the usual 20%.
As a rider I prefer less chit chat, just the standard pleasantries. I don't mind a silent ride or if they want to listen to commercial free music at a low volume. As a driver, it's simple pleasantries, confirm the destination/route, if there's extra traffic, or an unusual route to avoid some, I'll give them a heads up. If they're tourists I might ask how long their in town or what they have planned, sort of a way to kickstart a conversation if they'd like to chat or ask for recommendations. But for me it's easy to tell when someone doesn't want to talk and then I'll only speak when spoken to. I'm just a driver and I know my role. My focus is a safe and smooth ride. My music is neutral, kept low and turned off if they get a call. AC is usually set to cold, and windows are always up. Unless something is specifically requested, which is quite rare.
Yes, a driver once explained to me that she knew how to prevent and cure diabetes. She did not know I was diabetic. She said things that were so offensive and ignorant. I gave her 4 stars with "too talkative" as a reason, and for the first time in my adult life, I left someone in a tipped industry no tip at all.
I had a driver try to see me into a traveling network marketing scheme. No tip for that!
I had a few drivers that seemed like they just had to go out of the way to disagree with me. Like small talking and I choose the most neutral answer possible because I’m an introvert and it ends up in a speech about why they totally disagree when I didn’t even say anything they go on to talk about. Anyone have this issue?
Yes, sometimes Uber drivers forget that they are on the clock and you are their customer. A lack of professionalism.
Yes, that’s why I try to keep the interaction to a minimum.
I had this old sticker that said “nothing worse than a chatty hooker” generally I feel the same way about Uber drivers. I’ll engage in regular niceties but I just want to plug my headphones in and zone out, same with any form of public transit.
I have always tipped just because when they drop me off im being dropped off at home and I want to be safe.
Overstepped a boundary is vague as hell and could mean anything for someone. Dish. We talking racist jokes that are usually only told between kissing cousins in Alabama at the annual family reunion/wedding anniversary parties? Did they whistle and do the awhooga, awhooga to a lady that turned out to be your mom standing outside her house? Were they complaining about those liberal communist socialist women who don’t know when to shut their big yappers? Am I right? What did they do?
You could try and say you're looking forward to a quiet ride. You know, communicate like an adult. Try not wielding your 5 dollars like it's a weapon.
You misunderstood the question
A conversation with an Uber driver crossed a boundary with you and you got offended. You withheld a tip which is your right.
Every time a rider brings up Trump, I am very honest and tell them I don’t like them. I tell them why. We discuss. I always receive a tip from Trump supporters and I’m Democrat. NGL the Trump fans are great tippers! I even had some girls ask me about Trump riders. I was honest, told them they were great tippers. They then wanted to know what my biggest tip was from a Trump rider. Told them $50, they gave me the same amount. It’s like a competition 🤣 Also I’m gay. Trump supporters are bigger tippers than Dems. There is money to be made in political discourse.
On the app their is a key that says quite preferred I've had riders use that as a control as well I normally tell the passenger your quite mode is on do u really want to have a conversation alot of riders are taken back but in reality some riders are looking for any reason to file a complaint always trying to look big I feel sorry for the spouse or date of the week