05/05/22

Lately I have been on the rider side of the Uber service.  In most cases it comes out in conversation with the driver, that I also drive.  Throughout the trip I am comparing the way other drivers do things to the way I do things.  From those comparisons I can decide whether or not I want to integrate something I experienced into the way I do things.  Also, I can make sure I don't do the things that I experience that I don't like.  Not to focus on the negative but here are some things that have irritated me.

- The air freshener in the vehicle that smells like a urinal block in the men's restroom.

- A slow driver that complains about how fast everyone is driving.  The speed limit was 65 and this guy never made it above 60.  Sure, there is pay to the driver for the amount of time that a trip takes but it is not worth getting run over by everyone else that is driving at least the speed limit.

- Comments making fun at someone's luggage.  "That must be your wife's suitcase".  (WTF and no tip for you)

- This is a big one - A driver that sends a message asking if I can cancel the ride shortly after I accepted it, without any reason.  I know the reason.  They are running Uber and Lyft at the same time and received a request for a ride on the other platform that they want to take instead of mine.  This one really gets me riled up.  First of all, I have always made myself available to 1 service, I accept all rides that come in unless I am in a tense moment navigating traffic, and I represent that service well.  In my case it has always been Uber.  Secondly, a driver should never ask the rider to cancel the ride.  The driver is attempting to hide their actions from Uber by canceling the ride and they have a chance of the rider being charged a cancelation fee that would go to driver.  I have no way of knowing why this particular driver requested me to cancel the ride but by that driver not providing a reason why, the situation is suspicious.

At first, I answered the message asking if I could cancel the ride with "No".  "But you can".  However, my phone battery was almost dead, and it kept losing connection so I went ahead and canceled the ride so I could get home.  If a rideshare driver wants to cancel a ride, they can cancel the ride themselves.  A good driver would also send a message to the rider as to why they were canceling the ride before they did so.